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What we're reading
— Maine conservatives are teasing a "long-term" path toward rolling back abortion rights if they win control of Augusta in a post-Roe America. Nodding to public opinion in a pro-abortion rights state, they said new limits would likely not come at once. Former Gov. Paul LePage, who is vehemently anti-abortion, is not saying what new restrictions he would support while running to oust Democratic Gov. Janet Mills in 2022.
— Both Collins and King support different ways of codifying Roe, but they do not support eliminating the 60-vote filibuster to do it.
— Former gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler possessed thousands of child sexual abuse videos prior to his March arrest, according to a charging document released on Tuesday, the same day Cutler's bail conditions were amended to allow him limited access to the internet.
— Mills extended her fundraising advantage over LePage in their race in early 2022. She has brought in more than $2.7 million to the former governor's $1.3 million in the early stages of their campaign to be decided in November.
— Collins was nudged from her top spot on an index of the most bipartisan senators, with Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire replacing her on the Lugar Center and Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy’s Bipartisan Index. After an eight-year run, Collins is now No. 2. Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat from the 2nd District, surged from 77th to seventh on the House side.
— This chart shows how a typical home purchase benefits the Maine economy. |
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News and notes
— Mills emerges from COVID-19 isolation today to swear in new Maine Supreme Judicial Court Justice Rick Lawrence at 1 p.m. in the governor's office suite. The longtime district court judge will be the first Black justice on the state's high court. The governor has tested negative for COVID-19 since beginning a five-day isolation period on Thursday and will work in the State House while wearing a mask for the next five days, her office said.
— The University of Maine School of Law will hold a groundbreaking ceremony at 4 p.m. to begin major renovations on the Old Port building that will be its new home. The building should be used by students and faculty by year's end. |
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| 📷 Lead photo: Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, left, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, talk during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing in Washington on June 17, 2021. (Caroline Brehman pool photo via AP) |
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