The state’s two largest power companies have spent more than $34 million to oppose a ballot question that would replace them with a nonprofit, new campaign finance reports show.
Central Maine Power’s parent company Avangrid has spent $21.3 million, while Enmax, owner of Versant Power, has spent $13.4 million.
On the other side, contributions to support ballot Question 3 total just under $1 million.
Question 3, which proposes to buy out CMP and Versant and replace them with a new power company governed by an elected board, is one of eight ballot questions facing voters on Nov. 7.
It’s the highest profile and most expensive of the races, but totals reported through Sept. 30 fall far short of other recent campaigns.
For example, the 2021 campaign over the CMP corridor attracted a record $90 million in spending.
Mark Brewer, University of Maine political science professor, said CMP and Versant are likely gauging their spending based on what the supporters have put in so far.
“I’m guessing that the $24 million amount is low but it’s low because the other side hasn’t spent much and hasn’t done much,” he said.
There’s also still a month to go before Election Day, so CMP and Versant could be preparing for a major ad blitz closer to the election, he said.
Jim Melcher, political science professor at the University of Maine at Farmington, said this will be a difficult election for voters because the issue cuts across party lines.
It’s also not a social issue like same-sex marriage or abortion where people are likely to know how they feel without needing a lot of additional information.
“A low information race is one where that spending disparity makes a big difference,” he said.
In addition to television ads opposing Question 3, Mainers have seen recent ads urging them to vote yes on Question 4, the “right to repair” initiative.
In that race, the Maine Automotive Right to Repair Committee spent nearly $2 million, while a group representing automakers has spent just over $100,000.
The largest donor to the right to repair committee is the Coalition for Automotive Repair Equality, a Maryland-based group that fights in Congress and state legislatures to protect the interests of parts suppliers. It gave $1.3 million.
Other top donors are Autozone ($675,000), O’Reilly Auto Parts ($500,000), Genuine Parts Co. ($500,000) and Advance Auto Parts ($500,000).
Leading off the ballot is Question 1, which asks voters if they want to prevent some entities and “all consumer-owned electric utilities” from borrowing more than $1 billion without voter approval.
No Blank Checks, whose top donor is CMP parent Avangrid, has spent $1.1 million in support of the question, $1 million of which came from Avangrid.
No groups are listed in opposition, according to the Maine Ethics Commission.
On Question 2, which proposes to ban foreign governments from financing ballot campaigns, Protect Maine Elections has spent just over $630,000. The top donor to the group is American Promise Inc., a group backing a national constitutional amendment to get money out of politics, which gave $205,000.
Brewer said it will be interesting to see how engaged voters are on these issues, particularly because it’s an “off-off-year election” with no statewide or federal candidates on the ballot.
Making it even more difficult is that some of the questions — particularly the ones related to the state’s electric utilities — are confusing.
“They’re not the kind of things that tend to get people highly engaged and they are both confusing,” Brewer said. “If one passes, cue the lawyers, cause here we go.”