Politics

It’s time again for Maine’s Political Pulse.

While almost all of the attention of this campaign season has been focused on Maine’s U.S. Senate race, there are two other races underway for two Congressional seats.

It's been a turbulent year of protests and outrage over persistent issues surrounding racism. The city of South Portland this week took an uncommon step and voted to create a municipal Human Rights Commission that is thought to be the first in the state. Margaret Brownlee is diversity, equity and inclusion officer at Maine College of Art who helped shape the commission in South Portland. Brownlee talked about the initiative with Maine Public's Jennifer Mitchell.

With less than two months left before Election Day, the U.S. Senate race in Maine is already the most expensive in state history. And that’s prompted the four candidates to decry the influence of money in politics while also blaming one another for its impact on one of the most closely watched contests in the country.

The state’s Permanent Commission on the Status of Racial, Indigenous and Maine Tribal Populations is urging the passage of 26 bills as a way to ease racial disparities in the state.

Attorneys representing Secretary of State Matt Dunlap and supporters and opponents of ranked-choice voting were grilled by Maine Supreme Court justices Tuesday in a case that could decide whether ranked-choice voting applies to the presidential election in Maine this fall.

Both of Maine’s Senators are critical of President Trump’s public messaging around the COVID- 19 pandemic, in the wake of newly-released taped interviews in which Trump acknowledges he intentionally downplayed the seriousness of the novel coronavirus.

On this special Saturday edition of the Pulse, Maine Public's Irwin Gratz spoke with political reporters Steve Mistler and Mal Leary to unpack moments from the first debate of the high stakes Maine U.S. Senate race. 

At Friday's debate, Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins and Democratic challenger Sara Gideon exchanged barbs  over health care, judicial appointments and President Donald Trump.