Independent congressional contender Tiffany Bond took it as a good sign Monday when the state Republican Party “started taking potshots at me.”
Maine GOP Chairwoman Demi Kouzounas speaks in 2018 to a state convention. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal file photootographer
“I must be polling pretty damn well,” said Bond, who is seeking to snatch Maine’s 2nd Congressional District seat from two-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Lewiston Democrat.
The state GOP chairwoman, Demi Kouzounas, said in a prepared statement Monday that “progressive Portland lawyer Tiffany Bond” is “not telling Mainers what her financial interests are” despite her calls for greater transparency.
Also in the running for the congressional seat are Republicans Bruce Poliquin of Orrington, Elizabeth Caruso of Caratunk, Garret Swazey of Bangor and Sean Joyce of Newburgh, who will face off in a June 14 primary. Another independent, Jordan Borrowman of Lewiston, is seeking a spot on the general election ballot.
In 2018, Golden defeated Poliquin, a two-term incumbent, to win the seat. Bond placed a distant third in the ranked-choice voting election after both front-runners and their parties largely ignored her.
Bond, a family law attorney from Portland, said it means something that the Republicans are lashing out at her from the start this time around, though she said the strategy makes little sense.
She said the GOP would be far better off trying to convince her voters to pick their nominee as their second choice instead of burning bridges with potential supporters.
Kouzounas questioned whether Bond aims “to play a spoiler role” in the 2022 race. She said Bond’s goal in 2018 “was to knock out the incumbent Republican congressman.”
Bond said she did want to see Poliquin lose in 2018, but it’s not fair to call her a spoiler.
After all, she said, neither Poliquin nor Golden ought to hold the seat.
Tiffany Bond Submitted photo
“I don’t think either one of these gentlemen should be in office,” Bond said.
Kouzounas said Bond ought to file a financial disclosure form “so Mainers can evaluate her possible ties to clients, corporations and other entities.”
Bond said she doesn’t have many assets and once took a screenshot for Twitter showing her meager stock holdings. She said the only corporation she has any ties to is her own law office and the only client she has are people seeking her help as a divorce attorney.
“I don’t have anything to hide,” she said.
The main thing she’s learned from her clients, Bond said, is that “people are still poor” and need help.
Congressional candidates are required to file personal financial disclosures, but only if they raise more than $5,000 for their campaigns.
Bond didn’t raise any money in 2018 when she placed third in the race that Golden won. She said she spent less than $800 of her money on that contest.
This year, Bond is accepting campaign contributions. She said she’s gotten more than $1,000 so far, but not yet enough to be required to file anything. If she does reach the reporting threshold, Bond said, she will.
Until she has to file the paperwork, she said, “why would I waste my time?”
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