A labor union representing Border Patrol agents endorsed former U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin on Tuesday as part of a national Republican campaign push on immigration.
The National Border Patrol Council’s endorsement came three weeks from Election Day in Poliquin’s race against Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat from Maine’s 2nd District, and independent longshot Tiffany Bond. It is one of roughly 30 toss-up elections that should decide control of the chamber, which Republicans are favored to take back from Democrats.
Poliquin traveled to the Texas-Mexico border in January with Republicans to highlight a “chaotic” situation there. That visit underscored his few policy differences on border security with Golden, who has generally voted with Republicans on the topic during his two terms in Congress.
The former congressman has focused his rhetoric on this issue and others by singling out Golden’s party more than the incumbent himself in a district trending further toward Republicans after being won twice by former President Donald Trump.
At a news conference in a Republican office on Tuesday, Poliquin again noted that Golden votes predominantly with his party. While he had “no complaints” with Golden’s actions, Dan Hiebert, the retired chief Border Patrol Agent in Maine, said Democrats are not articulating problems at the border.
“It’s what he is not doing,” he said. “That’s what concerns me the most when it concerns … border security and national security.”
Apprehensions at the southern border exceeded 2 million from October to August for the first time during a federal fiscal year. It has been driven lately by a wave of people fleeing communist Venezuela. Strained relations have made it hard for the administration of President Joe Biden to expel them under Title 42, a pandemic rule allowing easier expulsion on health grounds.
At the same time, seizures of the deadly fentanyl have also spiked to record highs while the drug fuels an increasingly deadly opioid crisis. Maine topped 600 overdose deaths for the first time in 2021 but is on pace to exceed that total this year.
The National Border Patrol Council was not known for electoral politics until it endorsed Trump in a 2016 campaign marked by hardline immigration policies. Since then, it has predominantly endorsed other Republicans, although Politico reported that Trump was upset after the union backed three Senate Democrats in 2018. It has never endorsed in Maine.
The council’s president, Brandon Judd, defended that decision by saying Republicans “don’t own border security.” But he has collaborated with them in that area this year and drew criticism from progressives after USA Today linked his remarks that Biden and Democrats are “trying to change the demographics of the electorate” with a racist conspiracy theory.
Judd has joined House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California, who is likely to be the next House speaker, in opposing Biden’s plans to wind down Title 42. Recently, McCarthy has urged Republicans to vote against funding bills that do not address the border surge.
Golden introduced a bipartisan bill to make winding down Title 42 harder in April. A judge blocked the president’s proposed rollback of that policy this spring. In response to the union’s move, his campaign noted endorsements from two Maine police groups and past votes for border infrastructure and personnel.
“Mainers know Jared Golden has a strong record standing up to his party and supporting border security,” said Bobby Reynolds, a Golden strategist.
BDN writer Kathleen O’Brien contributed to this report.
