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Matt Dunlap of Old Town is a Democratic candidate for Maine’s Second Congressional District.
All of us are called to serve. That call manifests itself in many ways: reading to children; volunteering at a food pantry; helping a neighbor rake their leaves; and helping get older neighbors to their appointments are the essence of public service. Perhaps more recognizable forms are found in those who take on deeper and more long-term commitments — serving as firefighters or police officers, enlisting in the armed services, or running for public office. It all matters.
Common to these examples is the pull we all feel when we realize we can make a difference: we can see it, and it calls out to us.
After last year’s elections, I was asked to address a group of folks who were worried about the course our country had just embarked on. Chief among those concerns was the prospect of the implementation of the Project 2025 document, the far-right blueprint for reshaping and even dismantling many institutions we’ve become accustomed to in our lives.
The people who showed up to that conversation filled an auditorium. What I told them that evening is that we cannot count on anyone in Washington to come and rescue us; we have to do it ourselves. We are the leaders we are looking for, and if we want to make a difference, we must be the ones who show up. That’s who runs the world.
Over the course of the ensuing months, a number of people approached me about that future and my history of taking on tough challenges — everything from the transparent administration of elections, to opposing REAL ID, to the Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission, to the implementation of ranked-choice voting and the Help America Vote Act, to taking on President Donald Trump’s bogus Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. Likewise, they argued, my record of helping people in countless scenarios — administering driving exams, serving with community nonprofits, promoting accountability in government, moderating town meetings, and helping people navigate state bureaucracies, among many other examples — shows I’m someone who stands up to be counted when challenges emerge.
Today, while we hear many candidates talk about fighting for working families, not many actually come from that world. I come from a working family and grew up on a farm. I’ve worked in textiles, I’ve worked in restaurants washing dishes, bartending and cooking, and I’ve worked in a commercial print shop. I grew up in a small family business, and I’ve had to make payroll too.
Like every working person in the Second District, I’ve done what I needed to make ends meet. I’ve never forgotten about my neighbors when we debated these issues in the Legislature or during my times as secretary of state or as state auditor. I certainly won’t forget them when they elect me to Congress.
I made the decision to run for Congress not because it seemed like a shining opportunity that would be easy to obtain, but precisely because I knew it to be necessary and would be hard. I’m running because families need someone to fight for a people’s agenda: Medicare for all instead of medical bankruptcy, a cost of living we can afford, a better future for our children, and confronting the threats to our democracy.
Over the coming months, we’ll have a robust discussion about how our nation will embrace the future for everyone, and not just the powerful few. From me, that will consist not of a recitation of talking points to voters that comes from some Washington echo chamber, but rather as a conversation about what we need and the fight for a better tomorrow. We can do better.
