SCARBOROUGH, Maine - Maine Democrats are kicking of their inaugural dinner to honor to Maine icons, one living and the other not.
The event on Friday in Scarborough honors the legacies of peace negotiator and former Sen. George Mitchell and the late U.S. Labor Secretary Frances Perkins.
The Perkins-Mitchell Dinner is a rebranding of the annual Jefferson-Jackson Dinner. Maine's Democrats and other state parties around the country are choosing to end the association with Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson because of the former presidents' ties to slavery.
Attendees include Mitchell, Perkins' grandson Tomlin Perkins Coggershall, Rep. Chellie Pingree and Maine Democratic Party Chairman Phil Bartlett.