By Michael Shepherd - July 11, 2022
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Good morning from Augusta. There are 120 days — that's four standard months — until Maine's November elections.

What we're watching today

The Maine senator could be at the center of Democratic discussions over ending the filibuster for abortion rights. Despite their nominal control of Congress, Democrats have few viable options to shield abortion rights after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last month. President Joe Biden responded by saying that the Senate should end the 60-vote filibuster to enshrine protections in federal law.

He later conceded that is not going to happen as Congress is currently configured, particularly because there are two Democratic holdouts — Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who voted against a Democratic bid to do it for voting-rights legislation in January.

But the November elections now loom and ending the filibuster is getting more popular on the Democratic side, with Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, a longtime defender of the procedural move, saying Thursday that she would scrap it for abortion rights.

That could make Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats, an interesting case by the end of the year. While he signed onto a 2017 letter led by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, urging Republican leaders to preserve the filibuster for legislation, he was with Democrats in January on the voting-rights push.

"If I have to choose between a Senate rule as it works now … and democracy itself, I’m going to take democracy every single time," he said in a floor speech at that time," he said in a floor speech.

While that history indicates some willingness to go along on the filibuster push, King has not yet made the same pronouncement on abortion rights, something noted by the liberal Talking Points Memo on Friday. His office has not directly answered questions on that topic during the recent Senate recess.

In recent weeks, he has nodded to an effort from Collins and others pursuing compromise legislation to enshrine Roe's protections in federal law, but that push does not look likely to win 60 votes. The Republican senator said "eviscerating the filibuster is exactly the wrong approach" after Biden's initial call. Add Manchin and Sinema to that and the issue now looks like one to be resolved in the 2022 election.

The environment may be worse at that point for Democrats. Republicans are heavily favored to win the House, according to FiveThirtyEight's latest rankings. But they are only narrowly favored in the Senate, with Democrats retaining a 1-in-5 chance of expanding their majority to 52 seats or more because of how the map works this time around.

It makes for only outside chances that Democrats will have the power to push such a change through the Senate, much less get a bill through the House. But even if they cannot, the conversation around what they think they should do will persist. King could be a central figure whichever way this plays out.

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News and notes

National drug policy experts are headlining Maine's opioid response summit.

— The Bangor event will feature 34 breakout sessions and will feature in-person addresses from Gov. Janet Mills and U.S. Sen. Angus King. Among the headlining speakers are Anne Milgram, the head of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, and Rahul Gupta, director of national drug control policy. It started at 8 a.m. and registration is here.

— The opioid crisis has worsened nationally and in Maine during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fatal overdoses in Portland already surpassed the 2021 total this year. Through May, overdoses statewide were up 20 percent over last year.

Governors — and lobbyists — are descending on Maine's largest city.

— The National Governors Association's summer meeting will be based at the Holiday Inn By the Bay in Portland from Wednesday through Friday. In addition to governors, their families and staff, 600 attendees are expected, according to Visit Portland.

— The public schedule includes panel discussions on computer science education, tourism, a virtual discussion with country music legend Dolly Parton on her literacy program and the transition of NGA leadership from Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson to New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy.

— But the meeting will be most interesting as a political and society event. Mills plans to showcase Maine's tourism attributes. Lobbyists will be buzzing around the powerful group of attendees, with a trade group for state-level advocates holding a Wednesday event at a downtown brewery.

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What we're reading

— With the Central Maine Power Co. corridor stalled and facing potentially fatal court rulings, a proposed Aroostook County transmission line is emerging as an alternative to fulfill a huge Massachusetts clean-power request.

— The BDN's Jessica Piper breaks down the demographic and political shift in the Portland suburbsand why it makes former Gov. Paul LePage's 2022 campaign against Mills different than his last two races.

— One restaurant owner bought a motel to house workers and make money on the side. Another is pulling 17-hour shifts. Both are examples of how the industry is preparing for a future with fewer workers.

— Forever chemicals have been detected in public water supplies in Skowhegan, Oakland and Fryeburg in another example of what one expert called a "universal crisis."

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Photo of the day

Eric Dayan of Montville holds his youngest child, 11-month-old Solomon, in front of the truck he uses for work as an arborist. His $20,000 wood chipper was stolen from his property last weekend, making it difficult to work. (BDN photo by Abigail Curtis)

📷 Lead photo: Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, departs the chamber during votes at the Capitol in Washington on Wednesday as lawmakers react to a mass shooting at a Texas elementary school. (AP photo by J. Scott Applewhite)

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