Place Ringelstein atop the U.S. Senate candidates with Ranked Choice Voting

To the Editor;
We Maine voters have our very own Bernie Sanders to elect for U.S. Senator in Zak Ringelstein.

The very best news about voting for such a candidate to high office is that we citizens of Maine now have Ranked Choice Voting for our U.S. Congressional and U.S. Senate seats. Therefore, we have the pleasure of very effectively voting to rank Zak first, Angus King second (suggestion: you may choose to not rank Eric Brakey at all).

We should not settle for Angus King. Why? The answer, first and foremost, is that Zak takes no funds for his campaign from corporations and is focused on getting the corrupting influence of big money out of our Electoral Politics.

Whereas, Angus is not the bipartisan moderate senator he purports to be but rather a corporate establishment operative. King is funded by TD Bank and ExxonMobil. As a result, he introduced a bill to fast-track gas pipeline permits that bypasses community and tribal rights. King co-sponsored the bill that gutted Dodd-Frank which deregulates Wall Street. King voted to reauthorize the warrantless spying program … he voted against military sexual assault prevention legislation … he voted against equal pay for women … he voted for Pompeo, Tillerson, Carson, Zinke, Perry, and Azar. King votes with Trump almost half the time. He endorsed Susan Collins in 2014 and, in 2000, voted for George W. Bush. When serving as Maine’s governor, he worked against the interests of working class citizens by vetoing minimum wage increases three times.

King does, indeed, vote mostly with the Democrats — particularly those who are also corporate establishment operatives. Zak Ringelstein is a Bernie Sanders-inspired social democrat who is not compromised by party power-mongering and Washington political shenanigans. Rank Zak Ringelstein as your first and truest choice on Nov. 6.

Sidney Mitchell
Dover-Foxcroft