By Michael Shepherd - June 28, 2022
Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up.

What we're watching today

A Republican leader comes to stump for a Maine politician facing questions on how he will align with leaders. Former Rep. Bruce Poliquin of Maine's 2nd District is getting some big-name help on Tuesday with House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, coming to a Bangor fundraiser for Poliquin ahead of his rematch with Rep. Jared Golden, the Democrat who ousted the Republican in a ranked-choice 2018 election.

Considerable national momentum is behind Republicans, but Golden looked durable in polling ahead of the June primaries behind high-profile votes against his fellow Democrats in charge of the House. Perhaps as a result of that, Poliquin has talked less about Golden himself than the Democratic Party as a whole. When he has discussed the congressman, he has linked him to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, a common Republican tactic.

Things could be shaken up by Friday's decision by the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. Poliquin is an anti-abortion Republican who voted in 2015 for a national ban on most abortions after 20 weeks. Such a threshold would restrict abortion access in Maine by roughly four weeks. After the ruling came down, he did not specify which limits he would support, issuing a statement saying the court rightly returned control of the issue to the states.

Poliquin has also not said how he would have voted on a bipartisan gun, mental health and school safety bill that was backed by Maine's entire congressional delegation and the influential Sportsman's Alliance of Maine, which worked on the proposal through Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, and Golden. While Poliquin signaled openness to school safety legislation, he told WVOM last month that he was waiting to see the framework.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California, who is the speaker in waiting if Republicans win the House as expected in November, already favors a 15-week national abortion ban, while Scalise and the leadership team whipped votes against the bipartisan gun bill. Poliquin rarely rocked the boat with leadership in office, lying around the 50th least conservative member of the caucus during both of his terms, according to Voteview.

There is some peril here. Poliquin has had trouble motivating conservatives in past elections and could see the gun bill as an opportunity to stake out differences with Golden, although doing so would split him off from the rest of the delegation and the sportsman's alliance. If he truly believes that states should now control abortion policy, he would have to reverse course on past votes. He knows the questions are coming and his answers will be telling.

🗞 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

— On a new post-Roe frontier, officials at all levels of Maine government are looking at ways to limit participation in any criminal investigations of abortion that make their way from conservative states to Maine. The new set of policies could come at the state level, from prosecutors and liberal cities and towns.

— Big-campaign tactics have come to small-town votes on broadband expansion. A group aligned with the parent company of Spectrum has paid for mailers and digital ads ahead of referendums in Readfield and Southport, with a loophole in campaign finance law obscuring total spending.

— Piscataquis County, the poorest one in Maine, is looking for ways to become less isolated through better transit ties to the Bangor area.

— Maine is among the least affordable states for housing in the Northeast. Read our ongoing coverage of housing and real estate.

📱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.

News and notes

— Poliquin and Scalise will meet the press around noon in downtown Bangor ahead of a fundraiser at Seasons Restaurant, with tickets running from a minimum of $25 for a rally and reception only to $1,000 for a seated lunch with the two Republicans.

— Former Gov. Paul LePage also has a public appearance today in Windham, where he will be endorsed for the third straight cycle by the Associated Builders and Contractors of Maine at 10 a.m.

— Maine's major parties showed their tactics after Friday's overturning of Roe v. Wade, with Democrats running stark ads painting the November election as one over the future of abortion rights. Republicans pivoted back to linking Gov. Janet Mills with the unpopular President Joe Biden.

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

Photo of the day

Amber Cornish stares down her opponent during a Superhero Lady Armwrestlers of Portland event at Geno's Rock Club on Saturday. (BDN photo by Troy R. Bennett)

📷 Lead photo: Former U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin of Maine's 2nd District talks with reporters at Dysart's on Broadway in Bangor during a campaign stop on May 18, 2022. (BDN photo by Linda Coan O'Kresik)

Copyright © 2022 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.