Hi Folks, big day Saturday! Organizers said more than 3,100 protests were registered in all 50 states, which was about 500 more rallies than in October 2025. Anywhere between 8 and 9 million people were reported to have protested Saturday, which was roughly 2 million more than the previous demonstration. Maine had 57 rallies which may make us one of the highest rally to population states along with Vermont!!
Top Action to Take Today:
Call your Congressional Representatives and ask them when they will be holding a town hall while they are on recess. The Senate is in recess from March 27th to April 13th, and the House of Representatives will join them in recess from March 28th to April 14th, This time should be time they interact with their constituents directly. Find out from their offices where they plan to be and see if you can rsvp for any public meetings they will be holding. For people who never do town halls like Collins there may be some empty chair town halls scheduled by activist groups. (Please let me know if you get any information on public meetings or events they plan to be at as well as empty chair town halls.)
More Actions Today if You Have the BandwidthWhile Congress is on recess, let’s concentrate on what is going on in the Maine legislature, we are entering the last three weeks of the session, so many bills will be headed to the Appropriations table once they are out of committee. I am putting Maine-based actions at the top in this section.Maine Related Actions Fair Taxes in Maine: Go here to write a letter to our legislators if you can’t come. (MPA has the text for the letter, and you can personalize it.)There are several bills in the Maine Legislature that would raise the taxes on the super-rich and profitable corporations to help pay for the cuts in Federal spending for basic needs in Maine, These bills includeLD 1089, LD 229, and LD 1879, to raise taxes on individuals with incomes over $1 million, modernize our tax brackets so people who make $60,000 aren’t paying at the same tax rate as people who make $600,000, and make sure that our state collects taxes from massive corporate profits.You will have a chance to have lunch with everyone after the morning is done. Contact (call, email, message) your local representative and senator to support LD 307 “An Act Regarding Energy, Utilities and Technology.” Purpose of the Bill: LD 307 aims to establish a moratorium on new data centers with electrical loads of at least 20 megawatts. A “Data Center Coordination Council” would be created to monitor this issue. Data Centers can create serious issues around water quality, energy consumption, infrastructure strain, property values of adjacent properties, etc. Organizations that oppose their development include: Maine Audubon, Natural Resource Council of Maine, Protect Maine Beaches, some labor unions and public health organizations as well. (New Note and entrepreneur from Massachusetts is proposing an UNDERWATER data center off Passamaquoddy tribal lands at Sepayik, what could possibly go wrong??) If you haven’t yet, please email Aaron Frey Maine’s Attorney General and ask him to join Rob Bonta, California’s Attorney General in launching an anti trust suit against the companies that will be owned by one man – David Ellison – a huge Trump backer. His company will own: CBS News, Tick Tock (where 1 in 5 Americans get their news), CNN, HBO (John Oliver), and Comedy Central (John Stewart) as well as AI company Oracle. An Anti-Trust suit is in order, and the States Attorney Generals can get one going. More at 5calls.org on this. At the same time request that he sue to find out what DOGE did to our Social Security data – a whistleblower is alleging that it has been transferred to a non-governmental actor. Support LD 1666, “An Act to Include in the Ranked-choice Election Method for General and Special Elections the Offices of Governor, State Senator and State Representative and to Make Other Related Changes” which will allow us to use Ranked Choice Voting in our Gubernatorial Race, local Senate and House races coming up this Fall. The bill passed the House in February, and now is in the Maine Senate. Please call your local Maine Senator and ask them to support this bill. It will be crucial for our Governor’s race this fall. Ask your local representative and Senator to supportLD 2176“An Act to Create a Right to Judicial Review Under the Maine Civil Rights Act for Persons Erroneously Detained” LD 2176 aims to establish a legal framework for individuals who have been unlawfully detained during immigration enforcement actions. It seeks to ensure that these individuals can seek judicial review and recover damages under the Maine Civil Rights Act. it, and send in testimony to support it – see Contact section below to do this.Contact your state representative and senator to support the bills to restore Wabanaki Sovereignty: These two bills were heard in front of the Judiciary Committee, and there has not been a report out of the Committee so far. Ask your reps to vote in favor of these bills when they come to the floor of the House and Senate. LD 395, “An Act to Restore Access to Federal Laws Beneficial to the Wabanaki Nations”, would amend the law to allow the Wabanaki tribes (and the Mi’kmaq Nation) to benefit from existing and future federal laws that already apply to the 570-plus other federally recognized tribes. Get a copy of the bill here. It has been voted Ought to Pass as Amended by the Judiciary Committee.LD 785, “An Act to Enact the Remaining Recommendations of the Task Force on Changes to the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Implementing Act”, which would restore the Wabanaki Nations’ inherent right to self-govern under the same federal laws that apply to tribes elsewhere in the United States. Get a copy of the bill here. This had a divided report from the committee.Together, these two acts would put the Wabanaki Nations on equal footing with most, if not all, of the other Native American tribes in our country. Go here for a toolkit from the Wabanaki Alliance on taking action on these bills.
From the Maine League of Women Voters: Sign up to support fair elections with the Maine League of Women Voters here.Also, here is your annual reminder to check for Clean Elections on your tax return. Learn more here. On the Maine Income Tax Form, Line 1, check a box to designate $3 to the Maine Clean Election Fund. Checking yes on the form does not impact your tax bill or refund in any way. Child care is a huge issue for working parents in Maine. Contact your local Representative and Senator and ask them to support: LD 1955 will provide $15 million in ongoing funding for the Child Care Affordability Program.LD 2066 will make the Child Care Affordability Program Educator Employment Award permanent. This will ensure that current employees at licensed childcare programs receive tuition support and will help to both recruit and retain qualified staff.LD 1414 will increase infant and toddler payment rates through the Child Care Affordability Program for eligible families. To use the MPA’s Action Network to write a letter to your Rep and Senator on these supports for childcare in Maine go here. Remember Quality Child Care for all is great for the economy!!!! Federal Actions: Contact Senators King and Collins and ask them to refuse the Republican’s latest “offer” to fund DHS, (but not ICE), and then pass a bill to fund ICE (no reform), AND they want to pass the SAVE Act through Budget Reconciliation which only needs a simple majority to pass. This is beyond despicable on the Republican’s part. Thank King for standing firm on opposing funding for the Department of Homeland Security. All Congress needs to do is fund FEMA, TSA and Coast Guard separately, leaving ICE to work with it’s 75 billion dollars. (They are still getting paid, so no rush there.)For more on this go to 5calls.org. Contact King, Collins, Pingree, and Golden to refuse the new Iran War funding request for 200 Billion Dollars!! This is more money than they cut from SNAP in 10 years, more money than was cut from the ACA. It would be kind to say that the request is despicable.Indivisible has set up a quick email you can send to them here. Get more background information and another way to contact them at 5calls.org. After you email your folks, call them with the same message. Note – Jared Golden is offering a new War Powers Act in the House – the specifics seem pretty good. Ask Chellie Pingree to support this. Contact King, Collins, Pingree or Golden to demand the following in relation to the Epstein Files: D
emand the DOJ release all documents legally mandated by the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Ask them to demand as well that the DEA(Drug Enforcement Administration) release an UNREDACTED version of their 2015 “Project Chain Reaction” investigation into Epstein and 14 co-conspirators into a massive drug trafficking ring they were involved with. Todd Blanche has blocked this release. See the full details in Heather Cox Richardson’s post which is attached. For more on this please go to 5calls.org. We have not forgotten. (Where is a Daniel Ellsberg when we need them?) Ask Representatives Golden and Pingree to support the “Prevent an Unconstitutional War in Cuba Act,”introduced by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The text provides an exception for the president to use force if there is an imminent threat. This puts Democrats and Republicans on record for opposing or supporting the unconstitutional Trump wars. More on this in the Hill.
The SAVE act will continue being debated in the Senate.See Joyce Vance’s excellent sub stack attached below on the facts associated with the non-problem that the Save Act solves.C
ontact Senator King to continue voting NO on the SAVE act HR 7296 (narrowly passed the house) – , and let Susan Collins know that we oppose her support for this act and demand that she vote against ending the Filibuster and against passing the SAVE Act through Budget Reconciliation which Republican Senators are now offering. The new SAVE Act adds new requirements that voters present a proof of citizenship both when registering to vote and when casting a ballot – 5calls.org has more on this. While you are at it, let them know to vote No on the MEGA Act, HR 7300 both of which are voter suppression efforts. . “Make Elections Great Again” (MEGA) would ban mail in ballots, limit absentee voting Go to 5calls.org for more information and a script for this call/contact. Trump is threatening not to sign any bills until this act is passed and is demanding that Senators end the Filibuster for this vote!
Call Senators King and Collins to urge them to support a formal conflict-of-interest review before the Paramount deal closes (around March 20th). The government must require strong data firewalls and full transparency around Oracle’s (AI firm owned by the Ellison Family) role.
Epstein Files Related Actions
See the More Bandwidth action above and check out Joyce Vance’s sub stack attached below about the Bank of America’s 72.5 million dollar settlement with survivors around the charge that the Bank enabled sex trafficking.
To support Sexual Abuse Survivors:
Ask your Congressional Representatives to co-sponsor and support “Virginia’s Law”, a billthat would remove the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits related to sexual abuse and trafficking. This law, named after Virginia Guiffre an Epstein abuse survivor and outspoken advocate for justice, would empower survivors by giving them a legal means to seek justice with not expiration date. More details on this law here.
Call Senators King and Collins to urge them to cosponsor S. 2746, the Produce Epstein Treasury Records Act and to support the bill with members of the Senate Finance committee where the bill resides currently. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), the Ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee (that oversees US banking) has been demanding access to Epstein’s finances. To this end, he introduced S. 2746 which would require the Secretary of the Treasury to produce suspicious activity reports relating to Jeffrey Epstein and his associates. More on this at Democracy Now For a script and more information go to 5calls.org. So far not a single perpetrator named in these files has been prosecuted.
ICE related Actions Call or write Senator King and Collins and ask them to vote against funding ICE and CBP in the appropriations bill that is currently waiting for approval – 60 votes needed. More details on this at 5calls.org. Ask Collins not to support removing the Filibuster on this vote. There is a move afoot to tax corporations who wish to build ICE prison camps in Maine at a higher level than regular corporate tax to offset the demands on local resources. Along with simply disallowing these camps through local zoning action and public outcry, cutting into the profit margin of these businesses is another way to dissuade them from trying to settle in Maine. ICE has 45 billion dollars to build/rent/purchase prison camp facilities – see a full report on this
here from the Brennan Center.
Contact our Congressional Representatives to: Claw back the 175 BILLION dollar slush fund that was approved in the “OBBA”(The Budget Bill Passed this Summer), for Immigration enforcement actions over the next four years. Collins + King both voted in favor of the Sanders Amendment which clawed back 75 Billion from ICE and CBP. Thank them for this, and then ask them to clawback this funding, and defund ICE and CBP until they meet standards of conduct for police professionals. For more information and a script go to 5calls.org for defunding ICE, and here for the 175 Billion Dollar Clawback. Call/email your local Representative and Senator to support, LD 2106 “An Act to Prohibit the Disclosure of Nonpublic Records Without Proper Judicial Review” to make sure ICE can’t enter private spaces in hospitals, schools, and childcare centers (learn more here ). MPA has an ACTION TOOLKIT on this bill here. You can still submit testimony on this bill here. The bill has not been voted out of committee yet, so there is still time to contact committee members to support it.Maine’s Attorney General Aaron Frey has started an ICE tip-line Citizens are urged to report intimidating and excessive federal enforcement behavior to CitizenReporting.OAG@maine.gov. “Emailers should be advised that any content sent may be subject to public dissemination under Maine’s Freedom of Access Laws.
”The Maine Immigrant’s Rights Coalition has set up a resource hub on responding to ICE. If you see what you identify as an ICE vehicle in your town call the ICE Watch hotline in Maine:207 544 9989. You can also text them a photo of what you believe to be an ICE vehicle, or any ICE actions in your area.
Activate Maine has an ICE toolkit including links to sign up for ICE verifier and de escalation trainings.If you want to get more involved check out
this training manual for becoming an ICE verifier.
The Maine ACLU has a page on being prepared for ICE actions in Maine: go here.
Other resist ICE resources: Resources from the Democracy Security Project: Printable De-Escalation Pocket Guide Printable Protest Pocket Guide Other DSP Resources Finally, consider volunteering and/or donating to one of the worthy immigrant support organizations listed below:
Capital Area New Mainers Project, Mainers for Humane Immigration, Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, (all Maine based), and the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, go here to donate to the Capital Area New Mainers Project. Environmental Actions
LD 1870, the climate superfund bill was passed out of committee! Next it’s headed to the Senate for a vote. If you support this important legislation, please continue to contact your legislators about LD 1870 and urge them to Make Polluters Pay! To learn NRCM’s priority bills for this short session,check their YouTube channel Check out https://www.nrcm.org/events/ (thank you Linda for this info.)
Keep glyphosate out of our food supply:
Contact Representative Jared Golden and urge him to cosponsor HR 7601 to protect us from glyphosate poisoning by corporations who have no interest in our health or well-being. On February 20th, Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY-4) introduced HR 7601, the “No Immunity for Glyphosate Act.” Co-sponsors so far are Chellie Pingree (D-ME-1), Lauren Boebert (R-CO-4), Nancy Mace (R-SC-1), and Ro Khanna (D-CA-17). This legislation would prohibit federal funds from implementing the Executive Order Trump issued recently expanding the production of Glyphosphate and Phosphorous under the Defense Production act.
ACA Related Actions
Call/write Senators King and Collins to support extending the ACA tax credits as the House did on January 8th. The House’s version is a “clean” extension with no amendments. The Maine People’s Alliance makes this really easy, go here. If you wish to write your own note or call, our Senator’s contact information is below in the Contact Information part of this email. For more information go to 5calls.org. For a full toolkit on how to support this action go here. This bill passed in the house!!Boycott: Being a consumer is one of the greatest powers we have as members of a capitalist economy. For a complete list of ICE related boycotts go to https://www.resistandunsubscribe.com/ a new website that lists and explains all the corporations that are directly enabling the Trump administration’s nasty policies and/or helping ICE and CBP: (Thanks Shelly for this link) Another resource on Boycotting – Scott Galloway’s podcast – Raging Moderates, discusses boycotting TechBro products at about 14:30 into the podcast, go here. (thank you Wendilee for this)
Mutual Aid
ActivateMaine has created a site, SNAP Into Action: “a statewide effort to help those who are affected by the freezing of benefits due to the Government shut down.” Activate Maine also has a Mutual Aid page with lots of resources.
Heating Assistance: If you have friends, neighbors, or need support for Heating Assistance, Li Heap funds have been authorized for Maine, Click here to learn more about applying for LIHEAP assistance.
Insurance Crisis: The ACA cuts are in the Senate to be voted on. Please contact Esther at the Maine People’s Alliance who is collecting personal testimony to support the passage of the ACA tax cuts.
ICE Related Mutual Aid: Both documented and undocumented immigrants are staying home in Maine, scared to leave the house to go shopping, bring their children to school, go to Dr’s appointments etc. You can help go here to find out how.
Arts and Politics
From Indivisible: Faya Ora Rose Touré, the civil rights legend who cofounded the Jubilee, shared a song she’d written for No Kings. You can see the lyrics here.Nils Lofgren — guitarist for the E Street band with Bruce Springsteen — sent us his new song: No Kings, No Hate, No Fear..Bruce C. has written and performed a wonderful new resistance song you can access here.Check it out and send it to your friends. Let me know if you would like to be in touch with him.
If you live near Skowhegan check out Kevin James Studios at 127 Water Street for a whole gallery of resistance art! (Let me know if you know of other art galleries showing political art and I will list them here.)
Research!If you use gmail, AI is reading your email unless you change your settings: Here is an explainer on this issue.
Here is an amazing resource for arguments about the First Amendment : https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/amendment-1/ But for a simple explanation see https://www.acluaz.org/news/first-amendment-101-the-freedom-of-the-press/ (Thanks Mitchell for this)
Learn more about Chenoweth’s 3.5% rule – go to one or more of these links: Wikipedia: BBCHarvard:
The Resource Alliance . (Thank you Beth for these links!) Get connected to Govtrack.US for daily information on what’s going on in Congress in terms of bills and votes.
GOT MORE TIME? HERE ARE SOME MORE ACTIONS (just pick one!)
- Consider putting together a Postcarding Group – you could postcard people in Maine to encourage them to register to vote, or work on initiatives in other states where races are close. Check out Abbie McMillen’s list of options attached below.
- Consider volunteering and/or donating to one of the worthy immigrant support organizations listed below: Capital Area New Mainers Project, Mainers for Humane Immigration, Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, (all Maine based), and the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, go here to donate to the Capital Area New Mainers Project.
State Wide Actions
- See Maine Related Actions Above
- Good News for Platner Supporters: An Emerson College Polling survey released on Thursday showed Platner leading Mills by about 27 points in the Senate Democratic contest, with Platner receiving 55 percent support while the Maine governor received 28 percent. A separate 17 percent said “someone else” or were undecided.
- Contact the Maine Library Commission prior to their meeting April 6th – to advocate for state services to continue being available to rural libraries. To learn more about the parameters currently being discussed for Maine libraries to receive state services go here.
- LD 1383, An Act to Require State Divestment from Perpetrators of International Human Rights Violations has been tabled by the Committee on State and Local Government due to claims that it is anti-semitic, despite support from Jewish action groups. Call your state Senator and Representative to support this bill. Go here for more information on this bill. Write a letter here to the State and Local Government Committee to pass this bill out of committee so the whole legislature can vote on it.
- If you know a teacher who is interested in an engaged and experiential way to teach civics, send them the flyer attached to this email. The Maine Civics Network is offering two workshops this Spring to support teachers working on Digital Literacy with their students.
- Mid Maine Indivisible has a great weekly newsletter – To sign up: go here. Indivisible Bangor has a great daily newsletter and actions go here to sign up. If you are in the Mid Coast area consider joining Audacity – learn more here. The Bold Coast Civic Alliance has a newsletter as well as the Hancock County Democrat. Cumberland County Indivisible newsletter go here. Greater Portland Indivisible, go here. We are developing a great ecosystem for resistance communications in Maine.
Find Your State Senator: By name:
Find your State Representative: By name: Here , By District:Here
For Maine State Legislative Calendar day by day go here For links to US Legislative Calendars go here
Check complete bill listing here. Find the text of any bill here Instructions for testifying are here
Local Actions:
Support Patric Moore who is a Democrat running for State Senate in Maine District 16 by contributing to his clean election fund here and supporting seed money for his election expenses here. Patric will be running against Republican Scott Cyrway who votes party line Republican. (Do the same for Cassie Julia, Flavia DeBrito, and Taylor West (if you are in their District) who are running for representative seats in our area go here to contribute to their clean election fund!)
Join Mid Maine Indivisible (Kennebec and Somerset Counties) Please join us if you are in the Mid Maine area. To sign up: go here. The Capital Area New Mainers Project is collecting furniture and kitchen supplies for families in our area. They are helping a family who lost everything in a house fire – you can contribute
here to this fund.
To donate fill out the form here.
Are you interested in helping New Mainers learn/improve their English? To sign up for English tutoring or any of our other volunteer opportunities, please visit: Capital Area New Mainers Project (CANMP) to fill out a volunteer interest survey. An English Learning option at the Waterville library at 1:00 on Mondays is also an option for volunteers. Contact CANMP for the details. You can also Donate to the Capitol Area New Mainers Project’s rapid response fund. CANMP is actively helping those affected by ICE abductions, both with legal funding and other financial support for family members.First Saturday of Each Month: Somerset Stands Up Rallies 2:30-Margaret Chase Smith Bridge, downtown Skowhegan. Bring your signs, American flags, your voice, your friends, families and neighbors for this peaceful gathering of concerned residents of Somerset County.Sunday, March 29th : 1:00 (and every Sunday) Bridge on KMD by the CVS Waterville: Stop the Killing, (ICE, Venezuela, USAID closing, ACA extensions dropped, etc.) Tuesday, March 31st: 12:00-1:00 (and every Tuesday) Tesla Charging Stations at Elm Plaza, WatervilleStand with us to remind the traffic that we need to WAKE UP and start resisting the authoritarian take over of our Government. We have been at this location since Tuesday, Feb. 4th 2025! Wednesday, April 1st: (and every Wednesday) 12:00-1:00 Waterville, Corner of Main and Chaplin St. Grandmothers for Reproductive Rights, GRR! demonstrates every Wednesday across from Resolve, the local anti-abortion center. For more info please contact Elayne Richard at mailto:recordconnection@gmail.com
Thursday, April 2nd, (And Every Thursday) Fairfield Benton Bridge 3-4 pm:….stop the coup, support Democracy, ICE OUT
First Saturday of Each Month: Somerset Stands Up Rallies 2:30-Margaret Chase Smith Bridge, downtown Skowhegan. Bring your signs, American flags, your voice, your friends, families and neighbors for this peaceful gathering of concerned residents of Somerset County.Sunday, April 5th : 1:00 (and every Sunday) Bridge on KMD by the CVS Waterville: Stop the Killing, (ICE, Venezuela, USAID closing, ACA extensions dropped, etc.)
SOLIDARITY*If you would like to join Maine People’s Alliance Federal Lobby Group, please contact Jim Parakilas at jamesparakilas@gmail.com. We meet Mondays at 2 pm on Zoom. With great appreciation for all the engagement everywhere! As always, throw a little sand in their gears! Emanuel
“For every door that’s been opened to me, I’ve tried to open my door to others. And here is what I have to say, finally: Let’s invite one another in. Maybe then we can begin to fear less, to make fewer wrong assumptions, to let go of the biases and stereotypes that unnecessarily divide us. Maybe we can better embrace the ways we are the same. It’s not about being perfect. It’s not about where you get yourself in the end. There’s power in allowing yourself to be known and heard, in owning your unique story, in using your authentic voice. And there’s grace in being willing to know and hear others. This, for me, is how we become.” ― Michelle Obama, Becoming Angelou
