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Maine extremists mull challenging battle-tested House Democrat in Trump seat [1]

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Date: 2023-03-29  

Caruso, who is a member of the Board of Selectman for the tiny community of Caratunk, says she’s not close to deciding on a second try. Last time she raised less than $50,000 before losing the nomination to former Rep. Bruce Poliquin only 60-40, which was a surprisingly underwhelming performance for someone as well known as Poliquin. That showing turned out to be a grim omen for Poliquin, who went on to lose the general to Golden 53-47 even as former GOP Gov. Paul LePage was carrying the 2nd 50-47.

However, Caruso herself may have also benefited from some important connections. Most notably, she was the spokesperson for the high-profile 2021 ballot initiative that succeeded in blocking the Central Maine Power hydropower corridor project. Caruso also spent the evening before the primary on the Fox News show hosted by Tucker Carlson, a part-time Maine resident and fellow corridor foe. Carlson is hardly the only far-right figure Caruso wants to be associated with, saying just before the primary that one of the politicians she’d align with is Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Cross, for his part, says he’ll make up his mind in June. Cross, who is the grandson of the founder of the large company Cross Insurance, ran for the state Senate last year, but lost the primary 55-45 to state Rep. Peter Lyford.

Libby, finally, made a name for herself in 2019 before she won office when she threatened to leave Maine if Democratic Gov. Janet Mills signed a bill to end religious and personal vaccination exemptions for school children. But Libby did not make good on that threat even after voters rejected a statewide ballot measure to repeal the law in a 73-27 landslide, and she instead concentrated on a successful 2020 campaign to unseat a Democratic incumbent. The new state representative went on to attack Mills’ requirement that health care workers get vaccinated for COVID, telling a rally, “To be clear, this is war!”

Libby’s extremism has helped her make some useful connections, as the $62,000 she raised last cycle was nearly twice as much as what any other candidate for Maine’s lower chamber took in. She also co-founded a PAC that attacked the state House GOP’s main campaign arm as “pathetic,” something party leaders did not appreciate. Shepherd writes that Libby is now “the nominal leader of a strident faction of House Republicans opposed to key items” in the legislature, including a successful home heating bill.

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[1] Url: https://elections.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/29/2160963/-Maine-extremists-mull-challenging-battle-tested-House-Democrat-in-Trump-seat

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