AUGUSTA, Maine — A conservative Maine lawmaker who has often clashed with Republican leaders has nearly $80,000 in the bank for a reelection campaign that is nearly 11 months away.
The staggering fundraising from state Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, highlights her role in organizing grassroots opposition to many of the policies coming out of the Democratic-led State House, including a controversial abortion-rights expansion that was passed last year.
Libby raised just over $105,000 last year, although that sum included a $23,000 transfer from her 2022 campaign. It is already the highest fundraising total on record for a state House of Representatives candidate since at least 2004. Only 11 candidates raised more than $20,000 for House races in 2022, with the Auburn lawmaker leading the pack then at $62,000.
Among Libby’s donors last year were notable Republicans including Leonard Leo, the conservative judicial system architect who has a home on Mount Desert Island, and his wife, Sally Leo, and 2018 gubernatorial nominee Shawn Moody of Gorham.
They were among those to give maximum $475 contributions to Libby. Those large donations accounted for more than $29,000 of her haul. But she also had considerable success with donors who gave less than $50, bringing in nearly $13,000 from them.
Libby has been one of the most visible Republican lawmakers during a five-year period of Democratic control. She was elected in 2020 over incumbent Rep. Bettyann Sheats, D-Auburn, and went on to form the Dinner Table, a political action committee that raised lots of money during the 2022 cycle to boost candidates and prompted friction with Republican leaders.
She won reelection in 2022 in an unopposed race and ran for the No. 1 Republican post in the House, which instead went to Billy Bob Faulkingham of Winter Harbor. Libby criticized him early in his tenure after he negotiated a heating aid bill with Gov. Janet Mills.
Libby worked with churches and evangelical groups to mobilize conservatives against Democrats’ signature 2022 abortion bill, which allowed doctors to perform the procedure after fetal viability. She has also toyed with the idea of running for higher office, publicly considering a run for the 2nd Congressional District at times over the past year.