Former President Bill Clinton campaigned on behalf of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in Portland, Maine, four days before the election. (Photo by Eesha Pendharkar/ Maine Morning Star)
Former President Bill Clinton campaigned in Portland on Friday for Vice President Kamala Harris, four days before the presidential election as part of a final push for the Democratic nominee.
The Democrat told voters that it isn’t too late to talk to friends and neighbors about their voting plan, encouraging them to think about what the candidates stand for while taking the opportunity to denounce former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee.
“So just tell your neighbors. It’s not too late to talk to people,” he said. “The next four days will shape the next forty of fifty years, so give it all you’ve got.”
Clinton made his pitch after several hundred thousand Mainers already cast their ballots. As of Nov. 1, there were a total of 386,161 absentee ballots requested and 343,959 returned, surpassing the early voting numbers from the 2016 presidential election, the last comparable year as the 2020 presidential race occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gov. Janet Mills and U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree joined the former president on stage, in addition to former U.S. Rep. Dave Emery, a Republican who represented Maine’s 1st Congressional District from 1975 to 1983. The speakers focused on highlighting the positive impact of the Biden and Obama administrations and Harris’ promises to boost the economy, provide tax credits and incentives to families and small businesses, and protect reproductive rights.
They also contrasted those promises with Trump’s first term and emphasized the adverse impact a second Trump term could have on reproductive rights, the cost of healthcare and prescription drugs, the economy, as well as the balance of the U.S. Supreme Court.
“There isn’t a minute to lose, because I don’t want a president who promises to protect me by taking away my freedoms,” Mills said. “I don’t want a president who coddles our enemies and discourages our people. I don’t want a president who’s running for office to stay out of jail.”
Several speakers, including Mills, also highlighted Republican support for Harris. In addition to Emery, a number of prominent Maine Republicans have come out in support of the Democratic nominee, including former Republican state Sen. Peter Mills, Tony Payne, the former executive director of the Maine GOP, and former Augusta mayor and assistant Senate minority leader Roger Katz, among others.
“Many Republicans like me may disagree from time and time on the issues of the day, but we are united in the fundamental importance of protecting our priceless democracy and defending our freedoms,” Emery said.
Portland Mayor Mark Dion attended the event to “reaffirm our belief in our country,” he said. He said he was heartened by the common ground he has found with Republicans like Emery who are voting for Harris.
“I think the Trump candidacy is about a square-in-the-face attack on how we should conduct ourselves in the government arena,” Dion said.
“It pleases me more than I can tell you that Republicans see duty to the country as we do,” Dion said.When this is over and we return to a stable process that instills confidence and trust, then we can resume debate in a way that benefits this country.”
Volunteers prepare for final push
Many attendees said that in these final days they plan to keep campaigning for Harris, working at the polls or volunteering their time with municipal offices on Election Day, and having conversations with family, friends and neighbors. All six voters the Maine Morning Star spoke with mentioned reproductive rights as a particularly important issue motivating them to vote and volunteer.
Some that attended the event had already voted, but wanted to show their support for the Harris-Walz campaign and hear Clinton talk, they said.
Kate Meredith and Susan Eldridge, a married couple from Buxton, already voted but decided to come to the Harris event because of how important this election is, they said.
“We want women’s rights restored, for us and for the future of our children,” Meredith said,
It’s more important than ever to preserve marriage equality and women’s rights for future generations, they said.
“And under Trump, that is threatened,” Eldridge added.
John Kaminski said besides the threat to reproductive rights, he thinks a Trump presidency would be “a disaster” for future Supreme Court nominations and for a fair economy.
“There’s absolutely room for a final push,” he said. “It’s going to be a close election here in Maine, and a close election nationally. I’m encouraging everybody to go out to the polls, it’s absolutely critical.”
Kaminski already voted, but will be volunteering at the polls in Portland next Tuesday.
His friend and fellow Portland resident Doug Emerson has been driving up to Oxford County every day for canvassing, and he said he is heartened by the conversations he has had and the minds he’s changed in Maine’s more conservative 2nd Congressional District.
“We’re finding that old Republicans, in their 70s, 80s and 90s, are virulently against Trump, and it’s so refreshing,” Emerson said.
“Those people are for America. They may never vote for a Democrat again, but they’re patriotic, and they’re voting for Kamala.”
For Emerson personally, he said he was alarmed by Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which Mills also mentioned at the event, saying when the governors reached out to him for aid, he left states to fend for themselves.
“We can’t have that man handle anybody’s healthcare, let alone a woman’s right to choose,” he said.
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.