Democratic voters voiced deep concerns and frustrations about the Trump administration during a town hall with U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree in Rockport on Sunday.
Pingree, a Democrat from Maine's 1st District, fielded questions on topics ranging from Social Security and the elimination of the Department of Education to the war in Gaza and the arrests of noncitizens during the 90-minute meeting at Camden Hills Regional High School.
The event drew more than 500 people and was open to open to anyone who reserved a spot. And at least one Republican voter pressed Pingree on her position on offshore wind, which is unpopular with many lobstermen. But what kept coming up from the clearly left-leaning crowd were feelings of anger and distrust toward the Trump administration.
Some of the loudest applause of the night came when a woman who identified herself as Belinda from Bremen declared: "I want them gone" and asked Pingree who will enforce the laws if President Donald Trump defies orders from the U.S. Supreme Court.
"So what will happen when all of his minions and the people who are his puppet master continue to defy our laws openly?" she said. "I mean, they all tanked the stock market so they could make money. It didn't matter what happened to our 401Ks, right? Who is going to stop them?"
"It's a very legitimate question," Pingree replied. "It's what we are all worried about, this idea of a 'constitutional crisis' and when we call it that."
But the Democrat also told the crowd that Democrats in Congress are trying to highlight how funding and program cuts are impacting communities across the country. She also criticized both Trump and her Republican colleagues, who she said have not asserted Congress' control over the federal purse strings.
Both Pingree and Republican Maine Sen. Susan Collins are members of the powerful congressional appropriations committees — with Collins heading the Senate committee — that decide how to divvy up the federal budget. Democrats have accused the Trump administration of overstepping its constitutional authority by clawing back or refusing to disburse money appropriated by Congress. The issue is likely to be settled in court.
"While I have good relationships with many of my Republican colleagues and I will continually try to work with them in areas where we have agreement, they need to get a spine and stand up and fight back for the constitutional, institutional power that we have," Pingree said.
Karla Doremus-Tranfield of Camden said she was most concerned about "the disappearing of people who are here legally" — a reference to the Trump administration's arrest and attempted deportation of international students involved in campus protests, green card holders and asylum seekers.
Pingree replied that "we are watching the rule of law disappear before our eyes and around immigration is one of the most dramatic places."
Pingree has been elected nine times to represent the more liberal 1st District, winning with roughly 59% of the vote in 2024. Sunday's event was the first in-person town hall held by a member of Maine's congressional delegation in several years. The town hall was billed as being "open to all," although attendees had to RSVP beforehand. She is holding a second town hall in Westbrook on Monday evening.
While most questioners criticized Trump policies, at least two attendees challenged Pingree on renewable energy and transgender athletes.
Cushing resident Heather Sprague, a Republican, pressed Pingree how she was balancing the development of offshore wind energy with the concerns of Maine's fishing industry. Maine's lobster industry has largely opposed development of offshore wind.
Pingree responded that those questions "are difficult to decide" and that fishermen need to be consulted. But Pingree, a North Haven resident, she also said there have been many "myths" about renewable energy spread by the oil industry and that climate change poses a major threat to the lobster industry.
Another questioner suggested that Pingree was not doing enough to protect female athletes because she opposed a Republican bill to ban transgender athletes from girls' and women's sports. Pingree replied that the bill was "misguided" but acknowledged the complicated and nuanced debate over young transgender athletes.
But Pingree criticized Trump for targeting Maine with funding cuts and investigations over the issue. Several federal agencies have now found Maine in violation of Title IX — the federal nondiscrimination law — because it allows transgender athletes to compete in women's sports. But state officials, including Attorney General Aaron Frey, have said nothing in Title IX prohibits such policies and say schools are following Maine's nondiscrimination law.
"However you feel about students in transgender sports ... a president cannot target a state because he disagrees with you if he doesn't have the law on his side," Pingree said. "He is doing this based on an executive order, not a Supreme Court decision or federal law ... So every time that they block our funding individually, it's illegal."
Pingree also handed off the microphone briefly to Frey, a Democrat whose office has been preparing the state's legal defense against those funding cuts related to Title IX. The attorney general's office won an initial victory late last week when a federal judge ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture to reinstate federal funds that had been frozen following the agency's investigation under Title IX.
Frey has signed onto multiple lawsuits filed by other Democratic state attorneys general challenging funding cuts and other actions taken by President Trump's team. Addressing the town hall crowd, Frey compared those multi-state efforts to firefighters working to extinguish a building fire. He also compared Trump to an arsonist in such a scenario.
"There are a lot of people making sure that the arsonist who has created this chaos will be held accountable," Frey said. "It just takes a little while to put out this fire. And we are dotting all of our Is and crossing all of our Ts. I am confident that we will be successful with these efforts."
Frey received a standing ovation from many in the audience.
