Jared Golden (Incumbent, Democrat from Lewiston)

The former state lawmaker and Marine veteran of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars is seeking a fourth term. Since being elected to Congress in 2018, Golden has been toward the ideological middle of the House, though he is more progressive on campaign finance, abortion and tribal rights. He has taken votes against his party on spending and gun control, though he reversed himself to back a ban on so-called assault weapons after the 2023 shooting in his home city.

That change is one of the top Republican arguments against Golden during this election. They have also focused on Golden’s unwillingness to say for whom he will vote in the upcoming presidential election and his vote for the Inflation Reduction Act, a far-reaching Democratic bill that included energy and climate investments, allowed Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices and energy and climate investments, allowed Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices, set a new 15 percent minimum tax on corporations with $1 billion or more in annual profit and boosted oil and gas production.

Austin Theriault (Republican from Fort Kent)

A former NASCAR driver, Theriault is looking to make the jump to Congress after just one term as a state representative. He campaigned for that seat in 2022 as a consensus-oriented Republican who opposed changes to Maine’s abortion laws despite representing a socially conservative area. In the Legislature, he supported a wind farm proposed in Aroostook County and voted against Democratic abortion-rights expansions.

Democrats have seized on the abortion issue as well as his early backing from national Republicans and former President Donald Trump ahead of his June primary, arguing that Theriault will be beholden to them in Congress. Theriault has tried to blunt the latter talking point by saying he would oppose raising the retirement ages for Social Security and Medicare and running under a slogan of pushing for “more balance and less extremism” in Congress.

Angus King (Incumbent, independent from Brunswick)

The former two-term governor came out of political retirement to easily claim his seat in 2012. He has polled as Maine’s most popular politician. Despite his independent branding, he is a reliable member of the Democratic caucus and a regular on cable news as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. He notably said former President Donald Trump’s Cabinet should have considered removing him after the Capitol riots of Jan. 6, 2021.

During this term, he has faced criticism on his left for working on a plan with a Republican colleague that eyed raising the retirement age for Social Security. Conservatives hammered him after leaked files showed his 2018 campaign sending a list of “suspicious” Twitter accounts that included political critics. He is 80 years old and would be Maine’s oldest-ever senator a few short months into a third term.

Demi Kouzounas (Republican from Saco)

The retired dentist and Army veteran was urged to run by U.S. Sen. Susan Collins. Her political resume largely consists of her time chairing the Maine Republican Party, serving as a chief ally for former Gov. Paul LePage and former President Donald Trump. She served from 2017 through 2023, when she was ousted in a decisive vote after a poor election for Republicans.

Her chief issue during the campaign has been immigration. One ad features her at the southern border meeting with law enforcement. She has criticized King’s past opposition to a border wall Kouzounas has also accused him of inaction during Maine’s housing crisis, saying he “let housing prices soar” although prices have spiked almost everywhere in the country during the COVID-19 pandemic.

David Costello (Democrat from Brunswick)

The Old Town native is on the ballot as an insurgent candidate due to King’s tacit support from Maine’s Democratic establishment. Costello ran in a 2002 primary in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District. He has worked in several public-sector jobs, including as an assistant to former Maine Secretary of State Bill Diamond and as a chief aide to a former Maryland governor.

He is running a social media-centered campaign on a “reform agenda” of progressive ideas, including abolishing the Electoral College, restructuring the Senate and expanding the House of Representatives. He backs gun control measures and tribal sovereignty, the latter of which is a contrast with King, who aligned with Gov. Janet Mills against a major rights expansion.

Jason Cherry (Independent from Unity)

The former FBI agent and data privacy lawyer is a longshot candidate in this year’s Senate race. He supports 20-year term limits for all branches of government as well as age limits of 80 for public officials, raising the retirement age to 70 for Social Security benefits, limiting fossil fuel use and promoting renewables and registering private firearm sales, according to his website.

Chellie Pingree (Incumbent, Democrat from North Haven)

The eighth-term member is the most liberal one in Maine’s congressional delegation, representing a heavily Democratic portion of the state and drawing little-known Republican challenges for a decade.

She serves on the House Appropriations Committee and has carved out a niche on agricultural issues that jibes with her history as an organic farmer. Pingree has historically stood out among Maine’s delegation for her support of gun control and criticism of Israel in recent years. Alongside King, she skipped Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress in June, instead meeting with families of hostages taken by the terror group Hamas.

Ronald C. Russell (Republican from Kennebunkport)

The Fort Fairfield native served in the Army for 30 years and ran a company focused on operations and intelligence for the Defense Department after that. He is a political newcomer running an orthodox Republican campaign. Russell criticizes President Joe Biden’s border policies, opposing “burdensome gun control regulations on law-abiding citizens” and calls for investment in mental health, according to his website.

Ethan Weld Alcorn (Independent from Saco)

This is the first time on the ballot for the gadfly candidate who initially filed to run for governor in both 2018 and 2022 as well as to run for president in 2020. He has campaigned out of an orange RV, where he recently handed a reporter a bookmark detailing an eclectic mix of positions from closing the border to decriminalizing marijuana.

This would be a consequential change to campaign finance law, which allows for unlimited contributions to groups that make independent expenditures. It is backed by EqualCitizens.US, a group founded by liberal Harvard Law School professor Lawrence Lessig. 

He pitches it as a narrowly crafted way to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 2010 decision that struck down contribution limits on these groups. However, the Massachusetts attorney general declined to put a similar question on the ballot, saying it is unconstitutional. That led the conservative Maine Policy Institute to argue it will likely never be implemented.

This borrowing proposal focused on emerging technologies is Maine’s first one on research and development since 2017. That $45 million bond generated more than 5,300 jobs and $1.4 billion in economic output, according to an analysis for the Maine Technology Institute.

Mainers have voted three times since 1985 on similar historic preservation bonds, but this one would devote twice as much money to the subject as those last three combined. It came after a recently released state plan found that a key challenge to preserving historic buildings was a lack of consistent funding for existing state programs.

This bond was backed by environmental groups and municipalities to support a diverse range of trails from hiking to ATVing and snowmobiling. It is still opposed by passenger rail advocates who see trails as subsuming networks that could be put back on line.

The most publicized question on the 2024 ballot is over Maine’s top symbol. A yes vote is to replace the current flag, which features the state seal on a blue background, with one similar to the flag in place from 1901 to 1909. It depicts a pine tree at the center of a buff background alongside a blue star. It has recently gained popularity in yards and on merchandise.

The proposed change comes after a yearslong legislative debate over whether the flag is distinct enough. Supporters of the new (or you could say old) flag say that the current one looks too much like the military-style flags of other states. Opponents say the seal depicting a farmer and fisherman properly reflects Maine’s heritage.