Dark-money donors make House seat Maine squeeze
PORTLAND, Maine — The battle over who will represent Maine in the largest congressional district east of the Mississippi River is the most expensive political race in state history, leading to more television campaign ads than in any other state and underscoring millions of dollars of so-called “dark money” pouring into the race.
That boils down to a rate of 26 commercials per hour, according to the Wesleyan Media Project.
But whether those never-ending ads fueling the Democrat and Republican duking it out in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District will sway voters is unclear with a few days to go before the state’s Tuesday election.
The U.S. House race in the 2nd District, which covers most of the state and is overwhelmingly rural, has already broken records to become the most expensive in the state’s history, with over $12 million in spending by outside groups so far.
That includes $2.3 million spent by liberal Patriot Majority USA, a nonprofit that doesn’t have to disclose who funded its ads against Republican U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin. The congressman has tried to use misgivings about such spending to his advantage and argues that Democrats, who have long railed about big money in politics, are playing the same games.
His challenger, Democratic state Rep. Jared Golden, who has decried dark money, recently vowed to require such groups to disclose their donors. The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC linked to House Speaker Paul Ryan and funded partly by untraceable money, has spent $3 million to oppose Golden.
Meanwhile, at the state level, Democrats boosted by hard-to-trace money still have the spending advantage over Republicans. National liberal groups like the Democratic Governors Association and the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee have contributed heavily in Maine, partly in hopes of gaining influence in redistricting following the 2020 census in Maine.