A Republican candidate for governor is facing criticism from lawmakers for his attacks on a South Portland representative who he says should resign or apologize because he believes she is not loyal to the United States.
Bobby Charles, a Leeds resident and lawyer who previously worked in the U.S. State Department, has published a series of social media posts and videos in recent weeks targeting Rep. Deqa Dhalac, D-South Portland, who he has described as a “radical Somalia-first” lawmaker.
Dhalac is originally from Somalia and immigrated to the U.S. more than 30 years ago.
The posts have collectively generated thousands of comments and shares from people — many of whom support Charles, but also some who are calling his posts hateful.
They also come as Capitol Police in Augusta received a complaint about a Facebook post referencing Dhalac last week. Details of that post were not immediately available and police found there was no direct threat.
Now, some lawmakers are weighing in to condemn Charles’ posts, including one Republican lawmaker.
“I do not think it’s appropriate,” said Rep. Amy Arata, R-New Gloucester, a former assistant minority leader in the Maine House. “I do not think it’s mature or fitting of someone who wants to be governor, especially in light of what happened to those legislators in Minnesota.”
Two Minnesota state lawmakers were shot — one of them fatally — in June, in an incident that raised concerns nationally about the safety of and threats against lawmakers.
Democratic leaders in the Maine House also issued a statement Wednesday night condemning Charles’ posts.
“House Democrats strongly condemn these racist and xenophobic attacks,” said the statement from Speaker Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, House Majority Leader Matt Moonen, D-Portland, and Assistant Majority Leader Lori Gramlich, D-Old Orchard Beach. “There is no place in Maine for disgusting smear campaigns.
“We stand firmly with Representative Deqa Dhalac, who is a dedicated, considerate, compassionate, and inspiring Maine leader. She works every day to make our state a better place for all of us. Any person who pursues public office should dedicate themselves to doing the same, instead of sowing hatred in a desperate effort to get attention.”
Charles’ campaign did not respond to a request sent via email Thursday seeking an interview on the posts. Charles, one of several Republican candidates running to succeed Gov. Janet Mills, also did not respond to messages left at the phone number or email listed on his campaign finance filings.
Dhalac also did not respond to a voicemail message or emails seeking an interview.
Charles previously responded to an opinion piece published by the Maine Trust for Local News by columnist Steve Collins criticizing his posts with a statement calling the column a “hit piece” and saying “my values are as far from the ‘KKK’ as east is from west.”
Charles posted a video on Facebook on July 23 saying that, “A Maine representative, a Democrat, Deqa Dhalac, today went out and said that her goal is to protect ‘our country, Somalia.'”
“Ms. Dhalac, with all due respect, you are an American, and if you are an American your country is the United States of America,” Charles said.
The comments appear to have been in response to a 2022 video of an interview Dhalac did with ABC News shortly after becoming the first Somali-American mayor in the U.S.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security shared a clip from the video on X on July 23 after it was resurfaced by an account called @EndWokeness.
In the video, Dhalac was asked how people in Somalia reacted to her becoming mayor of South Portland.
“They are asking what can we do back home in Somalia, how we can change policies, how can the politics in Somalia resonate what we have in the United States — the democracy we have — how can you help us you know, be a better country and build back what we used to have a long time ago,” she said. “So hopefully we will be able to help our country, our former country, Somalia, and show what we can do here and that it can also be built into other countries.”
Subsequent posts from Charles read, “If your priority is Somalia, you have no business representing Maine taxpayers. Period.” and, “Maine is not Somalia.”
He also circulated a petition calling for Dhalac to apologize or resign which he delivered to the State House in one video.
Capitol police were made aware of a Facebook post on July 28 referencing Dhalac, according to Maine Department of Public Safety spokesperson Shannon Moss, who said Thursday that the post was reviewed and investigated.
“There were no direct threats identified toward the representative, and the case has since been closed,” Moss said.
It was unclear Thursday if the post reported to police was one made by Charles, who reported it and what the concerns were of the person who reported it. Moss said police would not voluntarily provide the post since it was reviewed and determined not to be criminal in nature, and directed a reporter to file a public records request in order to obtain more information.
Charles has also criticized Dhalac for some of her policy positions, including her sponsorship of bills to create Maine’s Office of New Americans and to limit the ability of Maine police to work with federal immigration authorities.
Arata, the Republican lawmaker critical of Charles’ posts, said she also doesn’t usually agree with Dhalac on policy, but she feels Charles’ posts have gone too far.
“Are you concerned at all about the death threats against Rep. Dhalac that have been posted on your FB page?” she commented on one of Charles’ posts.
“It’s good to let people know what’s happening in Maine and what legislators are doing or saying, but the way he is communicating that is very inflammatory,” Arata said. “I saw some very concerning comments on his posts regarding shooting or hanging people. And that should have been his clue he needs to stop.”
