The 2018 midterm elections may be more than a year away, but candidates are already gearing up their campaigns. In Maine, State Senator Eric Brakey announced on Tuesday that he’ll be challenging Sen. Angus King (I).
The 28-year old state senator is well known for his libertarian leanings. He worked on Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign in Maine and as an elected official championed issues like constitutional carry, right-to-try, and welfare reform.
The Constitution says, “No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years.” Brakey will turn 30 in 2018 and would be the youngest Senator in modern history.
“I am proud to announce that I am running for the United States Senate to lead the charge in returning power back to the American people,” said Brakey in a statement. “For far too long, career politicians in Washington like Senator King have maintained power with empty promises and insider deal-making. He is disconnected from the Mainers he is representing and is no longer working in Maine’s best interests. I promise you that I will go to Washington to break this unjust system. I will disrupt the status quo and topple the Kings of Washington in order to return liberty and power back to where it belongs; with the little guy.”
King has been in Maine politics for decades, first as the state’s governor back in the 90s. Although he’s a registered Independent who caucuses with the Democrats in the Senate, he voted with the Trump agenda nearly 50 percent of the time, according to FiveThirtyEight.
Having such a mixed record on supporting Trump may earn him a fairly progressive Democratic challenger out of the Bernie Sanders wing of the party. Despite being an incumbent and having an approval rating of 63 percent, King hasn’t raised much money. According to Open Secrets, the Senator only has $132,633 in the bank and $80,000 in debt as of December 2016.
Also playing into the race is the state’s new election law, allowing voters to rank the candidates in order of most to least preferable.
