{"id":1273,"date":"2026-04-30T21:09:02","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T21:09:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/voterguide.local\/?p=1273"},"modified":"2026-05-23T15:48:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T15:48:34","slug":"matthew-g-dunlap-ush","status":"publish","type":"candidate","link":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/matthew-g-dunlap-ush\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthew G. Dunlap"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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About the Candidate<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Maine State Auditor and former Secretary of State; lifelong Mainer committed to fighting for working families in the 2nd District<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Education<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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University of Maine<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Previous campaigns and elected office(s) held<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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State Representative (1996-2005) and Secretary of State (2005-2010, 2013-2020)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Why are you running?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Working people in Maine’s 2nd District have been ignored for too long. I’m running to hold the billionaire class accountable, fight for affordable healthcare and show up for my friends and neighbors across this district. I’ve already stood up to Trump once. As Secretary of State I got his voter fraud commission disbanded \u2014 and I’ll continue to stand up for working people and the rule of law in Congress.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Top three priorities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Bringing down healthcare costs for working Mainers through Medicare for All.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protecting Social Security by eliminating the payroll tax cap so the wealthiest pay their fair share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defending our democracy by shielding the Department of Justice and federal judiciary from political interference.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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If elected, how would you work with the Trump administration to deliver results for Maine? How would you push back?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Where the president delivers real benefits for Maine \u2014 on trade, infrastructure or veterans \u2014 I’ll work with him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I won’t rubber stamp an agenda that guts Medicaid, ignores the courts and weaponizes the DOJ against political opponents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve pushed back on Trump before and won. I’ll fight to restore Medicaid cuts, defend judicial independence and put working Mainers ahead of billionaire donors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Would you pledge to support your party\u2019s current leaders in Congress? If so, why? If not, why not?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I’ll work with Democratic leadership when they’re fighting for working people: on healthcare, Social Security and protecting democracy. But I’m not going to Washington to be a rubber stamp for anyone. Maine’s 2nd District needs a representative who’s independent-minded and willing to push back when it matters. Leadership earns support by delivering results, and that’s the standard I’ll hold everyone to.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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If you could change one thing about how Washington functions, what would it be and why?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Get money out of politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason healthcare costs are out of control, Social Security is under threat and Congress can’t function is that billionaires and corporate interests have purchased too much influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’d overturn Citizens United and pass meaningful campaign finance reform so elected officials are accountable to their constituents, not their donors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1994,"template":"","meta":{"voter_guide_candidate_first_name":"Matthew","voter_guide_candidate_middle_name":"G","voter_guide_candidate_last_name":"Dunlap","voter_guide_candidate_suffix":"","voter_guide_candidate_race_id":2150,"voter_guide_candidate_age":61,"voter_guide_candidate_hometown":"","voter_guide_candidate_occupation":"Maine State Auditor","voter_guide_candidate_bio":"","voter_guide_candidate_education":"","voter_guide_candidate_years_in_state":0,"voter_guide_candidate_years_in_municipality":0,"voter_guide_candidate_time_in_area":"30+ years","voter_guide_candidate_website":"","voter_guide_candidate_headshot_url":"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/open?id=1Rou4WpBqry2yY3JftuIVr9-maV28MrQG","voter_guide_candidate_date_filed":"3\/3\/2026","voter_guide_candidate_incumbent_years":"","voter_guide_candidate_is_clean_elections":false,"footnotes":""},"vg_party":[1073],"vg_residence_municipality":[527],"class_list":["post-1273","candidate","type-candidate","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","vg_party-democratic","vg_residence_municipality-old-town"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/1273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/candidate"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/1273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3210,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/1273\/revisions\/3210"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"vg_party","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_party?post=1273"},{"taxonomy":"vg_residence_municipality","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_residence_municipality?post=1273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}