By Michael Shepherd - June 10, 2022
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Good morning from Augusta. There are four days until Maine's June 14 primaries.

What we're watching today

Two of Maine's biggest Tuesday races are seeing one-sided spending levels that could shift the outcomes. Maine looks to be hurtling toward a low-turnout set of primaries next week with only 31,000 voters having requested absentee ballots just before a Thursday deadline. In much of the state, there will be little of consequence on the ballot with many big-name politicians running in uncontested races for their party nominations.

But two races are standing out both for their stakes and the wave of spending crashing down on them. Those are the Maine Senate special election in Hancock County between former Sen. Brian Langley, R-Ellsworth, and Rep. Nicole Grohoski, D-Ellsworth, and the Cumberland County race between District Attorney Jonathan Sahrbeck and Jackie Sartoris, a Kennebec County prosecutor challenging the incumbent from the left.

The Langley-Grohoski race has seen $268,000 in outside spending, a staggering sum when you take into account that the winner may never take a vote in the chamber, since they will only serve out the year with the same two candidates already running in the November election. All but $28,000 of that has come from Democrats and it looks to be paying dividends so far, with the party also dominating absentee ballot requests to the point that they may carry a 1,000-vote advantage or a bigger one going into Election Day.

The unprecedented spending in the Maine district attorney's race is due to one person: Democratic megadonor George Soros, who has targeted the state's biggest city and its surrounding area as part of a national effort to elect progressive prosecutors. His network has now spent $350,000 of his money on ads boosting Sartoris and attacking Sahrbeck, who held a news conference on Thursday with anti-trafficking groups he has worked with in office.

Sartoris has been clear that she does not condone the tone of the ads against her opponent, but she has also welcomed the national attention to the race while noting she is barred from coordinating with outside groups.

"It's not about whether I support it or not. I didn't ask for it. It's here anyway," Sartoris said at a news conference, according to WGME.

Money alone does not win races. Democrats are facing national headwinds in the swing Senate district in Hancock County. Sahrbeck's incumbency could offset the effects of the ads. But the lopsided spending in a low-turnout election seems likely to have a bigger effect in this election than it does when most Mainers are casting votes. Put these at the top of your Tuesday watch list.

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What we're reading

— Staffing issues will slow the full rollout of Maine's new 988 mental health hotline, a problem being seen nationally with more than half of states and localities saying they do not have funding or staff to launch in mid-July.

— The mother of a 25-year-old man shot and killed Sunday by police in Presque Isle says the mental health system failed her son.

— The former police chief and town manager in Millinocket have sued the town and several public officials over what they called a "campaign of disparagement" after their firings nearly two years ago.

— Mike Tipping, running in a high-profile Democratic primary for an Orono-area Maine Senate seat against Abe Furth, will not face an ethics investigation over his Maine People's Alliance endorsement after a regulatory panel voted unanimously to toss a complaint from an Old Town man late in the race.

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News and notes

— Maine's top utility critic may be leaving the Legislature. Rep. Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham, the co-chair of the Legislature's energy panel, declined comment when asked Thursday about rumors that he was leaving his seat to take a more active role in the campaign for a consumer-owned utility targeted for the 2023 ballot. He will be unopposed in the Democratic primary on Tuesday and can be replaced by his party once he is officially renominated.

— Sen. Susan Collins supports raising the minimum age to buy a semi-automatic rifle from 18 to 21 as part of compromise gun legislation being worked on in the Senate, the Republican's office told the Portland Press Herald. That may not make it into the ultimate package with other Republicans taking a dim view of the idea, but it is notable because Collins is outflanking Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat from the 2nd District who said such a move would "have no real impact on lessening gun violence."

BDN writer Jessica Piper contributed to this item.

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Photo of the day

A tug boats guides the oil tanker Eternal Sunshine out of Portland Harbor while fisherman Bruce Hodge waits for a mackerel or striped bass to bite on Friday in Portland. Crude oil is pumped from Maine to Quebec via the 236-mile Portland-Montreal Pipe Line. (AP photo by Robert F. Bukaty)

📷 Lead photo: Former state Sen. Brian Langley, R-Ellsworth, and Rep. Nicole Grohoski, D-Ellsworth, are the candidates for the special election in Maine Senate District 7 on Tuesday. (BDN photos by Troy R. Bennett)

❌ Correction: Only three European students are attending a Millinocket high school as part of an exchange program. Thursday's newsletter misstated where they were from.

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