The Boothbay Region Democratic Committee hosted a “Grill and Chill” event at Barrett’s Park July 13. The event was held by the three town partnership – Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor and Southport – to bring over 100 Democrats of the region together to meet with current representatives and U.S. Senate candidates.

Senate candidates Betsy Sweet and Bre Kidman attended. So did Kate McClellan from the office of Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon, and Maine House District 89 Rep. Holly Stover.

Local musicians Marcus Hutchins, Bill Arsenault and Jack Mears provided live music.

“We're really blessed with our Lincoln County Democratic Committee,” Boothbay Democratic Committee Chair Paula Arsenault said. “They're a well-oiled machine, they're all really smart, dedicated, focused and a professional level political action group. They played a really pivotal role in helping turning us blue in the state … If 2018 was a blue wave, 2020 will be a blue tsunami.”

Sweet, running against Kidman and Gideon, was the first to speak after Arsenault greeted the crowd. The former gubernatorial candidate looks to take on Senate incumbent Susan Collins in the 2020 election cycle.

“Kids in cages – that's what's happening right now,” said Sweet. “In 2020, our democracy is at stake and I refuse to believe that people aren't going to rise up and say that … Being concerned and thinking it's just too bad is not enough. We need to take dramatic, bold action and say, 'not in our name' …”

Sweet said no matter who makes the cut to face Collins, solidarity will win the election.

“Whether it’s me or Sarah or Bre or somebody else – we are going to win this campaign kitchen table by kitchen table, back of truck, back of lobster boat, bicycle, motorcycle … That is where we are going to win this … It is going to be us speaking to our neighbors one on one.”

Kidman believes her stance on bought elections will take Collins down and said that while her experience as a criminal defense attorney does not immediately transfer to public policy, she does have experience in federal policy having worked with the National Center for Gender Equality on many bills the legislature has passed.

“I'm seeing a lot of the policies that I worked to make happen get rolled back right now, every day. I came to run for office because over the course of a year or two, I was trying to engage with Susan Collins on a number of issues. I would send her these elaborate policy papers with summaries ... and I would get a form letter back every time.”

So Kidman said she decided to run for office with the goal of solving problems, not raising campaign funds for the next time around.

“What I do is solve problems. I look at people’s life, their background, I look at what their rights are and I try to find a solution that puts them in a better place than when I first met them … I don't think we get out of where we are by electing the same kinds of people … We get out of it by looking at people who are interested in ideas, who are interested in asking 'why,' who are interested in solving bigger problems …”

Committee chairmen were pleased with the turnout and messages from current and potential representatives. Arsenault said both motivation and passions were high and in a positive way.

“… It speaks to the energy and positive feeling about Janet Mills and taking back the reins of the state and getting it back in a better direction. They're all quality people and they all have something positive to bring. Any one of them would be better than Susan Collins.”

Boothbay Harbor Democratic Committee Chair Brian Papineau had on a shirt depicting U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders as Walter White from the hit series “Breaking Bad” declaring his stance on “Breaking Bank.”

“He's the OG, you know? He's up to a lot of good competition now which is really shifting the conversation. We've really got to have a progressive in the Democratic Convention.”

Southport Democratic Committee Chair Bill Messmer said the event’s character was worrisome in the beginning because he did not want to see it devolve into sentiments of anger and despair.

“But I'm very happy because people have been mostly smiling, not limiting conversation just to politics and being pleasant in general … I think what counts is that we really tried to bill this as 'Chill and Grill' or 'Meet and Greet' and that is exactly what it was.”