A super PAC devoted to supporting President Trump plans to spend $1 million to help Rep. Bruce Poliquin, a two-term Republican in Maine’s 2nd District.

A super PAC devoted to supporting President Donald Trump plans to spend $1 million to help U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin win re-election in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District.

America First Action announced this week it plans to pour $10 million into midterm elections across the country where Republican candidates may have trouble in swing districts.

Poliquin, who is facing a challenge from Democrat Jared Golden of Lewiston, would be the beneficiary of the planned spending in Maine despite his 2016 refusal to endorse Trump. He is New England’s only Republican member in the U.S. House.

Groups on both sides are targeting the hardscrabble Maine district in a bid to sway voters in a race that experts say is either a tossup or perhaps leaning a bit toward Poliquin. Polls show a close contest.

For America First Action, the $10 million national allocation “is a critical first step and a sizable investment in helping Republicans hold the House and grow the Senate, and many of these races are in states that will be important to our efforts in 2020,” its president, Brian Walsh, said in a prepared statement.

He said it intends to invest in much the same way as it did during special U.S. House elections in Georgia and Pennsylvania, where Republicans struggled to hold on to seats in traditionally safe Republican areas.

“We will use all the tactics we feel are necessary – television, radio, and digital ads, and direct mail – to help our candidates win in these competitive races,” Walsh said.

Trump has plans to travel to many of the districts targeted by the Super PAC, which may be an indication that he might wind up coming to Maine before the Nov. 6 election.

Republican Senate candidate Eric Brakey of Auburn, who hopes to unseat independent Sen. Angus King in this year’s race, is trying to rally party loyalists to ask Trump to come.

In an open letter to the president, Brakey said “many Maine people love you and would be thrilled to roll out the red carpet and welcome you back to our state.”

“Please consider finding time in your busy schedule to visit us,” Brakey said. “Maine is tremendously beautiful in September and October, and we would throw a rally no one would ever forget.”

The Democratic contender for King’s Senate seat, Zak Ringlestein, is less welcoming. He led a rally in Portland on Friday calling for Trump’s impeachment.

America First Action is a vehement defender of Trump and his policies.

“We give Donald J. Trump’s presidency an A+ and the Fake News media’s coverage an F-,” it recently posted on its Facebook page.

America First Action’s vice chairwoman is Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former prosecutor who is dating Donald Trump Jr. The president’s son said on Twitter this week that “few people have supported DJT from the beginning” like she has.

Steve Collins can be contacted at:

scollins@sunjournal.com