Politics
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National Democrats are throwing their full support behind State Auditor Matt Dunlap in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District race even after some tried to nudge him aside in favor of another candidate.
House Majority PAC, the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee all publicly backed Dunlap on Tuesday, days after he locked up the primary nomination. The show of support came despite past doubts about his viability against former Gov. Paul LePage, the Republican nominee who enters the race as a likely favorite.
“Matt Dunlap is a fighter for working families who will continue to deliver for Mainers in Congress,” DNC Chairman Ken Martin said in a statement.
The reversal is notable. After centrist U.S. Rep. Jared Golden announced his retirement last November, national Democrats pushed Sen. Joe Baldacci of Bangor to enter the race, believing he stood a better chance against LePage. Dunlap had already declared his candidacy and was warned by the party not to run against a battleground member in Golden.
When he locked up the nomination Friday, the DCCC, which is House Democrats’ campaign arm, painted LePage as an extremist and suggested the district “remains squarely in play. It didn’t mention Dunlap. But the group issued a Tuesday memo praising the former secretary of state and lawmaker for “standing up to powerful interests.”
House Majority PAC, a primary super PAC aligned with leadership, said the group still plans to spend more than the $8 million already reserved in TV and digital ads across the district while following other Democratic groups in trying to brand LePage as an extremist.
“Paul LePage has made a career out of defunding health care and cutting Medicaid, and we look forward to ensuring Matt Dunlap wins in November,” CJ Warnke, spokesperson for House Majority PAC, the Democrats’ primary super PAC, said.
The show of unity came after Democratic operatives suggested to Axios that Dunlap faced such an uphill battle that party investment in the hunt for a majority may be better spent elsewhere. President Donald Trump won the district by more than 9 percentage points in 2024, and LePage carried it in his failed 2022 bid for governor.
Harry Burke, Dunlap’s campaign manager, shrugged off any chatter that the candidate lacks firm backing. He said Republicans should be “careful what you wish for,” noting Dunlap may support progressive policies but he can also lean into his experience as the former head of the gun-rights Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine.
“Matt has gotten plenty of calls from national Democrats and Democratic leaders expressing support,” he said in an interview Tuesday. “He’s in conversations with DCCC leadership, they’re very much supporting us and helping us out.”
LePage strategist Brent Littlefield said in a statement that “national Democrats are saying Matt Dunlap is toast.” But the campaign “does not take this race for granted,” he said.
Littlefield also disputed LePage’s characterization as an extremist. He focused on moves from early in the former governor’s tenure to eliminate the gas tax’s inflation indexing and repay hundreds of millions of dollars in hospital debt.
Dunlap’s supporters acknowledge that this is a difficult race in a conservative-leaning district, but they note that Democrats have shown strong turnout this year. California Rep. Ro Khanna, who campaigned alongside Dunlap and Platner in Bar Harbor this month, rejected criticism of Dunlap’s nomination by saying when centrists win primaries, progressives back them.
“But now that the primary voters chose a progressive, some DC pundits do not want to support [Dunlap]?” he said. “Give me a break. This would be self-sabotage and then the establishment will spread lies about how progressives can’t win swing districts.”