Bill Belichick’s Maine girlfriend is pleading with President Donald Trump to restore Sea Grant funds.
Jordon Hudson, a 23-year-old Miss Maine finalist and the daughter of a fisherman, wrote in an Instagram post pleading for Trump to restore the Sea Grant funding, “I am Jordon and I speak for the fishermen. I speak for the fishermen and for the fishermen who have no voice” before asking whether the president loves the fishermen, according to New York magazine’s The Cut.
Hudson attended the 50th Maine Fisherman’s Forum in Rockport over the weekend. In one of her posts, she was pictured with U.S. Sen. Susan Collins.
On Feb. 28, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration informed the University of Maine that the agency was immediately terminating the current $4.5 million four-year grant, which was entering its second year.
More than 30 states, Puerto Rico and Guam participate in the national Sea Grant program. No other Sea Grant program has seen its funding cut.
For every federal dollar invested, it generates $15 in economic activity, adding up to $23.5 million annually. Maine Sea Grant, which started in 1971, supported more than 300 businesses and more than 560 jobs in 2023.
The decision to terminate federal support for Maine Sea Grant comes days after Democratic Gov. Janet Mills got into a heated exchange with Trump at a White House event over the state’s inclusive policy toward transgender athletes. Trump has been pressuring Maine and two other states to ban transgender women and girls from participating in women’s and girls’ sports, saying they are violating a February executive order and threatening to withhold federal funds.
The Trump administration on Wednesday said Maine was violating Title IX by allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls’ and women’s sports. The U.S. attorney general has threatened to sue Maine to force compliance.
U.S. Sen. Angus King and U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree on Wednesday sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick demanding the Trump administration immediately undo its “ill-advised decision” to abruptly end support for the Maine Sea Grant program.
The Commerce Department said Wednesday it agreed to renegotiate funding for the Maine Sea Grant program.
In her posts, Hudson noted her father was a ninth-generation fisherman who was pushed out of the industry by “reckless regulatory decisions by government officials,” according to The Cut.
Hudson and Belichick met on a flight in 2021 and began dating in 2022. They moved in together last year.
Belichick started his NFL career in 1975 as an assistant for the Baltimore Colts, 26 years before Hudson was born in April 2001. Belichick won his first Super Bowl with the Patriots in 2002. Belichick, who will be coaching the University of North Carolina next year, attended an NFL Honors event last month with Hudson.
Belichick has said he considers Trump a friend and that their relationship isn’t “political,” according to NESN.
