BANGOR, Maine (AP) — A day after Vice President JD Vance said the Trump administration’s endeavor to combat fraud in government programs would not be political or partisan, he touted the effort in a campaign-style stop in Maine while promoting a Republican candidate as a fraud fighter and portraying Democrats as enablers of scammers.
Vance, dubbed the “fraud czar” by President Donald Trump, made an appearance in the state's politically competitive
2nd Congressional District to stump for former Gov. Paul LePage, a Trump ally who is vying to flip the U.S. House seat being vacated by Democratic Rep. Jared Golden.
He compared LePage to the current governor, Democrat Janet Mills, who has sparred with the Trump administration over the issue of transgender athletes in high school sports. Mills is prevented by term limit laws from running again and recently dropped out of a heated Democratic primary race for the Senate seat held by Republican Susan Collins, one of the most vulnerable candidates in the chamber.
“Let’s kick Janet Mills to the curb and let’s send Paul LePage to Washington to help us fight the fraudsters and protect all of you,” Vance told the crowd of a few hundred people at Bangor International Airport.
While Vance has mentioned the anti-fraud efforts in his stops around the country in recent weeks on behalf of Republican candidates, Thursday’s visit was the first expressly billed as a stop to talk about the fraud-fighting efforts rather than the economic-focused message he’s delivered in other visits.
The event showcased how the vice president is leveraging his high-profile role leading Trump's anti-fraud task force for Republicans as they face crucial midterm elections this year, especially as the administration’s economic message has been clouded by rising costs from the Iran war. Early voting is already underway in Maine for the state’s June 9 primary elections for offices including governor, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House.
The state has supported Democratic presidential candidates in consecutive elections going back to 1992, though Trump carried Maine's 2nd Congressional District in the last three elections, capturing one of the state's four electoral votes.
Vance’s message also provided a preview of how the vice president, seen as a likely 2028 GOP presidential candidate, could use the fraud crackdown as a central piece of his own political message in a future campaign.
“You are the first victim of fraud,” Vance told attendees as signs hung nearby that read “PROTECTING TAXPAYER DOLLARS” and “FIGHTING FRAUDSTERS.”
Vance went on and added a few minutes later, “My friends, this has gone on for far too long. You have been fleeced by your own government for far too long, and we are stopping it every single day.”
Democrats accused Vance and his fellow Republicans of being the biggest source of fraud, referencing the massive tax and spending bill that Trump signed into law last summer.
“If Vance wants to talk about scams, he should talk about Republicans’ Big, Ugly Bill, which is already kicking tens of thousands of Mainers off Medicaid, putting rural hospitals across the district at risk of closure, and gutting Maine’s health care system to fund massive tax breaks to billionaires,” Riya Vashi, spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in a statement.
The visit to Maine came after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said earlier in the year that he was calling for corrective action on alleged fraud in government health programs in Maine, a request characterized by Mills as a “political attack.”
Mills recently dropped out of the Democratic primary race to challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins, effectively ceding the nomination to progressive activist and oyster farmer Graham Platner. The seat is critical to Democratic hopes of reclaiming control of the chamber in this year's midterms.
Vance, however, didn't mention Platner and instead focused much of his attention on Mills and LePage, the sole Republican vying for the nomination in Maine's 2nd Congressional District.
Republicans are bullish about their chances of the seat, which encompasses Bangor and which backed Trump for president in the last three elections even as the state itself supported the Democratic presidential candidate.
Vance portrayed LePage as a partner-in-arms with his anti-fraud effort and told the crowd Thursday: “Fraud has festered in Maine because this guy is no longer the governor of Maine."
While Collins is not always a reliable vote for the Trump administration, Vance took pains to praise the longtime senator for her independence and lack of partisanship.
“Sometimes I get frustrated with Susan Collins. I almost wish she was more partisan,” Vance said. “If she was as partisan as I wish she was, she would not be a good fit for the people of Maine.”
Collins was in Washington on Thursday and not among the candidates who joined Vance for the trip.
Before Vance arrived, LePage told the crowd that if elected to represent Maine's 2nd Congressional District, he would work with the Trump administration to crack down on fraud in social safety programs, which he characterized as rampant in his state.
“The American people are done being taken for a ride. It’s time for the Maine people and the Maine taxpayer to be put front and center,” he told the crowd.
Maine Center for Economic Policy, a left-leaning policy group that advocates for low- and middle-income residents, said in a statement that the Trump administration's characterizations of fraud and social programs in the state were inaccurate.
“Fraud should always be investigated and stopped. But Mainers deserve facts, not political fearmongering designed to undermine health care for hundreds of thousands of people,” the statement said.
In the governor's race, seven Republicans and five Democrats are vying to replace Mills. Vance noted that some of the candidates were in attendance at the rally but declined to endorse any of them when a reporter asked whether he would.
A few dozen demonstrators stood across the street from the airport holding signs denouncing Vance and the Trump administration. One held a giant caricature of the vice president’s head that has become a popular meme.
Nirav Shah, the former Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention director who is running for governor, said in an email to supporters and the media that Vance is visiting Maine as the costs of necessities such as heating oil and gas surge in the state.
“That is the record JD Vance is bringing to Maine on Thursday. That is the record the Maine Republicans hosting him are ‘honored’ to celebrate,” Shah said.
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Price reported from Washington.
