The race for Maine's 1st Congressional District could be described as the least competitive of all the major electoral battles being fought here next month, based on polls. By some accounts, progressive Democratic incumbent Chellie Pingree leads Republican Isaac Misiuk, and independent Richard Murphy, by as much as 30 points. But if re-elected, Pingree still faces the prospect of returning to a grid-locked Congress.
Chellie Pingree can safely be described as the most liberal of Maine's congressional delegates, and her positions on major issues reflect this. She's pro-choice and a firm supporter of the Affordable Care Act - in fact she feels it doesn't go far enough and would have preferred a single-payer system.
She supports President Obama's plan to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 cents an hour. But being to the left of the president on some issues can make it hard to operate in a Republican-controlled House.
"It is really frustrating - it's such a grid-locked Congress," Pingree says. "The tradition of working across both sides of the aisle, and finding compromise with the other side, is just really hard to achieve in this particular climate. And I don't think any of us like saying, 'Well, it's the other guy's fault.' But it is the other guy's fault."
But Pingree has some political achievements to cite, including passage of the Local Farms and Foods Act in April 2013, which Pingree sponsored in the House. "Chellie has been a true friend to agriculture in Maine for many, many years," says Heather Spalding, deputy director of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, or MOFGA.
As a non-profit, MOFGA does not endorse political candidates, but Spalding says Pingree's efforts have won her many fans among Maine's farming community - particularly the smaller scale, organic farmers. In addition to giving farmers access to more funds, the act also aims to help consumers by enabling food stamp recipients to use electronic swipe cards at farmers' markets.
"These are really important reforms in farm policy that create a lot of support for local farmers," Spalding says, "and generally in the regional food systems that are getting a lot more attention across the country, but particularly in New England and in Maine."
Agriculture seems to have been a theme throughout Chellie Pingree's personal and professional life. Born in Minnesota 59 years ago, Pingree is from Scandinavian farming stock, and it was as a small-scale farmer that she came to to Maine in the 70's. A graduate of the College of the Atlantic, she settled on the mid-coast island of North Haven, where she and her first husband ran a small farm and business selling local produce.
"She's an impressive figure among the Democrats," says University of New England Political Science Professor Brian Duff. "She's very smart, she's very articulate, she has a good personal story."
Duff says Pingree's standing within the Democratic Party received a boost last year when she was given a seat on the important Appropriations Committee. And then there's the factor of her second, now current husband, billionaire Donald Sussman, a well-known donor of the Democratic Party.
"Certainly people notice when Donald Sussman makes incredible amounts of donations to Democratic candidates and Democratic causes," Duff says. "They remember who he's married to and that does not hurt her profile in the national party either."
But Pingree is not in step with the White House on everything. On education, she's not a supporter of federal education mandates and says she puts her faith in teachers rather than standardized, across-the-board tests. And on foreign policy, she's a strong critic of U.S. spending on overseas wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In September, she opposed a measure giving President Obama the authority to arm and train Syrian rebels in the fight against Islamic State, or ISIS.
"What ISIS has done is absolutely reprehensible," Pingree says. "I am horrified by the brutal acts and I think it is hard for people to sit still and not want to just do something to fix it."
But she says America's role in the conflict should be political rather than military. "We have invested too much of this country's money, we've lost so many lives, it is very hard to authorize continuing down this path when there isn't an easy solution to fix it," she says. "I don't want to say this is an easy issue, but I felt it was important to have a voice in opposition."
And Political Science Professor Brian Duff says Pingree's wealth, along with her secure electoral prospects, put her in a position where she can also have a voice in helping other Democratic candidates win elections.