Welcome to this week’s recap, everyone - for Friday, September 5, 2025.1
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🗳 Maine News & Politics🗳
Dan Kleban, 48, the owner of Maine Beer Co, is running against Susan Collins. While the brewery, based in Freeport, is very popular, I must admit it’s never been one of my personal favorites. Kleban has been toying with running for office for years, with his name frequently popping up as a potential candidate until now, but this is his first time actually running. It will be interesting to see how he does, and how much of his own money - however much that is - he puts into it. I did my first ranking of the Democratic Senate candidates.
Meanwhile, one of his opponents, Graham Platner, accepted the in-person endorsement of Bernie Sanders at a rally at the Cross Insurance Center2 in Portland. I didn’t go, but it seemed to be well-attended, judging from the photos and accounts. According to the Press Herald, ‘upwards of 6,000’ people attended - which probably means fewer than 7,000 attended. Since the capacity is 6,206 for sports and 9,500 for concerts, that means they didn’t exactly pack the place. Liberals had other Labor Dally rallies all across the state, too, decrying billionaires.
Last week in the column, I wrote about people who run for office with no real expectation of victory. It’s not necessarily problematic unless they pretend to be plausible candidates and draw away resources from others. There are definitely several candidates in both parties for various offices who fit that definition this cycle.
Senators Jeff Timberlake, R-Androscoggin, and Brad Farrin, R-Somerset, are requesting the details of the Department of Health and Human Services’ interactions with the family after a tragic murder in Chelsea. There have been a number of deaths related to children under DHHS supervision in recent years, and numerous failed attempts at reform, so this is another incident in that sad story. Janet Mills has been unwilling to consider sweeping reforms to the department that have been proposed by Democrats and Republicans alike during her time in office - something that is clearly sorely needed.
Speaking of proponents of reforming DHHS, former Maine Secretary of State Bill Diamond, D-Windham, passed away recently at the age of 80. He took up the cause of doing more for the care of Maine’s children, founding a nonprofit called Walk A Mile In Their Shoes. Diamond also spent decades in the Maine Legislature in both the House and Senate, often working to bridge the gaps between the two parties and get things done. I never worked directly with him, but I admire his efforts.
Susan Collins firmly denounced the Trump administration’s attempt to claw back $4.9 billion in funding already approved by Congress. Essentially, Trump is attempting to withhold the funding without allowing a vote on it, since it’s so close to the end of the fiscal year on September 30. Since Congress won’t get a chance to vote on it, this issue will end up before the courts.
Speaking of Congress and Susan Collins, now that they’re back in DC, they’re going to have to decide how to fund the government. Government funding expires September 30, and Democrats have a whole host of issues they want to fight over, whether it’s Trump’s police crackdown in DC, immigration, or the Epstein files. It will be interesting to see how interested they are in forcing a confrontation over these, or any other, issues.
🏀 Sports 🏀
The Portland Press Herald has a comprehensive fall sports preview covering the state’s high school sports scene. It’s a great rundown of the contenders all over the state in different sports and at different levels.
The Boston Red Sox have been doing better lately - until a painful loss to Cleveland Wednesday evening, anyway. However, they’re still muddling along at 3.5 games behind Toronto, a half game behind the Yankees in the AL East and the Wild Card. They could conceivably either win the division if everything falls their way or miss the playoffs entirely. The most likely outcome is a Wild Card spot, probably, but we shall see.
🍺 What I’m drinking 🍺
Congress Street (7.2%), from Trillium Brewing in Massachusetts, is a smooth, drinkable hazy IPA. Trillium has a tendency to produce smooth IPAs, different from the fruit-bomb approach that Treehouse takes, and they’re similar to Maine’s Belleflower. That’s no coincidence: The owners of Belleflower once worked at Trillium, and it’s easy to see the connection with IPAs like this one.
🎵What I’m listening to 🎵
I needed some mellower music, so I revisited Page McConnell’s 2021 instrumental album, Maybe We’re The Visitors. If you’re in that kind of mood, too, check it out:
Jim is also a weekly columnist for the Portland Press Herald, Maine’s largest daily newspaper. Follow him on X, BlueSky, and on Facebook.
This was written Thursday evening and scheduled for publication Friday morning.
It will always be CCCC to me.