“Well, here’s my secret.”

“I have a friend named Tom Homan. Tom and I used to be on Fox all the time together. Tom’s an awesome guy… So I’m going to ask Tom. I’m going to actually three or four weeks before the election, maybe three. I’m going to make an appeal for ICE and marshals to be at our voting booths.”

Charles’ proposal would put armed federal immigration agents at Maine polling places in the weeks leading up to Election Day — an extraordinary escalation that, as the BDN reports, would likely be illegal.

The proposal comes as Maine communities continue to grapple with the consequences of Trump’s rogue immigration agency, including the murder of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford last month. It also comes amid growing concerns from election officials and voting-rights advocates nationwide about the use of federal law enforcement to intimidate voters.

On Monday, JD Vance was in Brewer, Maine and endorsed Bobby Charles for governor.

Charles has repeatedly embraced Trump’s immigration agenda. He has welcomed, invited and even sold ICE merchandise on his campaign website. But asking ICE and federal marshals to show up at Maine polling places just weeks before an election takes his support for Trump’s immigration agenda to a new and deeply troubling level.

Statement from Maine Democratic Party Executive Director Devon Murphy-Anderson

“Bobby Charles continues to prove that he is a MAGA extremist who will stop at nothing to put himself and his MAGA agenda ahead of Mainers. His plan to ask Trump’s border czar to send ICE agents to Maine polling places just weeks before Election Day is not only deeply alarming — it is likely illegal. This is a blatant attempt to intimidate voters and yet another reason Bobby Charles is too extreme for Maine.”

Bangor Daily News: Bobby Charles said he’ll ask Donald Trump’s border czar to send ICE to Maine polls
By Michael Shepherd – August 26, 2026

• Republican gubernatorial nominee Bobby Charles told activists last week that he plans to ask President Donald Trump’s border czar to send U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to Maine polling places this fall.

• Charles, a lawyer who served in the administrations of former presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, made the remark Aug. 20 with Maine Young Republicans in Arundel, calling border czar Tom Homan a longtime friend from their years appearing on Fox News together.

• “I’m going to ask Tom — three or four weeks before the election, maybe three — I’m going to make an appeal for ICE and marshals to be at our voting booths,” Charles said, according to audio obtained exclusively by the Bangor Daily News.

• There is no evidence of people being paid, and what Charles said he’d ask for is likely illegal. The Trump administration has said it is not planning to do it while raising the specter of rare noncitizen voting. Charles’ comments came as he has looked to distance himself somewhat from Trump during an underdog campaign in a Democratic-leaning state.

• A 19th-century federal law makes it a crime to station armed federal agents at polling places on Election Day, unless they are needed to fend off an attack. The liberal Brennan Center for Justice has called the idea illegal amid often-stated worries from Democratic election officials.

• “ICE and federal law enforcement are prohibited from being at the polls on Election Day,” Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, said. “Bobby Charles can call whoever he wants, but he can’t change the Constitution or the law.”

• In a statement, Charles’ campaign did not dispute his remark, framing it as an effort to guard against illegal voting. It is illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. No states allow them to vote, although some cities allow them to vote in local elections.

• Homan was in Maine last week after promising more immigration enforcement here.

• Charles rode Trump-aligned messaging on crime, voting and immigration to win the June primary easily over seven other candidates. He is now running against Democrat Hannah Pingree and independent state Sen. Rick Bennett. Pingree led Charles by double digits in a recent Fox News poll and is a heavy favorite in prediction markets to win in November.

• He did not attend Vice President JD Vance’s Monday event in Brewer, where Vance exhorted the crowd to vote for Charles and other Republicans.