AUGUSTA – Democrat congressional candidate Emily Cain reports outraising Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin in the latest filing period, although his $2 million campaign pot is more than double hers.

Cain lost to Poliquin in a 2014 race that broke Maine fundraising records for a U.S. House race.

From April to May 25, Cain outraised Poliquin by $25,800.

In all, Cain raised $1.3 million largely from individuals, while Poliquin has raised $2.3 million. Poliquin’s campaign says most of his money to date has come from individuals

Federal filings show Poliquin raised about $10,000 more from individuals than he did from out-of-state groups, such as the UBS Americas Inc. PAC, the Credit Union Legislative Action Council and the American Bankers Association PAC.

More than half of Poliquin’s $1.1 million in itemized individual contributions come from Maine residents and almost $120,000 was from New Yorkers.

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Cain’s camp says her grassroots support is crushing Poliquin’s “Wall Street cash.” Cain said it’s “preposterous” for Poliquin to claim to represent the interests of Maine residents when so much of his campaign contributions come from “Wall Street, PACs, and special interests.”

Her campaign also claims that 94 percent of Mainers who have supported a candidate in the race donated to Cain.

But both campaigns got a chunk of small contributions that aren’t broken down by contributors and their respective states.

Poliquin’s campaign laid out the tough road ahead for Cain: Incumbents of either party haven’t lost their bid to keep the 2nd Congressional District seat in a century.

It noted that in 2014, Cain outspent Poliquin by more than half-a-million dollars and lost by five percentage points.

Cain received 40 percent of the vote in 2014 for the open seat left vacant by former U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud, a Democrat. A third candidate, Blaine Richardson, who is now running as a Republican in a state representative race, received 10.6 percent of the vote.

A Republican hadn’t represented the district for two decades.

Poliquin adviser Brent Littlefield said Cain “and her out-of-state liberal allies” ran a negative campaign in 2014. “It did not work before and it will not work again,” he said.

The House Majority PAC, a political committee that helps Democratic candidates, has spent $164,177 to oppose Poliquin, according to filings.


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