Erick Bennett
Erick Bennett was a 2014 independent candidate who sought election to the U.S. Senate from Maine.[1][2] Bennett announced he would run as an Independent candidate on March 17, 2014.[3] However, he did not make it onto the general election ballot.[4]
Issues
Noteworthy events
Time in jail
In January 2014, Bennett insisted that his time spent in jail, the result of a domestic violence assault conviction a decade prior, showed integrity.[5]
In 2003, Bennett was convicted of Class D assault after attacking his wife.[5] He fought the conviction until 2004, when it was affirmed by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, which ruled that “the court did not commit clear error or abuse its discretion in excluding irrelevant evidence at trial,” and that “sufficient evidence does exist in the record to support his conviction.”[5] Bennett said he was innocent and that the justice system was stacked against alleged attackers in domestic violence cases.[5]
Bennett told the Bangor Daily News:
| “ | All that needs to be done is you have to repeat what you wrote down in the police report and that allows the victim to be viewed as a credible witness. So basically, if someone writes something down, it doesn’t have to be true. All they have to do is repeat that on the stand. … That’s grounds for anyone to be convicted of domestic violence...The fact that I have been jailed repeatedly for not agreeing to admit to something I didn’t do should speak to the fact of how much guts and integrity I have. If I go to D.C., I’m going to have that same integrity in doing what I say, and saying what I do, when it comes to protecting people’s rights, as well as their pocketbooks.[6] | ” |
According to a police report, Bennett had threatened to kill his wife in early 2004.[7]
Comment about Rep. Michaud
Bennett drew attention in December 2013 when he called Rep. Mike Michaud a “homo” on a Facebook post.[8]
He posted on Facebook that gun confiscation could “easily happen” in Maine thanks to the state’s elected representatives. He then went on to call Michaud “a closet homo in DC who voted to discriminate against same sex couples.”[8]
Elections
2014
Bennett ran in the 2014 election for the U.S. Senate, representing Maine.[1] Bennett did not make it onto the general election ballot.[4]
Polls
| General election match up | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poll | Susan Collins (R) | Shenna Bellows (D) | Undecided | Margin of Error | Sample Size | ||||||||||||||
| CBS/NYT/YouGov September/October 20-1, 2014 | 57% | 33% | 9% | +/-3.0 | 1,531 | ||||||||||||||
| CBS/NYT/YouGov July 5-24, 2014 | 65% | 29% | 3% | +/-3.0 | 1,327 | ||||||||||||||
| UNH/Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram June 12-18, 2014 | 72% | 17% | 10% | +/-4.3 | 527 | ||||||||||||||
| Rasmussen Reports April 23-25, 2014 | 60% | 24% | 9% | +/-3.0 | 830 | ||||||||||||||
| Public Policy Polling November 8-11, 2013 | 59% | 20% | 22% | +/-3.2 | 964 | ||||||||||||||
| Note: A "0%" finding means the candidate was not a part of the poll. The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org | |||||||||||||||||||
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Erick + Bennett + Maine + Senate"
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Portland Daily Sun, "Bennett announces primary bid against Collins for U.S. Senate," accessed December 3, 2013
- ↑ Seacoast Online, "Conservative Erick Bennett to challenge Sen. Collins in Maine," accessed December 3, 2013
- ↑ Bangor Daily News, "Erick Bennett campaign updates, additions to staff," accessed March 18, 2014
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Maine Secretary of State, "General election candidates," accessed October 5, 2014
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Sun Journal, "GOP candidate says his time in jail shows integrity," accessed January 28, 2014
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Mother Jones, ""I Will Kill You": Read the Police Report in Maine GOPer's Domestic Assault Case," January 24, 2014
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Think Progress, "Maine Senate Candidate Calls Gay U.S. Rep. A ‘Homo’," accessed January 28, 2014
