Chants of “We’re not going back” echoed over Thompson’s Point Friday afternoon as Gwen Walz, wife of Democratic Vice President Nominee Tim Walz, was joined by Governor Janet Mills at a rally. Four speakers in total took the podium at the rally discussing topics from gun violence in schools to Project 2025 – but the most important issue that every speaker brought up was the fight for reproductive rights following the overturning of Roe V. Wade.

Voters came out in numbers with some creative signs, including “Pet Owners for Harris”, a dig at Donald Trump’s recent comment about immigrants in Ohio at Tuesday’s debate. Other signs read “Mainers for Harris”, and “Gwen Walz is my Midwest Princess”. The speakers hit all of the hot button issues facing the nation: Inflation, education policy, and the divisiveness facing the country.

The rally opened with Democratic Party organizer Reese Remington encouraging attendees to volunteer for the campaign. Following Remington’s brief call-to-action, Maine Governor Janet Mills took the podium. She immediately began to lambast Trump for his performance in the recent debate, emphasizing the former president’s penchant for conspiracy theories. The Governor wrapped up her speech saying “We will beat Donald Trump in both districts and send him back to Florida”. Maine’s Second District is a swing district and in an election as tight as this one a single electoral vote could make all the difference.

    As Mills finished her speech, she introduced a Portland mother, Mollie Barnathan, who shared her experience of having had two abortions for her own health and safety. Indeed, reproductive rights remained a central part of the rally as Barnathan spoke on the threat that a Trump-Vance administration poses – not just for the access to abortions, but birth control and other means of preventing unwanted pregnancy.

Walz then took the stage and spoke on the economy and gun violence in schools before she moved to the hot-button topic of reproductive rights. She emphasized the importance of her family in her life, sharing that she and Tim Walz wouldn’t be parents if not for access to fertility treatments. She directed the issue of reproductive rights towards the Trump-Vance administration’s support of Project 2025, saying “(Project 2025) makes it harder to get birth control than to buy a gun”. 

She finished her speech by leading the crowd in chants of “Mr. Trump, Mr. Vance, PLEASE mind your own business”, “Turn the page”, and finishing with an emphatic “When we fight, we win”. As voters left the rally they had the opportunity to sign up to volunteer for the Harris-Walz campaign – which many did.