It’s a long time until the November 2018 election, but two-term Republican state Sen. Eric Brakey of Auburn has formed an exploratory committee to run for the U.S. Senate against incumbent independent Sen. Angus King.
Brakey says in order to raise money to travel around the state and to test the political waters, a prospective candidate must file an exploratory committee with federal election officials.
“An exploratory committee simply allows us to raise some of the minimal funds that we need to raise to do some of the activities involved in exploring that possibility,” he says.
Brakey says he has been considering seeking the Republican nomination for months, and realizes if Gov. Paul LePage decides to run he will be the underdog. But he says he can’t afford to wait and see what LePage does.
“If I were to decide to get into this U.S. Senate race and make a run for it, I would be an underdog candidate. I would be running against a very entrenched, establishment candidate who has been in politics for decades,” he says.
Brakey says he won’t make a final decision on running until after he has a chance to assess his support.
