I’ve written this before, but it bears repeating: 2026 is going to be a critical year in Maine politics. We’ll have a nationally targeted U.S. Senate race, where Democrats will — again — attempt to defeat Sen. Susan Collins, simply because they don’t have any better options elsewhere in the country. We’ll have a wide-open gubernatorial race with no clear front-runners in either party. If Rep. Jared Golden runs, he’ll be the leader among Democrats — but probably not overwhelmingly so, and the Republicans don’t have many good options.

In this environment, we’re going to hear a lot of names bandied about, and some of them are going to be people you’ve never heard of at all. Now, it’s understandable a person who doesn’t know much about the political system might think they should just leap into the deep end and run for high office right off the bat, but it’s just not a good idea.

In the age of President Trump — who’d never so much as been on a school board before running for president — this might sound passé, but experience still matters. Indeed, in many ways, it matters more than ever — especially in Maine. Throughout my lifetime, there’s been no successful candidate for major office in Maine with zero experience in government at any level. Just take a look at our current leaders.

Many of you might not be aware, but before running for governor Angus King was the host of a statewide TV program, so he was fairly well known, and he worked for U.S. Sen. Bill Hathaway. Collins, like King, never served in elected office before running for governor, but she worked in the U.S. Senate and served in Gov. John McKernan’s cabinet. Both of them had plenty of experience in government before running for U.S. Senate, and the rest of Maine’s congressional delegation — and our current governor — all served in the Legislature.

Whether you love Trump or loathe him, you may want someone who will blindly toe the party line. That’s not what this country needs right now. Recent elections show it’s not what most Mainers want, either. Instead we need more thoughtful, experienced elected officials who will work with the White House when they’re right and oppose them when they’re wrong, regardless of who’s president.

It’s not simply that candidates with experience in government know what they’re doing, it’s a matter of confidence and competence. If you have the experience, it becomes a lot easier to think for yourself and do what’s right for your constituents. When you don’t know what you’re doing, it’s much easier to simply go along with your party on everything. If you want elected officials who will do what’s right for Maine and the country, rather than simply what’s partisan or what’s popular, we need experienced candidates.

Apart from governing, running for office is a tough job. The history of Maine politics is littered with stories of experienced state legislators, including members of leadership, who crashed and burned disastrously when they tried to run for Congress, Senate or governor. If you’ve never so much as run for school board, what makes you think you’re going to be a better candidate than someone who has experience? Your lack of experience is not an asset. You’ll either end up making terrible mistakes or you’ll just follow the advice of professionals and run a generic campaign.

It may look like campaigning is easy, and that if you can just put the right team together they can handle everything for you. That’s not the case. Campaigning is difficult, quite unlike most other jobs, and it’s not for everyone. It gets exponentially more difficult each step up the ladder one ascends. If you’re interested in politics and want to make a difference, try getting involved in some capacity before running for major office.

Whether it’s being governor, a U.S. senator or a U.S. representative, these are important, complicated jobs that shouldn’t be entrusted to amateurs. So, while vanity candidates will surely ignore this advice, hopefully you, dear voter, will pay attention.

If someone’s running for high office who’s never run for anything before, ask them why they think they can do the job. We’re at a critical moment in our nation’s history, and it’s crucial that we have elected officials who are ready to do the job on day one. Now is the time for true statesmen, not vanity candidates who want to see their names in the paper.