Bruce Poliquin
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.
| Bruce Lee Poliquin | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Former U.S. Representative from Maine's 2nd Congressional District From: January 3, 2015 â January 3, 2019 | |||
| Predecessor | Mike Michaud | ||
| Successor | Jared Golden | ||
| Former Treasurer of Maine From: January 5, 2011 â January 7, 2013 | |||
| Predecessor | David Lemoine | ||
| Successor | Neria Douglass | ||
| Information | |||
| Party | Republican | ||
| Spouse(s) | Jane Carpenter (1989â1992, her death) Judith Arbuckle (2004â2009, div.) | ||
| Religion | Roman Catholic | ||
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
- â 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
- â S 1 - A Bill to Approve the Keystone XL Pipeline - National Key Vote
- â HR 1105 - Death Tax Repeal Act of 2015 - National Key Vote
- â HR 1314 - Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 - National Key Vote
- â HR 3003 - No Sanctuary for Criminals Act - National Key Vote
- â HR 3697 - Criminal Alien Gang Member Removal Act - National Key Vote
- â HR 36 - Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act - National Key Vote
- â HR 849 - Protecting Seniors Access to Medicare Act - National Key Vote
- â 34 House Republicans Call for DACA Amnesty Before End of the Year
- â HR 1 - Tax Cuts and Jobs Act - National Key Vote
- â HR 4712 - Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act - National Key Vote
- â HR 1892 - Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 - National Key Vote
- â S 756 - First Step Act of 2018 - National Key Vote
- â Trump tweets support for Poliquin campaign
- â Maine Election Results: Second House District
- â Two references:
- â Federal Judge Strikes Down Poliquin's Challenge To Maine's Ranked-Choice Voting Law
- â LD 1083 - Increases the Use of Ranked Choice Voting - Maine Key Vote
- â 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.
- â Bruce Poliquin on the Issues