AUGUSTA — For many it wasn’t their first rodeo, as the saying goes, but for others the first day of the 126th session of the Maine Legislature was filled with excitement and nervousness.

Lawmakers took their oaths of office Wednesday and elected the latest batch of constitutional officers in daylong proceedings that left some of the newcomers wondering what they were in for.

Consider newly elected Rep. Wayne Werts, D-Auburn. Werts, who won his seat by four votes, said he was far from feeling the power of his position.

“My general observation is I’ve got one heck of a lot to learn,” Werts said. “My other observation is there are a lot of people around willing to teach me. I’ve watched the process, so far, and I’ve got to say I’m impressed with the way it played out today.”

Werts said that when he was taking his oath, it dawned on him the importance of the work he was swearing to do. “Like our leadership has told us, the campaigning is over and now it’s time to govern, and when they say that to you, it’s like, ‘Ooh, they’re right.'”

Werts’ fellow freshman lawmaker, Rep. Nathan Libby, D-Lewiston, said he too was taking it all in. And while he wasn’t overwhelmed by the ceremony or the pomp, he was looking seriously at the workload ahead. Still a city councilor in Lewiston, Libby will hold two elected seats until his term on the council runs out next year. That work and his own consulting business will keep him busy, Libby said.

“It’s, ‘Here we go,'” he said. He noted that the delegation from Lewiston-Auburn included a mix of experienced legislators and newcomers, but the group, despite individual party affiliation, seemed focused on working together.

In all, 65 new state representatives were sworn into office Wednesday at the State House. Others were taking their oaths as representatives for the final time.

Reps. Mike Carey, D-Lewiston, and Mike Beaulieu, R-Auburn, said they weren’t holding on to any particular nostalgia, but they did feel a sense of belonging to something bigger and more important than themselves as they took their oaths.

Beaulieu said he was thinking about friends and colleagues from both sides of the aisle who were either out of office because of term limits or who lost their re-election bids. Both also noted the magnitude of the learning curve the incoming freshmen faced.

“But to that point, I’m glad to be back and ready to get started,” Beaulieu said on a day that is largely filled with ceremony and procedure.

First, all of the new senators were sworn in by Gov. Paul LePage, then all of the new House members took their oaths of office. Later, both chambers came together in a joint session to vote for secretary of state, attorney general, state treasurer and state auditor.

Maine is one of only two states in which the Legislature elects these constitutional officers, instead of voters at large. That means candidates for those offices with the majority party are more likely to prevail, as was the case Wednesday.

The day was also marked by speeches on cooperation, bipartisanship, working together and doing the people’s business in a productive fashion.

“I’m hearing a pretty consistent message from my colleagues, regardless of which party they are in, that we all want to put the campaigns behind us,” Carey said. “We all know the problems are big and we are only going to be able to solve them if we come together.”

In his opening remarks, the new Speaker of the House, Rep. Mark Eves, D-Berwick, offered an olive branch to his political rivals in the Republican Party and even praised their newly selected minority leader, Rep. Ken Fredette, R-Newport.

“While we disagree, he was always respectful,” Eves said. “He sought common ground, even when he didn’t have to. He was skillful in his negotiation and fair in his approach. We won’t always agree, but we have a lot to learn from each other and all of us do.”

Eves also praised Rep. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston. Her dedication to the people of Maine is uncontested, her compassion, strength and skill as a legislator and a negotiator is unparallelled, Eves said.

One Western Maine lawmaker, Sen. Tom Saviello, R-Wilton, enjoyed the special privilege of being personally sworn in by LePage, part of a longstanding legislative tradition that has seen the state senator from Franklin County being sworn in in the governor’s office.

“When we started, apparently the Franklin County senator had the responsibility to keep the fire going, to keep the building warm,” Saviello said. “He was off stoking the fire.” True to form, Saviello brought a chunk of firewood with him to the governor’s office for the ceremony. He also brought his “campaign manager,” 12-year-old Tyler Dunn of Mount Vernon.  

Dunn said he wasn’t too nervous about holding Saviello’s family Bible as the senator was sworn in by the governor.

“I did it before,” Dunn said, “two years ago when I was 10.”

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