Free Republic

Since retiring in early 2025, Mitt Romney avoided national politics — until his old friend Susan Collins needed help.Former Sen. Mitt Romney has made his first foray back into national politics since leaving the Senate, hosting a fundraiser on Wednesday for his former colleague Sen. Susan Collins.It was the first time the former Utah senator directly reengaged with Washington politics since leaving office at the beginning of 2025. And it shows how seriously the 2012 Republican presidential nominee and sharp critic of President Donald Trump — who has prized privacy in his retirement — wishes to preserve a group of...

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president last cycle, opted to fly to Maine to stump for Graham Platner, an oyster farmer who is running for Senate and who has a Nazi tattoo. Several members of Congress responded. “Don’t forget to ask him about his Nazi tattoo,” stated Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas). “Can you let him know there’s ways to remove the Nazi tattoos from his chest?” asked Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.). “In case it wasn’t clear before why Kamala Harris selected Tim Walz over Josh Shapiro. This is who they are,” the Republican Jewish Coalition stated....

Sen. John Fetterman sounded the alarm Friday about the leftward drift of his own party, warning that a “small Communist takeover” is underway in Maine as Graham Platner closes in on the Democratic Senate nomination. Appearing on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime,” the Pennsylvania Democrat said the rise of Mr. Platner — an oyster farmer and Marine Corps veteran who wrote in a 2021 Reddit post, “I got older and became a communist” — exemplified the Democratic Party’s inability to resist its worst impulses. “There is kind of a small Communist takeover in Maine,” Mr. Fetterman said. “Platner, he’s already...

Platner told MS NOW he wants Trump officials hauled before committees 'day after day after day' Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner unveiled a plan during an interview on Thursday to "shut this White House down" so that the Trump administration is not able to function. "Something we’re going to have to do if we’re in the majority [is] we need to use the power we get to shut this White House down," Platner told MS NOW host Jen Psaki during "The Briefing." "We do that, I think one of the best ways is through committee hearings and investigations. I want...

..... Bangor City Councilor Wayne Mallar, 81, discussed a proposed budget increase for multilingual services in schools at a Board of Ethics meeting on March 31. 'The school department's asking for a 10 percent increase. As far as I'm concerned, they get no increase,' he said - seemingly unaware his comments were being picked up by a microphone. A Maine city councilor will face an ethics board review after he was heard complaining about 'illegals' in his community. Bangor City Councilor Wayne Mallar, 81, discussed a proposed budget increase for multilingual services in schools at a Board of Ethics meeting...

It is difficult to determine whether the bizarro worldview of the current Democrat-media nexus can simply be attributed to its generic Trump Derangement Syndrome — but the crazy world of the left increasingly bears scant resemblance to reality. In this alternate universe, Eric Swalwell was a liberal icon and invaluable asset for years, though admittedly a bit randy and occasionally a serial sexual predator. Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner was, at last, the left’s “real thing,” the white working-class liberal stiff who could win back the hoi polloi — although he can’t get his story straight on whether his Nazi...

We have an update on the Maine Senate Democrat primary, and it's not good news for Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). Newcomer Graham Platner and the state's governor, Janet Mills, were the top two candidates in the race, with Platner being endorsed by twice-failed presidential candidate and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) as a humble, purported working-class guy who would buck Schumer and the Democrat establishment and would be a "fighter" against President Trump's America First agenda. Mills had the backing of Schumer and the Democrat Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), with the belief that her popularity in the state and...

Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills announced Thursday she was suspending her campaign for the US Senate — clearing the way for far-left candidate Graham Platner to face five-term Republican incumbent Susan Collins in November. “While I have the drive and passion, commitment and experience, and above all else –the fight — to continue on, I very simply do not have the one thing that political campaigns unfortunately require today: the financial resources,” Mills said in a statement. “That is why today I have made the incredibly difficult decision to suspend my campaign for the United States Senate.” The 78-year-old Mills,...

A Maine city councilor will face an ethics board review after he was heard complaining about 'illegals' in his community. Bangor City Councilor Wayne Mallar, 81, discussed a proposed budget increase for multilingual services in schools at a Board of Ethics meeting on March 31. 'The school department's asking for a 10 percent increase. As far as I'm concerned, they get no increase,' he said - seemingly unaware his comments were being picked up by a microphone. 'They can't speak English, read English or write English. It's not a disability. We do not have to furnish. They're probably all illegals...

Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., all voted against a modified version of the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act early Thursday morning. Their defection came during the Senate’s marathon "vote-a-rama," where lawmakers could force votes on any number of amendments, regardless of whether they mesh with the underlying budget blueprint.

Maine’s Secretary of State Shenna Bellows is actually running for governor on her willingness to take flagrantly unconstitutional action. Bellows is touting her removal of Trump from the ballot, an effort that led to a unanimous Supreme Court swatting down Colorado and Maine. Bellows is virtually giddy recounting her efforts to stymie democracy and prevent voters from casting their ballots for the man who ultimately won the election. Democrats have been running this year on the pledges to launch a virtual roundup of Trump officials and supporters for investigations and impeachments. New York congressional candidate George Conway is pledging to...

The Pentagon has asked for $200 billion in funding for the war in Iran... The request has been sent to the White House, the military official said, which will review it before any request for funds is formally submitted to Congress. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the proposal. The request was reported earlier by The Washington Post. “Obviously, it takes money to kill bad guys,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said when asked about the request during a news conference on Thursday, adding: “As far as the $200 billion, I think that number could move.” On Capitol...

Portland Press Herald It’s official. Mainers will vote on proposal to ban trans athletes in girls sports. The secretary of state’s office announced Tuesday that it had verified the signatures collected by proponents to get the measure on the November ballot . March 17, 2026 Rachel Ohm, Staff Writer Maine will vote in November on a proposal that would ban transgender students from sports teams, bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity. The Maine Department of the Secretary of State announced Tuesday that it has verified the signatures collected by proponents of the measure in support of...

A U.S. Justice Department attorney and senior supervisors for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have told a federal judge that names and biometric information about Mainers who observed and filmed federal agents carrying out an illegal immigration crackdown in January have not been entered into DHS databases.

The Maine State House has removed a portrait of former U.S. Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell following renewed scrutiny over his reported ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Maine House Republicans posted video of the portrait being taken down on social media Friday afternoon. The move comes after the release of roughly 3 million additional documents related to Epstein, in which Mitchell’s name reportedly appears more than 300 times. Mitchell was a prominent American politician and diplomat. He also served as Majority Leader in the U.S. Senate from 1989 to 1995. For years, he has denied any knowledge...

BREAKING: SUSAN COLLINS WILL BACK SAVE AMERICA ACT -- WON'T BREAK FILIBUSTER U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is throwing her weight behind the House-passed SAVE America Act, saying the revised bill strikes the right balance between election security and voter access — while making clear she won’t support scrapping the Senate’s legislative filibuster to get it across the finish line. In an exclusive comment to @TheMaineWire, Sen. Collins said she supports the current version of the SAVE Act, which would require proof of citizenship to vote in U.S. elections. Collins said she will support the version of the SAVE Act...

The House this week is set to take up the SAVE America Act (the SAVE Act 2.0), an election-integrity measure that some Senate Republicans can’t seem to get behind even though the vast majority of Americans already have. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s office confirms the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register and photo identification to vote in federal elections, will hit the floor on Tuesday. While Democrats will spend hours making a mockery of truth and reality in opposing it, the legislation is expected to pass mostly along party lines — as the...

Why Maine could soon vote on transgender athletes in girls sports Supporters of a ballot referendum on the topic delivered more than 82,000 signatures to the Maine secretary of state Monday afternoon. Posted Yesterday at 3:03 PM Rachel Ohm, Staff Writer Supporters of a referendum that would bar transgender students from sports teams and private spaces that align with the students’ gender identities said Monday that they’ve gathered enough signatures to force a statewide vote on the issue. The group behind the effort said it collected over 82,000 signatures from Maine voters — about 14,000 more than the number required...

Portland Police Make Nine Arrests At Protest PORTLAND, Maine – On Tuesday, January 27, 2026 at 1:03 p.m., Portland Police responded to Senator Collins’ office on the eighth floor of One Canal Plaza for a report of approximately 50 people protesting. The group was repeatedly told if they did not disperse, individuals would be charged with Criminal Trespass. After several warnings, many of the protesters left the building, while nine remained and asked to be arrested. The following individuals were arrested, charged with Criminal Trespass and transported to the Cumberland County Jail: 65-year-old Norman Allen of Portland 60-year-old Christine Dyke...

A private jet carrying eight people crashed on takeoff from Bangor, Maine, Sunday evening, according to the FAA. The extent of their injuries is not known, a source briefed on the incident told CNN. The plane is a Bombardier Challenger 650 business jet.