By Michael Shepherd - June 6, 2022 Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up.
Good morning from Augusta. There are eight days until Maine's June 14 primaries. The Daily Brief will be off on Tuesday and Wednesday and will return on Thursday for the final sprint to Election Day.
What we're watching today
A Maine's gun-rights group says it is working through key negotiators on a consensus Senate package. After the recent spate of mass shootings from a Buffalo supermarket to an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, President Joe Biden and fellow Democrats are redoubling calls for gun control measures. Students marched through downtown Portland on Friday to call on Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, to support an assault weapons ban.
The political realities in the Senate, where Democrats need to win at least 10 Republican votes to pass any legislation, mean these strict measures are not going to pass. Prospects for a step forward are now centered on a bipartisan Senate group making what Collins called rapid progress on a consensus package that can win at least 60 votes in the upper chamber.Â
That will likely include grants for states to implement "red flag" laws that allow police to seize guns from those deemed a threat to themselves or others or watered-down versions like Maine's "yellow flag" law, which requires a medical professional to sign off on such a seizure. Tweaks to the background check system and more funding for mental health and school safety could also come.
There are many parallels to Maine's recent legislative debates over gun control, which effectively ended in early 2019 after newly elected Gov. Janet Mills warned Democrats from moving sweeping bills forward in a gun-friendly state. She worked with the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine to turn the proposed red flag law that they gun-rights group proposed into the yellow flag law that Collins has put forward as a potential solution at the national level.
David Trahan, the alliance's executive director, said he has talking with Collins and Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat from Maine's 2nd District who has opposed past gun control bills and faces a tough reelection bid this year, to share ideas. The two delegation members "seem to be talking to each other" about the eventual package that the sportsman's group is likely to back up when it comes out, Trahan said.
"I think it's all good stuff, but I think the approach is what's different for me ... and that is that people are talking about not just guns, but broad policy," he said.
Proponents of stricter gun measures will be disappointed if this is the ultimate product. Gun-control activists here have been frustrated by the alliance's central role in all of these debates, with Maura Pillsbury, a volunteer here with Moms Demand Action, recently calling the yellow flag law inadequate.
But it is those political realities both in Maine and nationally that put groups like Trahan's at the center of these talks. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, a prominent gun control advocate who is helping lead the bipartisan negotiations, said this weekend that the measure will not contain everything he wants yet will have items that "would make a difference​." That's where the gun debate is now.
🗞 The Daily Brief is made possible by Bangor Daily News subscribers. Support the work of our politics team and enjoy unlimited access to everything the BDN has to offer by subscribing here.
What we're reading
— A special Maine Senate election in Hancock County is a testing ground for the top campaign narratives of 2022, but Democrats have a head start there behind a wave of outside spending and a wide lead in early absentee votes.
— The island town of Southport may pull the plug on a municipal broadband project this month in a vote colored by a counteroffer from Spectrum. If it is voted down, there would be hundreds of thousands in sunk costs.
— Maine cracked down on small-time meth dealers. Then bigger ones moved in, making the drug as prevalent as ever because of undiminished demand.
— Progressives in Portland have launched a last-minute drive to get an aggressive economic agenda on the November referendum ballot, including an $18 minimum wage. The leader of the local chamber of commerce said the proposals would "jeopardize everything that makes up the heart of Portland."
📱Want daily texts from me tipping you to political stories before they break? Get Pocket Politics. It is free for 14 days and $3.99 per month if you like it.
Campaign news and notes
— National Democrats put down nearly $1.9 million in Maine as part of their first round of TV ad reservations in House races across the country with Golden near the top of their list of vulnerable incumbents. He is likely to face a rematch with former Rep. Bruce Poliquin, but the latter faces a Republican primary this month against underdog Liz Caruso.
— Spending has ballooned in the Democratic district attorney primary in Cumberland County from a group funded by Democratic megadonor George Soros. It has now spent $322,000 with another $56,000 of in-kind contributions. All of it is to boost challenger Jackie Sartoris in her race against incumbent Jonathan Sahrbeck. The outside spending has made it the most expensive district attorney race in Maine history by a huge margin.
— There is some intrigue in a Maine House primary in Sanford. House Democrats' campaign arm, which generally does not get involved in primaries, spent roughly $5,700 recently to back John McAdam against primary foe Patricia Kidder. She is endorsed by the progressive Maine People's Alliance.
BDN writer Jessica Piper contributed to this item.
Sam Green of Belfast runs one of his model trains around a miniature, fictional version of the city that he built in his basement on Friday. (BDN photo by Linda Coan O'Kresik)
📷  Lead photo: A group of roughly 200 students marched through downtown Portland before converging outside the office of U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, where they demanded the Republican vote to ban assault-style weapons. (Maine Public photo by Patty Wight)
