Two candidates for president are scheduled to make campaign stops in Portland this week – Robert Kennedy Jr., who is running as an independent, and Democrat Marianne Williamson.
Kennedy will appear at the Ocean Gateway on Wednesday for a “meet & greet” and community town hall, according to his campaign website. The event is scheduled for 4:30-6:30 p.m.
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. AP photo
Williamson, who had been scheduled to appear in Portland in September but cancelled due to illness, will be speaking at the University of Southern Maine at 4:15 p.m. Thursday followed by a “meet & greet” at SerenityME on Forest Avenue at 7 p.m., her campaign said in a statement.
Polls have Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden as the clear front-runners in their respective parties. A Quinnipiac University poll released last week shows Trump with 64% support among Republican and Republican leaning voters, followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis with 15% support.
The same poll found Biden with 77% support among Democratic and Democratic leaning voters, followed by Williamson, an author and political activist, with 8%.
Kennedy, an environmental lawyer and longtime Democrat who announced last month that he would instead run as an independent, could pull as much as 22% support in a three-way race including Trump and Biden, the Quinnipiac poll found.
Kennedy has drawn attention for statements falsely linking vaccines to various medical conditions and claiming chemicals in water sources could be making children gay or transgender. He is seen as more likely to pull votes from Trump Republicans than from Biden Democrats.
Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson Photo for The Washington Post by Amanda Andrade-Rhoades
Williamson’s visit is part of a five-day tour of New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts, according to her campaign. Her platform includes Medicare for all, universal healthcare, tuition-free college, canceling all student loan debt, guaranteed paid family leave, free child care and a guaranteed living wage.
No other presidential candidates appear to have any upcoming stops scheduled for Maine.
Biden, who came to Maine last week to grieve with families of those killed in Lewiston, made a campaign-style trip to Auburn in late July to tout his administration’s economic policies.
The DeSantis campaign announced last month that Maine’s top Senate Republican, Minority Leader Trey Stewart of Presque Isle, would help lead the Florida governor’s 2024 campaign in Maine.
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