Bobby Charles, the Republican nominee for Maine governor, is coming under fire from Democrats after the candidate revealed he would personally ask White House border czar Tom Homan to dispatch federal officers to the state’s polling locations for the midterm elections.
Speaking at an Aug. 20 meeting with Maine Young Republicans in Arundel, Charles indicated he would leverage his friendship with Homan to get Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Marshals Service to have a presence at the polls on Election Day.
“Well, here’s my secret,” Charles said, per an audio recording. “I have a friend named Tom Homan. Tom and I used to be on Fox all the time together. Tom’s an awesome guy.”
“So I’m going to ask Tom. I’m going to [do it] actually three or four weeks before the election, maybe three. I’m going to make an appeal for ICE and marshals to be at our voting booths,” he added.
His request would be highly unusual, but not out of the ordinary, given what Democrats believe the Trump administration will do in November. ICE enforcement at polling locations has been a concern among many Democratic lawmakers, but the Department of Homeland Security assured them there will be no aggressive ICE campaign during the midterm elections. It remains unclear if Homan will act on Charles’s request.
The Republican nominee’s comments were first reported by Bangor Daily News and later disseminated by the Maine Democratic Party.
“Bobby Charles continues to prove that he is a MAGA extremist who will stop at nothing to put himself and his [Make America Great Again] agenda ahead of Mainers,” Devon Murphy-Anderson, the Maine Democratic Party’s executive director, said in a statement. “His plan to ask Trump’s border czar to send ICE agents to Maine polling places just weeks before Election Day is not only deeply alarming — it is likely illegal. This is a blatant attempt to intimidate voters and yet another reason Bobby Charles is too extreme for Maine.”
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who previously ran for governor in the Democratic primary, also disapproved of the idea. She clarified that sending ICE officers to polling sites is illegal. Under the law, federal officers are prohibited from interfering in elections.
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In defense of his recent remarks, Charles argued federal authorities could help prevent illegal voting or rein in possible violence in Maine. He said no voter who is legally entitled to vote should feel intimidated.
Charles will face Democratic nominee Hannah Pingree, former speaker of the Maine House of Representatives, in November. Both candidates are running to replace Gov. Janet Mills (D-ME), who is leaving office after two terms.