One of the things I was excited for about moving to Lewiston was finally living in a swing congressional district (I’m a politics nerd, OK). I was also super jazzed when Matt Dunlap announced a primary challenge to Rep. Jared Golden.

Like a lot of the Democratic base, I had high hopes for Golden and just became more and more disappointed. And angry. I’m honestly a bit miffed that I won’t get a chance to actively vote against him in a primary but whatever, it’s fine, out with the old in with the new. Spring cleaning! 

It takes guts to launch a primary challenge against an incumbent, especially one who had served as long and beaten as many odds as Golden. You may have noticed that all the big name Democratic politicians in Maine chose to run for governor instead of the Senate seat; I suspect that was less about facing Susan Collins in the general and more about not having to face Janet Mills in the primary. Until she actually jumped in and polling began, she was considered quite the formidable opponent and presumably nobody wanted to risk losing. Unfortunately, in life, you do have to risk taking the occasional “L” in order to win anything of value. 

Dunlap comes across to me as a genuine guy; he’s not pretending to be someone he’s not, a classic bipartisan tactic at election time. This is a guy who kept a rug made from a bear he shot himself displayed in his office, but he’s not out there performatively wearing Carhartt and making himself out to be Mr. Big Tough Hunter Guy. He looks like the accountant that other accountants hire to do their taxes. 

Matt Dunlap has the experience to do a good job as a congressman. He was secretary of state for approximately 100 years (OK, actually 13 years, which is still a lot in politics time). He knows the ins and outs of government bureaucracy and how to make it function; Maine needs people in the federal government these days who can do that. He was also a state representative for almost a decade, so if Congress ever gets back around to doing things like “drafting bills” and “making laws” he will know how to do that. 

He also has a history of standing up to President Trump. Again, this feels like ancient history at this point— and indeed it was almost a decade ago, but in Trump’s first term, the president put together a “voter fraud commission” (because why would anyone choose not to vote for him, must be fraud, please note I am rolling my eyes right now).

Secretary of State Dunlap ended up on it.

The head of the commission then asked every state for personal voter information. At the time, most secretaries of state said no, including Matt Dunlap. Then he sued the commission for refusing to share documents and scheduling information with him and the other Democratic members of the commission. A judge ruled in Dunlap’s favor and rather than turn over the documents, Trump just dissolved the commission, because if the commission didn’t exist he didn’t have to give its information to the Democratic members, I guess. 

A lot more people stood up to Trump during his first term. One of the things that has surprised me about Trump Part II is how many politicians, businessmen and institutions in general just immediately started giving in to all his demands — especially the Republican-led Congress, which has surrendered its constitutional powers of the purse to the executive branch without so much as a sternly worded letter.

My dog Karma has more of a spine than elected Republicans and she once got beat up by a Chihuahua named Oatmeal. 

I’m one of those bleeding-heart progressive liberal types. I believe that government can and should be used to improve the lives of its average citizens, instead of its current job of handing state assets over to private businesses and attacking various minority groups for entertainment.

Dunlap’s policy priorities would go a long way toward making America a better place: importantly, for example, he is in favor of pushing for a universal health care system through Medicare for All. His website even points out that all of Europe has figured out how to provide affordable health care to all of its citizens (my sister, current resident of the Netherlands, also never fails to point this out to me.) Surely if Europe can do something, America can too, right?

He will also be a vote to pass the PRO Act to strengthen labor unions, he is for getting rid of Trump’s blanket tariffs that are costing us all money and he will protect reproductive rights (as someone who had a high-risk pregnancy and postpartum complications, this one is particularly personal to me).

Perhaps most importantly, unlike his likely Republican opponent Paul LePage, Dunlap doesn’t have a record of making Maine look stupid on the national stage. For those reasons and more, on June 9, I will be casting my vote for Matt Dunlap.