By Michael Shepherd - Feb. 23, 2023
Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up.

📷 President Joe Biden walks from Air Force One as he arrives at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland at the conclusion of his trip to Ukraine and Poland on Wednesday. (AP photo by Evan Vucci)

Good morning from Augusta. State offices are closed and legislative work is canceled due to snow that has ended here. See our list of cancellations.

What we're watching today

The state of polarization in Maine is still strong. Former President Donald Trump was in the Ohio town wracked by a toxic train derailment while President Joe Biden was returning from his trip to Ukraine on Thursday, underscoring a 2024 campaign that seems far off but is already under way. Although voters want other options and other Republicans are sniffing around, it seems that a Trump-Biden rematch is the likeliest prospect.

It is an interesting prospect in Maine, where the Trump-era presidential elections were the first in the modern era to split the two congressional districts. Regional polarization has become a much bigger part of our politics, although Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat, has carried the more conservative 2nd District three times and Gov. Janet Mills narrowly lost it in 2022.

Those two seem to have something Biden does not have, just like Sen. Susan Collins had far more electoral mojo than Trump did here during the 2020 campaign. While Biden's national approval rating has gone up a bit since late January, he is still underwater with voters. The good news for him is that Trump's favorability is worse in a trend similar to the 2016 presidential election.

Maine is probably lukewarm at best on Biden. A recent poll in Massachusetts showed voters effectively split on him, a worrying sign in one of his best electoral states. Maine is much more conservative, but there has been no recent polling on his standing here. Estimates from Race to the WH say he may be slightly ahead on approval in Maine, but the Massachusetts numbers don't suggest a sterling mark or him here.

Even after her impressive victory over former Gov. Paul LePage, she measured at 53 percent approval at the end of 2022, according to Morning Consult. It was down from a high of 59 percent in 2021. Collins was effectively holding steady in 2022 at 44 percent approval to 52 percent disapproval in the company's surveys, while Sen. Angus King took a small dip down from the high 50s over the last year.

Polarization has meant that Maine is getting to be a harder place to be loved, particularly at the statewide level. If voters are going to pick between Trump and Biden, many are going to hold their nose. The search will go on for a new generation of statewide candidates who can unite voters from top to bottom but doing so is an increasingly difficult task.

🗞 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.

News and notes

📷 Gov. Janet Mills wears L.L. Bean boots at her inauguration ceremony on Jan. 4, 2023, at the Augusta Civic Center. (AP photo by Robert F. Bukaty)

👞 An eclectic group of lawmakers wants to close a lobbying loophole.

◉ A 2015 campaign finance reform law passed by Maine voters made Mills the first Maine governor who had to disclose fundraising and spending for inaugural and transition activities. While lobbyists are barred from funding these efforts during legislative sessions that start in December, a loophole allows them to register as lobbyists with the state after they make donations.

◉ Rep. David Boyer, R-Poland, is leading an alliance of lawmakers trying to close the loophole by barring anyone who contributes to one of these committees from registering as a lobbyist for the duration of the governor's term. Among his co-sponsors are Sens. Eric Brakey, R-Auburn, and Nicole Grohoski, D-Ellsworth, plus other conservatives and progressives.

◉ The bill, which was printed Tuesday, would not fully close the door on lobbying money. The firms that employ lobbyists have always been allowed to donate. Among the $10,000 contributors to Mills' 2022-23 committee were Preti Flaherty and Verrill Dana. Many other businesses and associations that hire lobbyists also gave.

🔴 Republicans gear up for a special election test under a new regime.

◉ The Maine Republican Party sent out a fundraising email on Thursday, a week after Rep. Clinton Collamore, D-Waldoboro, said he would resign after pleading not guilty on charges of signature fraud around the state's Clean Election program.

◉ No date for a special election has been set. But the Republican-leaning district provides an important opportunity for the state party, which recently replaced Chair Demi Kouzounas with former Assistant House Minority Leader Joel Stetkis, who wants to collaborate more with legislative campaigns.

◉ "Unlike Collamore, we do not cheat the system," Stetkis wrote in a fundraising email. "Freedom-loving patriots like you fund everything our party does."

◉ Republicans have not won a special election in Maine since 2017 and lost three straight campaigns for control of Augusta, so there is a lot to prove here.

📱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.

What we're reading

🔥 Investigators in the fire marshal's office voiced leadership concerns for years. Now an assistant marshal is nominated for the top spot.

🛏️ Maine's hotel industry is expected to see a big 2023 bounce-back.

🐝 Bangor is making code changes to "save the bees." Here's your soundtrack.

🍨 Gifford's ice cream production is stopped after a fire in Skowhegan.

💰 Want to advertise in the Daily Brief? Write our sales team.

Copyright © 2023 bangordailynews, All rights reserved.
You're receiving this email because you opted in at our website, or because you subscribed to the Bangor Daily News.

Our mailing address is:

bangordailynews

1 Merchants Plz

Bangor, ME 04401-8302

Add us to your address book

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.