Maine's Democratic nominee for the 2nd Congressional District voted to kill bills that would have imposed lifetime probation on repeat rapists, criminalized computer solicitation of children for sex, and penalized attackers who caused pregnant women to miscarry, a voting record now under fresh scrutiny as he seeks a seat in Congress.
Matt Dunlap, currently Maine's state auditor, cast the votes during his time in the Maine State House across two legislative sessions in 1997 and 2001. In each case, Dunlap sided with the majority to accept committee recommendations that the bills "Ought Not to Pass," effectively sinking all three proposals. Legislative roll call records document his position on each vote.
Dunlap is now running for the seat being vacated by retiring Rep. Jared Golden in Maine's 2nd Congressional District, a district that has favored Donald Trump. His record on these three bills raises a straightforward question: why did a lawmaker vote against measures designed to protect children, sexual assault victims, and pregnant women from violent criminals?
On May 21, 2001, the Maine House took up L.D. 476, titled "An Act to Require Lifetime Probation for Dangerous Sexual Offenders." The bill's Criminal Justice Committee had issued a majority "Ought Not to Pass" report, and Dunlap voted in favor of that recommendation. The result: the measure died on a 70, 62 vote, with 19 members absent.
Rep. John O'Brien of Augusta described on the House floor exactly who the bill targeted.
"This is requiring lifetime probation for dangerous sexual offenders. The definition of dangerous sexual offenders is a person who has been twice convicted of either rape or attempted murder with sexual assault."
O'Brien stressed how narrow the bill's reach would have been. He noted that double convictions for such offenses were rare, estimating the measure would apply to "probably only 10 to 15 individuals." A committee amendment, the minority report, would have further narrowed the scope, requiring that someone be sentenced as a dangerous sexual offender on two prior occasions before lifetime probation kicked in. That amendment also called for court-ordered sex-offender treatment as a condition of probation.
Even that narrower version failed. Dunlap voted against it.
Three days later, on May 24, 2001, the House voted again on L.D. 476, this time on a motion to recede and concur. Dunlap voted "Nay." The motion failed 66, 79, and the House voted to adhere to its original position, leaving the bill without a path forward.
O'Brien's floor argument laid the stakes bare. The bill asked only that convicted repeat rapists and those convicted twice of attempted murder with sexual assault be monitored after serving their sentences.
"If they are then convicted twice, this is requiring that after they have served their sentence, they will be watched."
Dunlap and the majority said no. The pattern of Democratic lawmakers softening consequences for sex offenders is not unique to Maine, but the specifics here are difficult to explain away. The bill did not propose incarceration. It proposed supervision, for people already convicted of the most violent sexual crimes, twice.
Four years earlier, on May 22, 1997, Dunlap voted to accept the Criminal Justice Committee's majority "Ought Not to Pass" report on L.D. 1096, titled "An Act to Make It a Crime to Solicit a Child by Means of Computer to Commit an Unlawful Sex Act." The vote was 92, 51, with eight members absent.
The bill would have made it a crime for someone at least 16 years old to knowingly use a computer to entice, advise, coerce, order, or command a child younger than 16, and at least three years younger than the defendant, to meet for the purpose of committing an unlawful sex act. The offense would have been classified at the same level as the underlying crime being solicited.
A minority committee amendment offered a slightly different version, raising the defendant's minimum age to 18 and lowering the victim threshold to children younger than 14. Under that version, the solicitation offense would have been classified one class below the underlying sexual offense. Neither version survived.
In 1997, the internet was still in its early expansion, but online predators were already a recognized threat. The Maine legislature had a chance to get ahead of the problem. Dunlap and 91 other members chose not to.
On May 1, 2001, Dunlap voted to accept the Judiciary Committee's majority "Ought Not to Pass" report on L.D. 1602, titled "An Act to Prevent Violence Against Pregnant Mothers." The bill, sponsored by Rep. Stavros Mendros of Lewiston, was defeated 89, 51, with 11 members absent.
The proposal would have created the crime of voluntary manslaughter of an unborn child, a Class A offense, the most serious classification short of murder under Maine law. It applied when someone intentionally or knowingly caused the death of an unborn child while knowing the woman was pregnant and knowing she wished to continue the pregnancy.
Mendros made the bill's purpose plain. He described it as making it a crime "to beat a pregnant woman and cause her to miscarry." He added that the proposal had "absolutely nothing to do with abortions."
The bill's text backed him up. It explicitly stated that the crime would not apply to an abortion to which the pregnant woman had consented, to actions carried out under usual and customary standards of medical practice during diagnostic or therapeutic treatment, or to the pregnant woman herself. A minority committee amendment offered an alternative approach through existing aggravated assault statutes, making it a Class B crime to intentionally cause bodily injury to someone known to be pregnant when the attacker intended to terminate the pregnancy. That version also excluded consensual abortions.
Both versions failed. Dunlap voted against both. A bill designed to protect pregnant women who wanted their babies from violent attackers could not clear the Maine House, even with every abortion-related objection addressed in the text itself.
Dunlap now seeks to represent Maine's 2nd Congressional District, which has voted for Donald Trump and is being vacated by Golden's retirement. The district leans toward candidates who take a firm line on public safety and law enforcement. Dunlap's legislative record pushes in the opposite direction.
He has not publicly explained his votes on any of the three bills, at least not in available reporting. No stated rationale, procedural, policy-based, or otherwise, appears in the record. The votes simply sit there: three times, on three different issues involving the safety of children, sexual assault victims, and pregnant women, Dunlap voted to do nothing.
Maine Democrats have faced a turbulent cycle. Their Senate nominee, Graham Platner, was rocked by a sexual assault allegation that upended the race, following specific misconduct accusations from an ex-girlfriend. That collapse left state Democrats scrambling to find a replacement and avoid the appearance of a closed-door selection process.
Against that backdrop, Dunlap's record on sex-offender legislation is not just a policy footnote. It is a political liability in a district where voters expect their representatives to prioritize the safety of the most vulnerable over procedural caution or partisan committee recommendations.
Rep. O'Brien's floor speech on L.D. 476 remains the clearest summary of what was at stake. The bill would have applied to roughly 10 to 15 people in the entire state, individuals convicted twice of rape or attempted murder with sexual assault. It asked only that they be monitored after completing their sentences. Dunlap voted against even that minimal safeguard.
Voters in Maine's 2nd District will decide whether a man who voted against watching convicted repeat rapists, against criminalizing online child predation, and against protecting pregnant women from violent attackers deserves to represent them in Washington. The roll call numbers are on the record. Dunlap's explanation is not.