Why Vice President Pence was in northern Maine on Monday
Maine's rural 2nd Congressional District is getting a lot of attention in the White House race
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}When you think of the battlegrounds that could decide whether President Trump or Democratic nominee Joe Biden win next month’s general election, Maine often doesn’t come to mind.
It’s been 32 years since a Republican carried the northern New England state in the race for the White House. You have to go all the way back to then-Vice President George H.W. Bush in 1988.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But Maine is one of only two states – along with Nebraska – that divides its electoral votes by congressional district – and Trump won the state’s more rural Second Congressional District four years ago.
Vice President Mike Pence waves to supporters at a campaign rally, Monday, Oct. 19, 2020, at Dysarts in Hermon, Maine. (Linda Coan O'Kresik/The Bangor Daily News via AP)
“Here in northern Maine you people believed we could be strong again. You believed we could be prosperous, again. Northern Maine said yes to President Donald Trump in 2016, and I know northern Maine is going to say yes to four more years of President Donald Trump in 2020,” Vice President Mike Pence said Monday as he campaigned in the district.
The Trump-Pence ticket topped 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton by 10 points in northern Maine, giving Trump an extra electoral vote. Clinton captured the First Congressional District by nearly 15 points and narrowly carried the statewide vote to win three electoral votes.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}An average of the most recent polls in Maine indicates Biden far ahead in the statewide battle but point to a close contest for the Second Congressional District.
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The president stopped in Maine in June – and his sons Don Jr. and Eric have both campaigned in the state recently. While the former vice president hasn’t campaigned in Maine, his wife, Jill Biden, stopped in the state last month.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Pence, during his event on Monday, took aim at the Democratic nominee for so far not answering if he supports a push by some progressive Democrats to expand the size of the Supreme Court next year if the Democrats win the White House and the Senate majority, in order to balance a court that will move to a 6-3 conservative majority if Trump nominee Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed.
“To borrow a phrase, ‘Come on, man!’ Joe, the American people deserve a straight answer. When you’re running for the highest office in the land, you gotta say whether you're gonna respect the highest court in the land,” Pence said.