In Maine’s battleground Senate race, Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings show that Democrat candidate Sara Gideon benefits greatly from out-of-state donations. Specifically, Gideon receives a disproportionate amount of contributions from donors in Portland, Oregon.
In quarter three, Gideon received $223,710.63 from 1,109 donors from Portland, Oregon, compared to $158,196.68 from 846 donors from Portland, Maine. The former, of course, has been at the forefront of the movement to “defund the police,” with violent protesters taking over the city.
Gideon has claimed to be against the idea of “defunding the police,” but during her time on the Freeport Town Council, she voted in favor of pulling funding from the police dispatch. She then voted to redirect that funding to a nonprofit organization that she sat on the board of.
The Senate hopeful also overwhelmingly benefits from various left-wing interest groups that prop up the movement to “defund the police.” Incumbent GOP Senator Susan Collins, who does not subscribe to the “defund the police” movement, challenged Gideon to refund the contributions.
“I obviously do not support defunding police,” Sen. Collins said in a September debate, pointing out that her opponent has received $6 million “from groups that do favor defunding the police,” and wondered if “she’s [Gideon] now going to refund that money.”
While claiming to oppose the fringe movement to take away funding for law enforcement, Gideon benefits from far-left groups that perpetuate that very movement. In what is a battleground Senate race, Gideon should afford Maine voters transparency about her real stance on the idea of “defunding the police.”
