Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will return to Maine for the fifth time this election cycle with a campaign rally in Lisbon on Friday.
The event will be held at the Open Door Christian Academy at 4 p.m., with doors opening at 1 p.m.
Trump seems intent on getting at least one of Maine’s four electoral votes. Maine is one of two states in the country that splits its electoral votes, with two going to the statewide winner and one to the winner of each congressional district. While the most recent polls show Trump doing poorly in Maine’s 1st District to the south, he has had a stronger showing in the northern 2nd District.
According to the 538 Election Forecast, Trump currently only has a 13 percent chance to win Maine statewide, but he could still hope to pull away one electoral vote if he wins in the 2nd District.
While Gov. Paul LePage has endorsed Trump and appeared at campaign events, he will not be at Friday’s rally due to a scheduling conflict, according to press secretary Adrienne Bennett.
Rep. Dale Crafts, who represents Lisbon in the state Legislature, said that although he might not be able to attend the last-minute rally, he voted for Trump on an absentee ballot and thinks he has a good chance to win the 2nd District.
“I’ve not been a big Trump fan,” admitted Crafts. “But there seems to be some unbelievable enthusiasm out there from the Trump supporters.
“The 2nd District seems to be very much Trump,” he added. “You hardly see a Hillary sign in the 2nd District. I was up in Fort Kent a week and a half ago moose hunting, and this is kind of a Democratic area, and I think I saw one Hillary sign and Trump signs everywhere.”
Scott Gaiason, who is running as a Democrat against Republican Gina Mason to replace Crafts in the Legislature, called Trump’s visit to Lisbon “bizarre.”
“There’s some people in town — there’s people on my street — they have these huge Trump signs that you sometimes see. You know, more power to them. I have difficulty finding the people that really support him, because it seems like he denigrates so many people that it’s a struggle,” he said.
The state parties also weighed in Wednesday on Trump’s visit to the state.
“We have seen too many Maine jobs go overseas to elect a man who has manufactured his own products in 12 countries outside the U.S.,” said Maine Democratic Party Chairman Phil Bartlett. “Furthermore, Trump’s glorification of sexual violence and degrading remarks about women disqualify him as someone who should serve as president of our nation. We will work relentlessly through the next two weeks to stop him.”
Maine GOP Executive Director Jason Savage said, “We welcome Mr. Trump back to Maine. The people of Lisbon are some of the nicest and hardest working people in the world. We are happy to see they will enjoy a visit, and we continue to work for Mr. Trump’s success on Nov. 8.”
nstrout@timesrecord.com
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