Affordability was on the minds of attendees at Vice President JD Vance’s Brewer rally on Monday, underscoring the headwinds Republicans face heading into a midterm election shaped by high prices and the unpopular Iran war.
President Donald Trump’s approval on the economy has slipped nationally of late and stood at 38% in Maine in a July survey. U.S. employers cut 23,000 jobs in that month, versus the 83,000 gain economists had forecast, and revised down May and June payrolls by more than 100,000 combined, according to Politico. Gas prices have also climbed amid stalled talks with Iran.
The fans of Trump who attended Vance’s rally see many of the same issues but were energized by speeches from Republican Party leadership that focused on industry and the working class, a demographic where the GOP has made inroads in recent years, especially in rural parts of the 2nd Congressional District that has voted three times for the president.
It’s also a group Democrats in the state are gunning for as labor-aligned progressive candidates, including former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, who is running against U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, look to win some of the biggest elections for control of Congress in November.
Shelby Weston of Milo, who attended the rally with her sister, alluded to a speech by Maine Senate Minority Trey Stewart, R-Presque Isle, one of Vance’s openers, who told the crowd that someone who steals welfare benefits takes them from “the worker who got up at five o’clock this morning.”
That’s when Weston, a railroad worker, gets up every day. She has a big family and worries that kids growing up now may not be able to “afford life.”
“I support people that need welfare, but I don’t like the welfare fraud,” she said, referencing investigations into potential MaineCare fraud that came up repeatedly at the rally on Monday. “I think our money should be our money, especially if we’re working hard for it.”
Affordability has been the country’s dominant financial concern since the COVID-19 pandemic upended household budgets. A Gallup survey conducted in April found 31% of Americans cite the high cost of living as their top financial problem, among the highest readings in Gallup’s more than two-decade trend.
This holds in Maine as well, where three-quarters of those polled by the University of New Hampshire last month said Maine was a good place to live, but only 25% called it affordable. Gas prices reached record highs this month as talks with Iran have dragged on, and the Trump administration announced new sanctions against the country Monday.
Jeff McLain of Blue Hill, attending his first Vance event after seeing Trump twice in Maine, said he’s worried about the economy, the border and Iran.
“I wish they would just level the place,” McLain said of Iran. “We’ve got to stop wasting time and money and just get it done.”
His opinion reflects nervousness about the conflict but cuts against public sentiment as Americans oppose escalation. A Quinnipiac University survey released in late July found 60% of voters oppose the U.S. military action against Iran and 74% oppose sending in ground troops, with 66% saying the war hasn’t been worth fighting.
Trump’s handling of the Iran situation was his worst-rated issue in the poll, with just 28% approval, making it a key election vulnerability for Republicans.
Some other attendees were more hesitant to weigh in on Iran. Matt Griffiths, the chair of the Maine Young Republicans, said he implicitly trusts Trump’s judgment and thinks he is rightly acting on information the general public doesn’t have.
But he also said affordability is the biggest issue motivating the young Mainers he knows, though he’s optimistic about Republicans’ ability to win big in the midterms.
“Maine is not affordable. You’ve got young people living with their parents,” he said. “We’re going to lower taxes. We’re going to bring fiscal common sense back to the state of Maine.”
Philip Henry, a real estate investor based in Bangor, said he came out to the rally to hear what Republican leaders had to say about the state, saying he sees a lack of economic development initiatives in the area and an overemphasis on harm reduction efforts for people who use drugs.
“I think we need help,” Henry said. “We have policies right now that are completely devastating our communities.”