BANGOR, Maine — As his state was rocked by a shakeup in the Senate race, Democrat Matt Dunlap says he’s focused on affordability concerns in his quest to keep his party’s hold on a red-leaning House district.

Dunlap, the state auditor who is running to succeed retiring Democratic Rep. Jared Golden, says his message is resonating with voters in the battleground 2nd District.

But Republicans see the seat — a district that Donald Trump carried three times — as a prime pickup opportunity in a challenging midterm election year. Their nominee is former two-term Gov. Paul LePage, who carried the seat even when he lost the 2022 gubernatorial election. And the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee hasn’t yet added Dunlap to its program for promising candidates, since he defeated the committee’s endorsed candidate in last month’s primary.

“I’ve always said that no opportunity to be a grown-up ever seems to pass me by,” Dunlap said in an interview Saturday on the sidelines of a party convention to pick a new Senate nominee. “I’d like to be spiteful and vengeful and get a reckoning. But, really, you can’t have a rearview mirror because we have 101 days in front of us, and we need the help from anyone.”

Dunlap is one of three Democratic nominees who have defeated candidates backed by the DCCC in House primaries this year. He overcame DCCC-backed state Sen. Joe Baldacci and two other candidates in the June primary after the state’s ranked choice voting system kicked in.

But unlike Dunlap, the other two nominees have since joined the DCCC’s “Red to Blue” program for top recruits, who receive additional party support. California’s Randy Villegas, a local school board trustee who is challenging Republican Rep. David Valadao, was included on the list last month, and former Arizona state Rep. Amish Shah, who won a primary for an open swing seat last week, was added Tuesday.

Dunlap said he’s been focused on what he can control. While he’s been in communication with the DCCC, he said there’s still some frustration among grassroots voters in Maine around the group’s involvement in a competitive open primary, something both Shah and Villegas also criticized. The DCCC has backed candidates in 10 contested primaries so far this year, with its preferred candidate winning seven of those races.

“Long term, I think the DCCC needs to look at that because they’ve spent a lot of money backing candidates who the public didn’t want, in varying degrees,” Dunlap said.

The DCCC did not say whether it planned to add Dunlap to the “Red to Blue” list but spokesperson Nebeyatt Betre said Dunlap had “spent his career standing up for working Mainers.”

“We know voters are eager to hold Republicans accountable for making their lives more expensive, and Mainers know exactly what Paul LePage stands for — that’s why they’re ready to reject him and send Matt Dunlap to Congress instead,” she said in a statement.

‘Very competitive’

Maine’s 2nd District is the largest House district east of the Mississippi River and covers much of the state north of Portland.

Dunlap’s campaign released a poll last week showing him in a statistical tie with LePage. He said the result showed that the race is “very competitive.”

The House race is also playing out in the shadow of a competitive Senate race, where the newly minted Democratic nominee, Troy Jackson, is taking on longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins. Jackson replaced the scandal-plagued Graham Platner, and Republicans are already seeking to tie Dunlap to Platner, who dropped out of the race after an allegation of sexual assault, which he denies.

Dunlap has been a longtime fixture in Maine politics. He was first elected to the state House in 1996 and went on to serve four terms. He was later elected by the legislature as secretary of state, serving for 14 years in total, and state legislators also picked him for his current role as Maine auditor. In 2012, he ran unsuccessfully for Senate.

Dunlap said he expects economic concerns, including rising health care and heating costs, to be the focal point of his message come November. Democrats plan to tie LePage to House Republicans’ economic agenda while attacking his opposition to Medicaid expansion as governor.

“If this was a race where he was still the former mayor of Waterville, and not the former governor, it’d be a much more difficult,” Dunlap said. “What I think I speak to is an alternative, which is we should put government to work for people.”

But Republicans counter that LePage remains popular with district voters, citing his efforts as governor to keep rural hospitals open and his support for tax cuts. They’re likely to cast Dunlap, who supports “Medicare for All,” as too far left for the district.

Holding the 2nd District seat, on paper, looks to be an uphill climb for Democrats. Trump carried it by 9 points in 2024, and Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates the race Likely Republican.

LePage also has a significant cash advantage. Recent filings with the Federal Election Commission show he entered July with $1.7 million in the bank, while Dunlap, who had to contend with a competitive primary, ended the second quarter with $229,000 on hand.

Republicans also point to a May poll by the National Republican Congressional Committee that showed LePage leading Dunlap by 10 points as a sign of their candidate’s strength.

“Dunlap is completely out of step with Mainers, and his campaign is dead on arrival,” NRCC spokeswoman Maureen O’Toole said in a statement.

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