Politics
Our political journalists are based in the Maine State House and have deep source networks across the partisan spectrum in communities all over the state. Their coverage aims to cut through major debates and probe how officials make decisions. Read more Politics coverage here.
Five Democrats and seven Republicans are fighting hard in their uncertain primaries for the chance to replace Gov. Janet Mills, but playmakers on both sides of the aisle are already strategizing around a candidate who isn’t on the ballot until November.
An early focus of the race is state Sen. Rick Bennett of Oxford, a former Maine Republican chair who rose through the party system only to leave the GOP last year to launch a bid to become the state’s third independent governor. Three other unenrolled candidates are running as well, but Bennett is the best-known politician of the bunch.
Republicans are openly saying Bennett’s candidacy may be the only way for their party to win the Blaine House given the state’s blue swing over the past decade. Democrats are trying to erode support for him early, launching the website “Rick’s Receipts,” spotlighting his time leading the state party and championing former Gov. Paul LePage and President Donald Trump.
Many in political circles see a path for Bennett to win the race. Lance Dutson, a Republican strategist who previously worked on entrepreneur Jonathan Bush’s campaign, said the polarized climate could clear a path for Bennett, helping to explain why he’s being targeted now.
“If we get a MAGA Trumper as the nominee, and we get someone from the extreme side of the Democratic Party as their nominee, Rick Bennett will walk into a perfect storm,” Dutson said.
While Republican candidates press Trump for an endorsement, the Democrats are eager to link their opponents to the president’s contentious policies and a struggling economy. That dynamic is also playing out with Bennett, the only Republican to vote against attempts to ban transgender girls from female sports last year
David Farmer, a Democratic operative working with a group fighting a trans athlete referendum, said he likes Bennett personally and gave him credit for “moderate Republican” votes over the years. But he said the senator hasn’t “used his voice to stand up to forces that I think have had long term damage to the Republican Party and the country.”
“Rick Bennett isn’t an independent voice for Mainers, he’s a Republican in sheep’s clothing,” Devon Murphy-Anderson, the Maine Democratic Party’s executive director, said.
The party’s site targets Bennett’s work with LePage, his opposition to public funding for Planned Parenthood and MaineCare expansion, and his support for Trump, for whom he was a 2nd Congressional District elector before attending the 2017 inauguration.
But Bennett, a former Maine Senate president, rebranded himself since returning to the chamber in 2020. He has cut against his party on many issues, becoming a chief critic of Central Maine Power Co. and its hydropower corridor through western Maine. He also supported a public utility takeover that failed in a 2023 referendum.
Bennett’s campaign dismissed the criticism, saying it wasn’t surprised because he has momentum in the race.
“Rick is independent-minded and he’s offering common sense solutions to the problems we face,” spokesperson Kaitlin LaCassee said. “He answers only to Mainers — not political parties, operatives, insiders or dark-money special interests.”
State Sen. Jeff Timberlake, R-Turner, also shrugged off Democrats’ criticism of Bennett, joking that some Republicans “have called him a lifelong Democrat.”
Timberlake had donated to Bennett even though he backs former Maine Senate Majority Leader Garrett Mason, describing him as the most qualified conservative in the race. Timberlake thinks an independent could have a shot this year, depending on how the primaries play out. But he described independents largely as spoilers in the traditionally Democratic-leaning state.
“If we don’t have an independent like Rick who will take some of the vote, a Republican won’t win,” he said.
State Rep. Ed Crockett, retired state worker John Glowa and small business owner Derek Levasseur are running as independents. Crockett said he wasn’t surprised that Bennett is taking flak for stepping outside the party system. Levasseur said the race should be about “leadership, policy and results,” not what parties want.
“They’re big machines,” Crockett, a former Democrat from Portland, said. “They throw their weight around, and it isn’t even subtle.”
