AUGUSTA, Maine — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders will visit Bangor on Friday to campaign in support of Democrat Hillary Clinton’s bid for the presidency.
Sanders, who lost to Clinton in the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination race but beat Clinton handily in Maine’s caucuses in March, is scheduled to speak beginning at 10:30 a.m. at the Cross Insurance Center on Main Street. Doors open at 9:30 a.m.
According to a news release, Sanders will discuss themes that will be familiar to those who followed his campaign: raising the minimum wage, combating climate change, sustainable energy and tuition-free college. Democrats added elements of those Sanders’ campaign standards to the party platform as part of efforts to make Clinton more palatable to the progressive senator’s supporters.
Sanders spoke before large crowds twice in Portland during his quest for the Democratic presidential nomination. His visit to Bangor is an indication that Clinton is fighting against polling numbers that show the northern 2nd Congressional District could vote for Republican Donald Trump. If that happens and the more liberal 1st Congressional District votes for Clinton, Maine’s four Electoral College votes could be split between the candidates for the first time.
Campaign pressure on 2nd District voters will be intense through Election Day. In addition to the presidential election — in which the Trump campaign just bought $500,000 in television advertising — the rematch between incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin and Democrat Emily Cain is one of the highest-profile congressional races in the country and has already had millions of dollars spent or pledged on it.
A Trump victory in the 2nd District would be another indication that Maine, or at least its northern and western areas, is trending more politically conservative after having voted solidly Democratic in presidential elections since 1992. That political difference would be another of a number of indicators — ranging from economic health to school funding — that Maine is becoming increasingly divided between north and south or inland and coastal.
A poll late last month showed Clinton with a wide lead in the 1st Congressional District but Trump beating her 48 percent to 34 percent in the 2nd District. Clinton led statewide by about 4 percent, according to the University of New Hampshire Survey Center/Portland Press Herald poll.
Clinton has not visited Maine since September 2015, when she spoke at King Middle School in Portland. Her running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, attended a private fundraiser in Cape Elizabeth last month. The campaign also sent former child actors Molly Ringwald and Sean Astin to stump for her.
