For our 33rd Anniversary Beth and I went somewhere where there were no American political ads. 33 is either silver or not having to watch 5000 negative ads. Its good to be back in the good old USA! – at United States

Paul LePage was 'Trump before Trump'. The real one is hurting his comeback. bostonglobe.com/2026/10/20/n… via @BostonGlobe I am glad I could give the Democratic perspective for Matt for this article in Today's Globe: "Democrats, meanwhile, are increasingly confident. Joe Baldacci, a Democratic state senator who narrowly lost to Dunlap in the June primary, said voters don’t want a “rubber stamp” for Trump. “I really think LePage has gotten rusty,” Baldacci added. “And I think he hasn’t had to play in this national political environment before, to this extent, when it’s going against him.” The national stakes for this race are high — not unusual for a district that has changed party control more than most in recent years. Democrats are increasingly favored to retake control of the House, but Maine’s 2nd District is the GOP’s best chance to flip a Democratic district not affected by redistricting." That is why I am voting for Matt Dunlap on November 2nd and hope you do too.

FYI. In what was described by the Bangor Daily News at the time as " the most restrictive ordinance allowed under Maine law" . Bangor passed an ordinance 2013, still in effect that prohibits sex offenders from moving to within 750 feet of ,not just schools, but any publicly owned property in the City frequented by children. It was passed on a 6 to 3 vote. I worked on the ordinance in committee and proud to help pass it, with my then colleagues. Voting for it: "Councilors Joe Baldacci, Pauline Civiello, James Gallant, Charlie Longo, David Nealley and Benjamin Sprague." In setting policy protecting people, especially kids, should not be a partisan issue. – at Bangor, ME

I know we are still engaged in the debate about debate I wanted to focus on mundane issues like public education and revenue sharing. The reason I decided to run for State Senate in 2020 and to win a total of 4 elections was to address the needs of communities like my hometown of Bangor. Under Lepage aid to education to Bangor started at 17 million in 2011 and by 2018 it was still 17 million and Lepage shifted teacher retirement costs to communities in the interim. Most of these important state budgets passed by a 1 vote margin most times in the Senate. These are the latest numbers on aid to Bangor and Hermon public schools both communities are getting about an 80 % increase since 2018. ( it's up to the local councils to determine how to allocate) but my job was to make the resources are there for public schools. And in the same way revenue sharing to both Bangor and Hermon is more than tripled for Bgr since 2018 and at least doubled for Hermon after a lost decade of cutting this program which actually helps fund police, fire, public works and public health programs. My parents taught me to do something for the right reasons. Fighting and helping to win these dramatic increases for Bangor and Hermon is one of many right reasons I worked on every day in the Legislature since 2020. #bangor #hermon #publicschools #police #fire

In 2017 as Council Chair and the Councilors working together overcame a lot of difficulties to finally reach the first 10 year contract with Wateront Concerts. I am not surprised by the $600 million figure. It draws top knotch national acts and over 100k people per year. I also had the pleasure of working with a great councilors during my 12 years. Ben Ben Sprague , Gibran Vogue Graham , James Gallant , Don Soucy, Pat Blanchette, Mike Michael W. Aube who is missed, Judy Judith L Vardamis to Sarah Nichols, Daniel Dan Tremble , Annie Allen Joseph C. Perry, Cary Weston, David Nealley, Jim Tyler,Tim Woodcock and many more. Bangor is and has been fortunate for many good people from diverse backgrounds. My point is we have city council elections coming up. My 3 points of advice, that I would encourage people to share, to Council candidates and councilors is : 1. Stop the bickering. The job is about protecting and helping citizens and taxpayers of Bangor. I was actively involved as mayor to protect Obama care and mental health care services that also was important to Bangor in general. But our far and away major goals were economic development, protecting the school budget, adequately funding police and fire and investing millions in rebuilt infrastructure. 2. Put aside partisan differences. If you think you can go in there to advance a Democratic agenda or a Republican agenda you will be rudely awaken by the other councilors who want to get the City Council job done. 3. Your social media and your public comments need to often and loudly talk about the positive things happening in Bangor or in our region. There is plenty of negative things that also need to be discussed but try and make your approach more about what can we do to solve this problem together as a community and encourage widespread public input. The fact that so many are running is a sign that democracy is alive and well in Maine. – at Bangor, ME

Wow. Those debates ha? Ive told Jeff Kirlin many times to ferme ta bouche many times. Sometimes its the best advice.... for him at least. Lol. I think Troy did well as did Matt. If we can't sweep this election we ought to hang it up. #voteblue

The Boston Globe reached out to me earlier today for a piece they are doing on the CD2 race in the next week. I broke it down like this: Lepage running a low energy campaign rusty on campaigning, kept under wraps by his handlers for obvious reasons and a poor debate performance. Dunlop has worked hard. Is an actual Mainer and someone people should feel comfortable with representing Maine in DC. He will maintain close links with his District unlike his opponent. #VoteBlue