The national campaign arm for House Democrats formally threw its support Thursday behind State Auditor Matt Dunlap in his 2nd District race against former Maine Gov. Paul LePage.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had not been on good terms with Dunlap after he decided last fall to challenge U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, the moderate Democrat who has held the seat since 2019. Soon after, Golden said he would not seek reelection to the swing district covering Maine’s northern half that has thrice backed President Donald Trump.
Dunlap, a 61-year-old Bar Harbor native and Old Town resident, went on to win June’s four-way Democratic primary in a ranked-choice voting runoff, beating the national campaign committee’s preferred candidate in state Sen. Joe Baldacci, D-Bangor.
Dunlap’s campaign and his allies had been talking since then with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to try to get it to throw its support behind Dunlap as he seeks to beat LePage, a 77-year-old Lewiston native and former Waterville mayor who was Maine’s governor from 2011 to 2019.
That support finally came Thursday morning, when the national committee said it is adding Dunlap to its “Red to Blue” program that gives “top-tier” candidates fundraising and organizational resources to help keep open Democratic seats blue or flip Republican-held seats.
“Matt Dunlap has spent his career delivering for Maine’s working families and standing up to special interests — earning the trust of Mainers across party lines,” said U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., who chairs the national committee, calling Dunlap “the independent, Maine-first leader the 2nd District needs to lower costs, protect affordable health care and stand up to the billionaires rigging the economy against working families.”
It’s a nod to the importance that both parties nationally have placed on Maine’s 2nd District race ahead of the November midterms that are historically tough for the president’s party. Dunlap will welcome the national assistance while running against LePage in a contest that most election forecasters have placed in the “likely Republican” category.
“I’m in this race to make life more affordable for working families, protect Social Security and fight back against the corporations and lobbyists that are robbing us blind,” Dunlap said in a written statement Thursday.
LePage welcomed House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to Auburn on Monday and recently touted endorsements from the National Rifle Association and U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Still, Dunlap and his campaign, featuring a mostly progressive platform, have pointed to internal polling showing him in a neck-and-neck contest with the former governor, whom Trump has endorsed.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee did not attach a specific dollar amount to its support of Dunlap but said the program “provides strategic guidance, staff resources, candidate trainings and more” while also serving as “the first step toward more significant … investment” in Maine’s 2nd District.
The pro-Republican Congressional Leadership Fund has devoted more than $5 million so far to ads supporting LePage in the 2nd District race, which has drawn more than $21 million in total spending, according to AdImpact data. But the pro-Democrat House Majority PAC has already committed more than $8 million to try to keep the seat blue.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had previously added Baldacci to its “Red to Blue” program before his loss in the June primary. Dunlap was among the five more candidates it added across the country Thursday, and the committee said it now has 37 races in the “Red to Blue” category ahead of November.