I’m one of those people strange enough to love politics. Politicians, to my mind, are normally friendly, talkative folks who enjoy telling tales and often have interesting takes on the issues of the day.

Maine’s gubernatorial race, however, stretches beyond limits I didn’t know I had. At the time of writing, 24 individuals have filed the requisite paperwork to run for governor.

Already, you can’t walk through the produce section at Hannaford without bumping into a couple of contenders. And then you find out the mild-mannered guy in front of you at the checkout is Angus King III.

Finding an affordable home is tough in Maine, I know. Must everyone eye a move to the Blaine House as the solution?

Two of the Democrats carry especially well-known names and are probably not, to be fair, urgently looking for a place to live: the aforementioned King, whose father Angus is a longstanding U.S. senator, and Hannah Pingree, whose mother Rep. Chellie Pingree holds one of Maine’s two U.S. House seats. While they both seem to me like decent people, it does feel like they’re the Little League coach’s kids lining up to take their expected place as the team’s pitcher.

On the other side, there’s an even bigger name: Jonathan Bush, nephew of the first President Bush and cousin of the second. If there’s one thing Maine voters love, it’s a flatland family that summers in Kennebunkport. 

A long time ago, during the 1988 presidential campaign, I talked for a long time with Jonathan Bush’s father, also named Jonathan, a banker who was brother of the then-vice president.

I tried to pry some useful tidbit from him that would make a good news story. What I got instead was a long, rambling conversation about tennis, fishing and jokes. I recall he had a trick playing card that he flipped back and forth so it appeared to have an ever-changing number of red diamonds on it. When he finished, he handed it over to me with a laugh.

“Jonathan Bush. Don’t forget the name,” he said. I never have. 

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat who is apparently weary of trying to maintain orderly elections in the midst of what seems like a roaring truck rodeo, is also angling for the state’s top job.

Another Democrat, former state Senate President Troy Jackson, is the only candidate I’m certain could help me change a flat tire or figure out why my car won’t start. That’s got to be worth something.

Nirav Shah, who guided us through the pandemic, is in the running, too. (Stay with me.) The good doctor has seen all too clearly, after watching President Trump sideline science, that it’s not enough, these days, to deliver medical advice in a clinical setting. 

On a personal level, I like former state Sen. Garrett Mason, a Republican. I once wrote a long story untangling the bizarre life of a grandfather whom he never met, an athlete from Lisbon who faked his identity so he could play in professional baseball. Does that affability and family background a governor make? Probably not. I doubt I would vote for him.

These are only a fraction of the candidates, leaving out quite a few (17, to be precise) who deserve consideration, among them state Sen. Rick Bennett, an independent; GOP state Sen. James Libby; and Republican Robert Wessels, who deserves credit for plugging away at a longshot, shoestring campaign that managed to gather the required signatures to reach the ballot before anyone else. 

One of my favorite gubernatorial prospects was Bangor’s Steven Sheppard, a little-known Republican whose primary goal for 2026 was to “have my truck and my motorcycle paid off completely.” This I found to be cleaner and more coherent than any of the other contenders’ stated objectives. Unfortunately, Sheppard quit the race last July.

The nice thing about even sprawling political races is that they do, eventually, draw to a close, with one person slated to sit for a portrait that will hang forever on a wall in Augusta, perhaps even remembered by future generations.

The rest just drive off into obscurity with the rest of us. It’s not such a bad fate.