Vice President JD Vance will be speaking in Bangor on Thursday.
Vance will be at an event at Bangor International Airport for an 11:30 a.m. event and is scheduled to give remarks at 12:30 p.m., Jason Savage, the executive director of the Maine Republican Party, said in a Monday afternoon email blast to members.
It is the first White House event in Maine since President Donald Trump began his second term last year. Vance was announced last month as the leader of an effort to root out fraud in welfare programs. Maine was mentioned at that time among a group of other states run by Democrats.
Trump focused heavily on Maine in his 2016 and 2020 campaigns. His presidency has been intertwined with the state after a war of words last year between Trump and Gov. Janet Mills over Maine’s transgender athlete policies, prompting suspensions of federal funding. Immigration agents surged into the state for six days in January.
The president has been a main talking point in the wide-open race to replace the term-limited Mills. Seven Republicans and five Democrats are running in June 9 primaries, while Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins faces a major challenge from insurgent Democrat Graham Platner and former Gov. Paul LePage is trying to capture the open 2nd Congressional District seat.
Fraud allegations in Maine’s version of Medicaid have been a constant drumbeat for Republicans. Following a massive fraud prosecution in Minnesota focused on the Somali community there, Maine moved in December to suspend an immigrant health care provider from the program while alleging $1 million in overbilling. The company denied the allegations.
Shortly afterward, the Bangor Daily News reported on law enforcement memos that flagged interpreter fraud as an issue going back to 2020 as well as an ongoing prosecution of a provider that allegedly used Medicaid money to commit tax fraud. A state audit in March flagged improper controls over billions of dollars in the program.
The Republicans running for governor have cozied up the president on fraud and immigration. Democrats have jousted over their plans to shield Maine from Trump’s policies, particularly after the immigration surge that the federal government said was aimed at the “worst of the worst” criminals but only targeted a small number of immigrants with criminal records.
BDN writer Christopher Burns contributed to this report.