Republican Sen. Amy Volk is defending her District 30 seat against Democratic challenger Jean-Marie Caterina.

Volk, who previously served two terms in the Maine House of Representatives, won the seat from a Democratic incumbent in 2014. Republicans currently hold only a five-seat advantage in the Senate, and even though Gov. Paul LePage is not up for re-election this cycle, his presence could be felt in this race.

Volk was among the first members of her party to criticize LePage when he targeted a Democratic state representative with an obscenity-laced voice mail and an apparent threat of violence. At the time, she said the Legislature should consider a censure, which ultimately did not happen.

Two months later, Volk said the governor has worked on many issues that she thinks are important for the state.

“I also feel his short fuse has sort of meant we haven’t made as much progress on some of those issues as if we could have all sat down together and worked on them together,” she said.

During the remainder of his term, Volk said, she hopes LePage’s rhetoric is “toned down.” She added that she values civility in politics, and she respects LePage’s position in state government.

“I respect the staff, and I think we should all respect the person who sits in the office,” Volk said. “He has two more years, and I hope we can all work together.”

Caterina, a real estate broker who has served one term on the Scarborough Town Council, said constituents have asked her about the governor on the campaign trail.

“I hear it at doors all the time,” Caterina said. “Inevitably people will ask from all sides of the aisle, ‘What are you going to do with the governor?’

“I feel that the best strategy … is to elect people like myself who, if he wants to go and veto things for no good reason, we can override vetoes hopefully, and take principled stances on the issues we feel are important,” she said.

The two candidates, who both live in Scarborough, have taken different positions on key issues in the 2016 election.

On the Nov. 8 ballot, Caterina said she does not have a strong opinion about the legalization of recreational marijuana, though she does have concerns about the ability to determine if a driver is under the influence. She supports an increase in the state’s minimum wage, and the institution of background checks for privately sold firearms in Maine.

“I am a gun owner and the chair of the Scarborough Firing Range Committee,” Caterina said in a Portland Press Herald survey. “I believe in extended background checks to private sales of all types.”

In an interview, Caterina said she is also a former teacher who would work to increase state funding for education.

Volk is opposed to raising the minimum wage, legalizing recreational marijuana and requiring background checks for private gun sales.

“I believe this year’s ballot measure goes too far in limiting transfers of firearms, such as hunting rifles, among family members and friends, even for a weekend hunting trip,” she said in her survey response.

One of her priorities in another term would be helping immigrants to Maine and senior citizens who are looking for work opportunities, Volk said in an interview.

The largely rural district attracted high-dollar spending in 2014, when Volk ultimately took the seat from one-term incumbent Jim Boyle. This year’s race has not attracted the same level of campaign contributions, but campaign finance reports show the candidates both entered the final seven weeks of the campaign with money to spend.

Caterina is a publicly funded candidate under Maine’s Clean Election Act, which limits private contributions and provides supplemental public funding. She had received $3,000 in seed money contributions and nearly $42,000 in Clean Election funding as of Sept. 20. By the end of that period, she had a cash balance just shy of $37,780.

Volk is running a privately financed campaign, and she reported roughly $47,334 in contributions as of Sept. 20. She had spent about $12,120, meaning she had a balance of more than $35,000 in her campaign coffers at the end of that period.

Senate District 30 includes all of Gorham, most of Scarborough and most of Buxton.

 

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