Politics

This week, Maine Public’s Irwin Gratz speaks with Senior Political Correspondent Mal Leary and Statehouse Bureau Chief Steve Mistler about the Republican Primary in the 2nd Congressional District.

Historically, the district has leaned conservative, and it did vote for Donald Trump in 2016. But it was represented for years by a Democrat, Mike Michaud, and Democrat Jared Golden won the seat back from the GOP in 2018.

The race to challenge Golden has drawn three Republican contenders.

In the wake of this week's U.S. Supreme Court ruling on an abortion case, Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins has come under renewed attack for her vote to confirm U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh two years ago. Collins continues to defend her support of Kavanaugh, and she says she believes that she will be reelected in November.

There have been many conversations about "political correctness" - what it means, how it's used, whether it's a good thing or a bad thing. Political correctness is often characterized as a left-leaning pretense criticized by those unsympathetic to a position. For example, some have dismissed calls to ban certain racial epithets or certain racist symbols as P.C. But one professor at Colby College argues that some long standing institutions, such as the police themselves, are the beneficiaries of P.C. thinking.

You would probably have to go back to the 1960s to find the last time politicians were pushed this hard by public opinion to act on the issue of racial injustice. But several protests have swept through the country, including several in Maine. Portland recently reported that 2500 people took part in one of them.

President Donald Trump's decision this weekend to remove a prominent prosecutor whose office is investigating the president's business associates has sparked an outcry from some members of Congress and former U.S. district attorneys.