Brewer, Palmer quoted in Morning Sentinel article on 2nd District race

Mark Brewer, a political science professor at the University of Maine, and Kenneth Palmer, a professor emeritus of political science at UMaine, were quoted in a Morning Sentinel article about Maine’s 2nd Congressional District race between incumbent Republican Bruce Poliquin and Democrat Emily Cain. The candidates are gearing up for a rematch of their 2014 race, in which Poliquin edged Cain by 5 percentage points, according to the article. The race already is on track to outpace their last contest as the most expensive congressional race in state history, the article states. According to Brewer, the high-energy, high-interest presidential race will likely affect congressional races across the country, including in Maine’s 2nd District. “Maine’s 2nd Congressional District is going to get a huge amount of resources dumped into it and national attention paid,” he added. The 2nd District represents nearly 80 percent of the state, while the 1st District represents the highly populated Portland area and extreme southern Maine coast, the article states. “It’s a big area and it takes a long time for a politician to establish a reputation in all these tiny communities and to get known in those communities,” Palmer said. “It’s not like a city where you can quickly build a political organization inside that city. In the 2nd District, you have to go town to town.”