NEW REPORT: Bobby Charles Says He Will Ask Trump Administration to Send ICE to Monitor Maine Elections

NEW REPORT: Bobby Charles Says He Will Ask Trump Administration to Send ICE to Monitor Maine Elections

New reporting from Bangor Daily News reveals that Maine Republican nominee for governor Bobby Charles is planning to ask Trump's border czar Tom Homan - who he calls a longtime "friend" - to mobilize federal agents to monitor Maine's elections this October. The move - which Maine's Secretary of State has called illegal - is just the latest example of Charles aligning himself with the Trump administration - even when it comes at the expense of Maine. Earlier this week, JD Vance lavished praise on Charles and endorsed his run at a rally in Bangor.

Read more about how Charles wants to ask Trump to illegally monitor the polls in Maine:

Bangor Daily News: Bobby Charles said he'll ask Donald Trump's border czar to send ICE to Maine polls

• Republican gubernatorial nominee Bobby Charles told activists last week that he plans to ask President Donald Trump's border czar to send U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to Maine polling places this fall.

• Charles, a lawyer who served in the administrations of former presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, made the remark Aug. 20 with Maine Young Republicans in Arundel, calling border czar Tom Homan a longtime friend from their years appearing on Fox News together.

• "I'm going to ask Tom - three or four weeks before the election, maybe three - I'm going to make an appeal for ICE and marshals to be at our voting booths," Charles said, according to audio obtained exclusively by the Bangor Daily News. "Do you think the illegals who are being paid money are going to like that?"

• There is no evidence of people being paid, and what Charles said he'd ask for is likely illegal. The Trump administration has said it is not planning to do it while raising the specter of rare noncitizen voting. Charles' comments came as he has looked to distance himself somewhat from Trump during an underdog campaign in a Democratic-leaning state.
• A 19th-century federal law makes it a crime to station armed federal agents at polling places on Election Day, unless they are needed to fend off an attack. The liberal Brennan Center for Justice has called the idea illegal amid often-stated worries from Democratic election officials.

• "ICE and federal law enforcement are prohibited from being at the polls on Election Day," Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, said. "Bobby Charles can call whoever he wants, but he can't change the Constitution or the law."

• In a statement, Charles' campaign did not dispute his remark, framing it as an effort to guard against illegal voting. It is illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. No states allow them to vote, although some cities allow them to vote in local elections.
• Charles rode Trump-aligned messaging on crime, voting and immigration to win the June primary easily over seven other candidates. He is now running against Democrat Hannah Pingree and independent state Sen. Rick Bennett. Pingree led Charles by double digits in a recent Fox News poll and is a heavy favorite in prediction markets to win in November.

• He did not attend Vice President JD Vance's Monday event in Brewer, where Vance exhorted the crowd to vote for Charles and other Republicans. The Arundel remark came the same day Charles, at a separate stop in Gorham, sought to break from Trump.

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