By Michael Shepherd - Sept. 8, 2022
Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up.

📷 Joyce Mills of Gray, foreground, and others protest in front of former Gov. Paul LePage's campaign office in Lewiston on Wednesday. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin was fundraising for LePage in his 2022 race against Gov. Janet Mills.(Sun Journal photo by Russ Dillingham via AP)

Good morning from Augusta. There are 61 days until Election Day.

What we're watching today

Abortion has probably given Democrats a bump in Maine's steady set of 2022 races. Will it last? Inside an office building in downtown Lewiston on Wednesday evening, former Gov. Paul LePage was getting a signature red vest from Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and talking about educational issues that made his guest into a national figure. Outside, supporters of Planned Parenthood were holding an abortion-rights protest.

It shows the duel between Republicans and Democrats over the focus of the 2022 election. High costs and record-high inflation have been framed the early part of this cycle, with Republicans having the momentum in a tough midterm year for President Joe Biden. But the end of federal abortion rights in June has seemingly given Democrats an enthusiasm bump heading into the fall.

There is plenty of evidence for that. Biden's approval rating is poor but improving of late to its highest point since May. Relatively strong poll showings from frontline Democrats have led FiveThirtyEight to revise the party's chances of holding Congress upward since the spring, though House Republicans are still favored with Rep. Jared Golden of Maine's 2nd District as a top Democratic target for the minority party.

That brings us back to Maine, a state where presidential approval generally tracks well with the national average and with permissive laws and attitudes toward abortion. We have had no public polling in major races here since the spring, when Democratic Gov. Janet Mills was running slightly ahead of LePage and Golden had a larger lead on former Rep. Bruce Poliquin.

The two Republicans have been running in different ways, but their main focus has been on costs and the economy, a problem that is pronounced across the U.S. and world but traditionally permeates local races at difficult times. The economy has seemed to be the biggest issue for Maine's electorate, but a Republican poll released in July pegged abortion rights second.

Anti-abortion Republicans including LePage have tried to avoid being pinned down on the topic, though the former governor has said restricting abortion rights is not a priority of his. He told the Portland Press Herald at the fundraiser that he has no reason to try to repeal the Maine law protecting the right to abortion until fetal viability.

Democrats have tried to capitalize on the issue, putting it at the front of their coordinated campaign. This week, they highlighted LePage's responses to a questionnaire from the anti-abortion Christian Civic League of Maine. When the group asked if abortion should be restricted, LePage checked the "yes" box. The political reality is that LePage would need to win alongside a solid Republican-led Legislature to considered such restrictions.

That is a big question mark, so it is probably correct that he has other priorities. While abortion looks like a potent issue that Democrats would likely win on given Maine's political makeup, costs still loom as an area of major focus over the last two months of the campaign. Gas prices are declining, but heating oil prices are still high with cold weather bearing down.

An uncertain economy is never good for incumbents. There is still a lot of time for the hierarchy of issues to change and there is a little danger for everyone.

🗞 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

— Two Maine elected officials were found on leaked membership rolls of the Oath Keepers, a far-right group linked to the Capitol riots of Jan. 6, 2021. One of them, Gorham Town Councilor Ben Hartwell, said he joined the group briefly eight years ago but never got involved with it or met members.

— Sen. Susan Collins is on the cusp of helping win over the 10 Republicans needed to pass a bill protecting the federal right to same-sex marriage, with a major LGBTQ-rights group expecting it to succeed.

— Cost increases mean the University of Maine needs $26 million more to begin an athletic facilities makeover. While most of the massive project will be funded by the Alfond Foundation, the money is not in hand yet.

— Police want those protesting regularly outside the Northeast Harbor home of conservative judicial architect Leonard Leo to use chalk instead of paint to scrawl their messages on sidewalks.

— A University of Maine at Fort Kent basketball coach quit his job with the kind of email you have always thought about writing but probably never have, signing off with "all the best, to most of you." Here's your soundtrack.

📱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

📷 Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, speaks during a Senate Rules and Administration Committee hearing to examine the Electoral Count Act on Aug. 3, 2022, at the Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP photo by Mariam Zuhaib)

A Maine senator is trying to get the federal government to lower the cost of a cancer drug.

— Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats, joined a Tuesday letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra urging him to take steps to lower the cost of Xtandi, a prostate cancer drug developed in part due to federal grants but remains up to six times more expensive in the U.S. than it is in other countries.

— King, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, and a Democratic congressman from Texas want the department to do this by scheduling a hearing on a request for the government to invoke "march-in rights" that allow it to issue or take over patents on drugs that it helped develop.

— This has never been done by the federal government and would be controversial in the pharmaceutical industry. Advocates have lobbied the Biden administration to interpret march-in rights liberally to no avail so far.

A group of lawmakers looking at reestablishing parole in Maine meets today.

— Maine was the first state to repeal parole in 1976, but a commission examining reinstating it meets today at 1 p.m. Watch it.

— It came out of a bill from Rep. Jeff Evangelos, I-Friendship, that looked to restart the system as part of helping imprisoned people integrate easier into society. While it was supported by advocates including the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine, Attorney General Aaron Frey opposed it, noting that parole was repealed because sentences given by judges often bore little resemblance to the ones imposed under the old system.

— The original bill did not have the support to get through the Legislature, but Mills allowed a version forming the commission to pass into law in February.

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

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.