At a lobster rally Wednesday in Portland, a Republican candidate for Maine’s 1st Congressional District compared federal rules aimed at protecting the endangered right whale to sex crimes against children.
“NOAA wants to rape you and your family and they’re saying ‘pick a child,'” said GOP hopeful Ed Thelander, referring to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “You don’t negotiate with a rapist and that’s what happens.”
A clip of Thelander’s comments, posted on Twitter from the Maine Democratic Party, shows a small crowd reacting with total silence. A man holding a yellow sign reading “Don’t Tread On Me Lobster” visibly cringes at the candidate’s remark.
The Maine Democratic Party condemned Thelander’s comparison as “disgusting and counterproductive.”
“Comments like these show that he is unfit for office,” the party wrote.
Thelander, a former Navy SEAL, is running to unseat Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree. The two candidates will debate for the first time on Wednesday night.
Thelander’s campaign did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
The rally in Portland was held to protest what organizers described as “devastating rules and regulations for Maine’s lobster farming industry” and to call on the state attorney general to sue NOAA. Among other things, the agency plans to limit the number of vertical lobster lines in Maine waters and introduce new seasonal zone restrictions in an effort to protect right whales, whose populations have declined dramatically in recent decades.
The issue was front and center across Maine in the run-up to November’s midterm elections.
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