Bruce Poliquin
Bruce Lee Poliquin | |||
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Former U.S. Representative from Maine's 2nd Congressional District From: January 3, 2015 – January 3, 2019 | |||
Predecessor | Mike Michaud | ||
Successor | Jared Golden | ||
Former Treasurer of Maine From: January 5, 2011 – January 7, 2013 | |||
Predecessor | David Lemoine | ||
Successor | Neria Douglass | ||
Information | |||
Party | Republican | ||
Spouse(s) | Jane Carpenter (1989–1992, her death) Judith Arbuckle (2004–2009, div.) | ||
Religion | Roman Catholic |
Bruce Lee Poliquin (born November 1, 1953) is a businessman and libertarian-leaning Republican who was the U.S. representative from Maine's 2nd district from 2015 to 2019. Prior to that, he served as the state's treasurer from 2011 to 2013.
Contents
U.S. House of Representatives
2014 election
Poliquin was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2014, defeating Democrat opponent Emily Cain by 5% of the vote. He soon took office on January 3, 2015.
Obama era
Poliquin voted in February 2015 against repealing Obamacare.[1]
On February 11, 2015, Poliquin voted in favor of approving the Keystone XL.[2]
Rep. Poliquin voted in April 2015 along with his party line to repeal the death tax.[3]
Poliquin voted in October 2015 in favor of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, which raised the debt limit.[4]
2016 election
Rep. Poliquin was re-elected in 2016 with 54.8% of the vote.
Trump era
Poliquin voted in June 2017 in favor of federally de-funding sanctuary cities.[5]
Rep. Poliquin voted in September 2017 along with his party line to authorize the deporting of immigrants suspected of gang membership.[6]
In October 2017, Poliquin voted in favor of the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for rape and incest.[7]
Rep. Poliquin voted in favor of repealing the IPAB on November 2, 2017.[8]
Despite having largely been opposed to illegal immigration and amnesty, Poliquin joined 33 moderate Republicans in signing a letter calling for maintaining DACA before the end of 2017.[9]
Poliquin voted in favor of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in December 2017.[10]
In January 2018, Poliquin voted in favor of the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.[11]
Poliquin voted in favor of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018.[12]
Among Poliquin's last votes in office was in favor of the First Step Act.[13]
2018 election
Poliquin ran for re-election for 2018, with his effort endorsed by Donald Trump.[14] He won a plurality of the votes in the general election over Democrat opponent Jared Golden, but as no candidate obtained a majority, a defaulted ranked-choice voting system that had then only been recently implemented statewide proved to be narrowly costly for Poliquin, who soon lost in the runoff to Golden by 1% of the vote.[15] Poliquin subsequently sued against the Maine Secretary of State over the matter,[16] although this was quickly struck down by a federal judge.[17]
Six months later, in a potential conflict of interest, the Democrat-controlled Maine legislature passed LD 1083, which would increase the use of ranked choice voting.[18]
2022 comeback bid
In August 2021, Poliquin announced a bid for his old congressional seat in the 2022 midterms to oust Golden.[19]
Political views
Mostly conservative with libertarian leanings, Poliquin opposes abortion, same-sex "marriage", Obamacare, and U.S. involvement in foreign wars.[20]
References
- ↑ HR 596 - Repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and Health Care-Related Provisions in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 - National Key Vote
- ↑ S 1 - A Bill to Approve the Keystone XL Pipeline - National Key Vote
- ↑ HR 1105 - Death Tax Repeal Act of 2015 - National Key Vote
- ↑ HR 1314 - Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 - National Key Vote
- ↑ HR 3003 - No Sanctuary for Criminals Act - National Key Vote
- ↑ HR 3697 - Criminal Alien Gang Member Removal Act - National Key Vote
- ↑ HR 36 - Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act - National Key Vote
- ↑ HR 849 - Protecting Seniors Access to Medicare Act - National Key Vote
- ↑ 34 House Republicans Call for DACA Amnesty Before End of the Year
- ↑ HR 1 - Tax Cuts and Jobs Act - National Key Vote
- ↑ HR 4712 - Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act - National Key Vote
- ↑ HR 1892 - Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 - National Key Vote
- ↑ S 756 - First Step Act of 2018 - National Key Vote
- ↑ Trump tweets support for Poliquin campaign
- ↑ Maine Election Results: Second House District
- ↑ Two references:
- ↑ Federal Judge Strikes Down Poliquin's Challenge To Maine's Ranked-Choice Voting Law
- ↑ LD 1083 - Increases the Use of Ranked Choice Voting - Maine Key Vote
- ↑ Shepherd, Michael (August 4, 2021). Former US Rep. Bruce Poliquin will run for rematch with Jared Golden in 2022. Bangor Daily News. Retrieved September 23, 2021.
- ↑ Bruce Poliquin on the Issues