By Michael Shepherd - June 24, 2022 Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up.
What we're watching today
The high court's ruling on abortion rights shakes up Maine politics from Congress down to local races. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in a landmark Friday decision. The implications are starkest in the roughly half of states set to either ban or severely restrict abortion rights. But Maine will also see major consequences from the congressional delegation down to local races in for November, despite a liberal set of abortion laws here and Democratic control of Augusta that shields them for now.
The story begins in Congress, where Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, provoked a massive Democratic challenge after her 2018 vote for Justice Brett Kavanaugh. She defended it by saying he told her he viewed Roe v. Wade as "settled law." But he voted with the 6-3 conservative majority to toss Roe, saying it was "wrongly decided" even after Collins' predictions that Roe would survive after the current majority was cemented.
All of that has her back in the spotlight. Collins has not yet reacted to the decision issued just after 10 a.m. on Friday, but we expect a statement soon. She called the leaked draft opinion "inconsistent" with what Kavanaugh and another justice appointed by former President Donald Trump told her during their confirmations. We will see how far she goes now.
It will also be a major Augusta issue. While Maine has the same partisan divides on abortion as any other state, it has polled as vehemently pro-abortion rights overall and that has taken the potency out of the issue in state-level politics. If the high court throws out Roe, all of the power around abortion laws will go to the states, making legislators' individual stances far more important.
Gov. Janet Mills and her fellow Democrats in the Legislature have expanded abortion access in the last few years. On Friday, she vowed to protect the abortion laws that Maine has on the books. Republican lawmakers have foreshadowed that they could look to cull those laws if they gain control of Augusta.
But there is also some reticence to engage on the issue. Former Gov. Paul LePage, the party's standard bearer and Mills' 2022 opponent, has been vague on the issue despite being anti-abortion himself. Questions on finer points are coming for lawmakers of all stripes during this campaign, but it will be Republicans who will be asked just how much they would rein in access.
In a striking Friday morning statement, Maine Republican Party Chair Demi Kouzounas almost downplayed abortion as an electoral issue, noting her own anti-abortion stance while saying "there may be some who are upset and some who are excited right now."
"Right now, Maine Republicans will focus on winning in November so we can solve the immediate problems at hand affecting all of us, including out of control gas prices, ridiculous grocery costs, and record inflation," she said.
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News and notes
— Planned Parenthood of Northern New England is planning an abortion-rights rally that will begin outside Portland City Hall at 5:15 p.m. on Friday.
— The state's high court upheld Maine's "yellow flag" law as constitutional in a Tuesday decision in a weapons restriction case in Cumberland County, also tossing out other charges related to the case, including prosecutorial misconduct.
— Politico's Playbook newsletter has some intrigue from Trump's late-October trip to Maine toward the end of the 2020 campaign. A filmmaker who was traveling with Trump that day says he was told the then-president was speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Air Force One between New Hampshire and Maine. If the call happened at that time, it would have been right after Putin broke with Trump to say he saw nothing criminal about Hunter Biden's business ties to Ukraine or Russia.
— A federal judge allowed a lawsuit led by a Fairfield couple alleging that paper manufacturers are responsible for PFAS contamination in their area to move forward on Thursday. U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Torresen ruled Thursday there was a "plausible conclusion" that the mills' disposal of waste contributed to contamination of properties, although she allowed the case to proceed on narrower ground than the plaintiffs initially asked for. Attorney General Aaron Freyhas teased state action against PFAS manufacturers.
— Maine has some of the strongest campaign finance laws in the country, according to an index from the Coalition for Integrity. The group ranked the state third behind Washington and California, citing the power of the state's ethics commission to enforce laws and the strength of disclosures.
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What we're reading
— Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat from Maine's 2nd District who has been skeptical of gun restrictions, will support the Senate's bipartisan gun, mental health and school safety package. No word yet from former Rep. Bruce Poliquin, his Republican challenger.)
— Business owners in Millinocket are reacting strongly to a racist Juneteenth sign on an insurance agency that gained national attention, fearing it could halt robust revitalization efforts.
— Bar Harbor voters shot down a retail marijuana referendum in this month's election. A company that wants to open two stores is trying to get the issue back on the ballot in November.
