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Orr’s Island Republican Ben Porter knows he faces a steep challenge in trying to unseat Democratic incumbent Mattie Daughtry as the state senator representing Harpswell and neighboring towns in District 23.
But as Porter and supporters campaigned at the corner of Route 24 and Cundy’s Harbor Road one recent afternoon, he heard an inspiring sound.
A driver in a pickup truck honked his horn. So did a potential voter in a family sedan. Porter, a tall former Army platoon leader with a salt-and-pepper beard and muscular arms, waved and grinned.
“You hear that?” Porter said. “That’s all the polling I need.”
His opponent, Daughtry, is by any definition a rising star. After graduating from Brunswick High and Smith College, she was elected at age 25 to the Maine House of Representatives, where she served from 2012-2020. She moved on to win a Maine Senate seat, easily besting Democratic challengers to win reelection in 2022 and 2024 and becoming the youngest person in Maine history to win the office of Senate president. She is now 39 and first in line to become governor in case of a vacancy.
“I have a formidable opponent,” said Porter, 60. “But I’m offering people another alternative.”
Porter’s views fall solidly in the conservative zone: He wants to cut taxes, bar transgender athletes from girls sports, promote nuclear energy, and root out the “waste, fraud and abuse” he said are rampant in government-funded healthcare and other services.
“Once I got out and started knocking on doors, listening to people and understanding their struggles, that really motivated me,” Porter said. “What carries me through right now is to really help the citizens of Maine. The wages of their labor are being stolen through excessive taxation and they’re really struggling.”
Porter spent a quarter-century in the U.S. Army, training to become a Ranger, leading an infantry platoon in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and earning a command position in an Army program countering weapons of mass destruction. He began living full time in Harpswell after a decade working in cybersecurity for the U.S. Treasury Department.
“I’m a father of four amazing children, all grown and launched. Besides being just a general thug in the military, I can actually do math,” he said with a chuckle. “I have (a Master of Business Administration degree) in finance from Johns Hopkins University and concurrently earned a graduate certificate in financial management.”
Porter vowed to use those skills to bring a greater degree of responsibility to state spending. “For some reason, these people in Augusta seem to protect each other,” he said. “I’m going to bring accountability to Augusta. Mainers are going to save money under my watch.”
Daughtry, meanwhile, said she first ran for office because she could barely afford to live in her hometown. She said she has worked to make life in Maine more affordable through measures focused on childcare, healthcare, housing and taxes, such as an expansion of a child tax credit.
“With Washington squeezing household budgets even further, Mainers deserve more than performative election-year outrage,” Daughtry said. “I am proud of my record, and I’m ready to build on it. I look forward to earning voters’ continued support, serving a final term as Senate president, and leading a larger Democratic caucus focused on delivering relief people can feel in their everyday lives.”
Porter said he has lived in Harpswell off and on since 2003 and full time since 2020.
“I’ve been here a long time, just putting down roots and becoming part of the community. And here’s the thing: When you come here, don’t try to change it,” he said. “People from away will come in and try to make it like where they came from. That’s the wrong answer. Come here, be part of the culture, contribute to it, and enjoy the benefits and camaraderie of all your neighbors.”
