Bangor Daily News
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Politics
Our political journalists are based in the Maine State House and have deep source networks across the partisan spectrum in communities all over the state. Their coverage aims to cut through major debates and probe how officials make decisions. Read more Politics coverage here.
AUGUSTA, Maine — Democratic lawmakers nominated Attorney General Aaron Frey to continue in his role Tuesday amid a challenge from a county prosecutor.
Members of the majority party also picked a Bangor legislator to serve as Maine’s next treasurer.
Frey, a former state representative from Bangor who succeeded Gov. Janet Mills as the state’s top law enforcement officer after the 2018 election, won the secret ballot vote over Maeghan Maloney, the district attorney for Kennebec and Somerset counties.
Maine State Treasurer Henry Beck is not seeking a fourth, two-year term, which resulted in a contest between House Majority Leader Mo Terry, D-Gorham, and Rep. Joe Perry, D-Bangor. Democrats picked Perry as they met Tuesday afternoon and evening in Augusta.
Secretary of State Shenna Bellows faced no Democratic challenger for the position she has held since 2021, and Maine State Auditor Matt Dunlap was also unopposed.
The Legislature returns Wednesday to vote on each nominee. Perry said he was “so grateful to have received the nomination” from his colleagues.
Frey and Maloney, who are both former state representatives, each pitched themselves to lawmakers ahead of Tuesday as leaders who would push back against President-elect Donald Trump. Frey noted he had already done that during Trump’s first term while also highlighting lawsuits he has filed against opioid manufacturers, oil companies and the makers of harmful PFAS chemicals.
Maloney differentiated herself from Frey by pledging to support the Wabanaki Nations and alluding to the Mills administration’s opposition to more sweeping tribal sovereignty legislation.
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Both Maloney and Frey have faced recent controversies, with Maloney accused of violating bar rules by attempting to contact a woman in a criminal case without going through her attorney and Frey apologizing last year after his romantic relationship with an employee he supervised came to light before he had someone else oversee his partner.
Republican lawmakers picked up several seats in the November election but do not have the numbers to elevate their preferred attorney general choice unless enough Democrats join them. The GOP put forward Robert B. Charles, who grew up in the Kennebec County town of Wayne and served as assistant U.S. secretary of state for international narcotics under former President George W. Bush.
Billy Kobin is a politics reporter who joined the Bangor Daily News in 2023. He grew up in Wisconsin and previously worked at The Indianapolis Star and The Courier Journal (Louisville, Ky.) after graduating… More by Billy Kobin
