BIDDEFORD — A Biddeford independent, Elias Bassile, is interested in challenging Democratic Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, who represents Maine’s 1st District in the U.S. House of Representatives, in 2024. The news was first reported by the Sun Journal last week.
Rep. Chellie Pingree was first elected to Congress in 2008. She currently chairs the Subcommittee on Interior and the Environment, the Subcommittee on Agriculture, and Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and is also a part of the House Progressive Caucus. Andrew Piantidosi, a Republican, is also running for District 1.
Bassile is running for public office because he’s interested in seeing fresh faces in Congress. Reacting to a piece of news shared online about former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday, Bassile wrote, “this is the problem with politicians. They never go away. Go home let others step in and help their state to solve its problems. Instead we get the same people coming back. We get nothing done and they argue among each other. The House needs new blood.”
When interviewed by the Sun Journal, Bassile said that if he’s elected, he intends to secure more funding for Maine to help the state house the homeless and help Mainers pay their energy bills. He’s not a “Trump-nut,” said Bassile, though the Sun Journal reported that the business Bassile works for, Maine Ammo, presents as solidly right-wing in its social media posts.
When he first filed with the Federal Elections Commission to run for office, Bassile’s paperwork shows that he intended to run in District 2, not District 1 — where he resides in Biddeford. Someone seeking congressional office must live in the state they would represent, but they do not need to live in the same district. District 2 is represented by Democratic House Rep. Jared Golden
When he first spoke with the Sun Journal, he said he was motivated to run against Golden specifically because he “does so little.” Golden was elected to Congress in 2018 and is currently a co-chair of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of moderate House Democrats who have historically advocated for fiscally conservative policies. Bassile insisted that Maine’s current federal lawmakers have failed to secure enough funding for Maine. “They just don’t get it done,” he told the Sun Journal.
Since then, Bassile seems to have changed his mind. Bassile’s campaign committee filed paperwork on Oct. 6 noting that he is running in District 1, and on X (formerly called Twitter) his account is titled “Elias Bassile for Congress Disrict 1.” However, as of Oct. 10 his candidate profile page on the FEC’s website still lists that he is a candidate in District 2.
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