Former Congressman Bruce Poliquin is running for his former seat in Maine’s 2^nd Congressional District.

A native Mainer, Poliquin worked in the investment management industry after graduating from Harvard University in 1976. He ran for governor in 2010, losing the Republican primary to the eventual victor, Paul LePage. Two years later, Poliquin lost the primary in the 2012 U.S. Senate race but was elected to the House of Representatives the next cycle, winning the open seat vacated by Democratic Representative Mike Michaud. He held the seat for two terms but lost to current congressman Jared Golden in a contentious ranked-choice vote. Rep. Poliquin won more first preferences votes than Golden but lost by two thousand votes after the second preference votes were reallocated.

In the House, Poliquin was a productive and cross-partisan representative. He cosponsored the Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2018, which increased disabled veteran’s compensation, including their children and widows. The bill passed on a bipartisan basis and was signed into law. In the 115^th Congress, Poliquin earned a score of .19381, placing him at 127^th out of 436 representatives in the Bipartisan Index published jointly by The Lugar Center and the Georgetown University McCourt School. This score is a marked improvement from the 114^th Congress, where he finished 166/436 (with a score of -.0855). Nevertheless, Representative Poliquin is a proven bipartisan legislator who can help restore commonsense legislation to an increasingly partisan Congress.

Maine’s 2^nd Congressional district is the only one in New England to have voted for Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020, and is trending red. The district is the largest east of the Mississippi.