It’s déjà vu all over again in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District race.
Tiffany Bond Submitted photo
Independent Tiffany Bond, a Portland lawyer, filed enough verified signatures Tuesday to secure a spot on the Nov. 8 general election ballot, which is likely to look a lot like the ranked-choice race in 2018 won by U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Lewiston Democrat.
The difference this time, Bond said, is she has a real shot of winning.
She said that in 2018, many people were wary of voting for her because they didn’t know if ranked-choice voting would hold up in court. Now that it has, she said, she’s going to get a lot more votes from people who are “fed up” with the Democratic and Republican alternatives.
Golden is seeking a third term in the sprawling, hardscrabble district that experts say is among the most closely split in the nation, giving the GOP a chance to unseat an incumbent.
A June 14 Republican primary will determine Golden’s Republican challenger, with former U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin of Orrington holding a sizable advantage in terms of both campaign cash and name recognition over Liz Caruso of Caratunk.
In 2018, Golden defeated Poliquin, who had served two terms, in the nation’s first federal ranked-choice election. Bond came in third — and provided the margin of victory to Golden when the secretary of state’s office redistributed the ballots cast by voters to their second-place pick.
The only sure change from the 2018 lineup is that the fourth candidate that year, independent Will Hoar of Southwest Harbor, won’t be on the ballot this time around.
In a ranked-choice race with three candidates, officials will redistribute the votes of the third-place finisher if nobody in the contest achieves a majority. The last time around, about two-thirds of Bonds’ voters picked Golden as their second choice.
Bond said the voting method gives her a real chance to make the case to voters who want change.
She said the country needs to put “moms in charge” instead of a bunch of politicians who spend most of their time arguing with each other and raising money for their campaigns.
Calling herself “pragmatic, practical and no-nonsense,” Bond said she would focus on doing the job in Washington instead of participating in what she terms “a freaking circus.”
To make the ballot, Bond had to collect more than 2,000 verified signatures from voters across the district. She said she rounded up more than two-thirds of them herself.
The secretary of state’s office accepted 2,288 certified signatures from her Tuesday.
Bond plans a low-budget campaign, using social media to urge voters to back a candidate “who isn’t distracted by the constant fundraising and partisan noise” and who vows to “work for you.”
Bond, a 45-year-old Oregon native who practices family law, is married and has two sons. Though they have lived in Portland for a decade, the family bought land in Sandy River Plantation near the Saddleback Mountain Ski Resort in Franklin County. They are building a home there where they plan to move.
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