BY ANDREW RICE
Friday June 10, 2022
Lewiston woman seeks to become the first Somali American in
the Maine Legislature. Her opponent has said Muslims should not be allowed to
hold public office
LEWISTON — The Republican candidate for Maine House District
95 has previously said on social media that “Muslims should not be allowed to
hold public office.”
His opponent in November is Democrat Mana Abdi, who would
become the first Somali American member of the state Legislature, if she wins.
She is Muslim.
Fred Sanborn-Silvers posted the comment on his Facebook page
in September 2020.
Both are political newcomers vying for a renumbered and
slightly redrawn district that spans a swath of Lewiston cutting east and south
from Kennedy Park. It has been represented by Democrat Heidi Brooks since 2014;
Brooks could not seek reelection due to term limits.
Sanborn-Silvers, a Massachusetts native who unsuccessfully
sought elected office in Auburn a few times decades ago when he was known as
Fred Sanborn, has sometimes used social media to champion former President
Donald Trump, gay rights, the police and better treatment of animals.
But since the 2016 presidential election, he’s mostly used
it to bash Democratic leaders, including former Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton, Maine Gov. Janet Mills and President Joe Biden. Much of his focus has
been on women politicians, and he’s also used his page to denounce the Black
Lives Matter movement.
Sanborn-Silvers accused Democrats of “trying to pull off the
biggest fraud in history” by tapping Harris for vice president when the
California Democrat “ain’t African-American.”
“Kamala Harris is only black by injection,” he wrote on Oct.
7, 2020. “She is real scary.”
Harris, 57, is the daughter of an Indian immigrant mother
and a Jamaican immigrant father with African heritage.
In June 2020, Sanborn-Silvers blasted the Black Lives Matter
protests, suggesting that it was time to bring out the tanks to stop the
rioting.
“While we’re at it,” he added, they should also surround the
Blaine House in Augusta, where the governor lives.
On June 10, 2020, Sanborn-Silvers said the death of George
Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police “had nothing to do with police
brutality.”
Four officers have since been convicted for their role in
the murder, including Derek Chauvin, the officer most responsible, who is
serving a 22½-year prison sentence in Minnesota.
Sanborn-Silvers has also posted repeatedly that Trump won
the 2020 presidential race and insisted, with no evidence, that Biden and
running mate Kamala Harris had stolen the election “plain and simple.”
When Biden and Harris were inaugurated last year, he
dismissed the “extremely sad” event as “a freak show” featuring “a demented old
man and a hooker.”
According to his campaign announcement in January,
Sanborn-Silvers is a founding member and former treasurer of New Beginnings in
Lewiston, and is a member of High Street Congregational Church in Auburn, where
he has served as clerk, deacon and as a member of the church council.
He said he’s running to address the mental health, substance
abuse and homelessness crisis facing the community. He’s employed by
SeniorsPlus in the nutrition department, and lives in Lewiston with his
husband, Peter Sanborn-Silvers.
Sanborn-Silvers did not respond to several requests for
comment for this story.
Abdi, 26, was born in a refugee camp in Kenya, and grew up
in Lewiston. She went to Lewiston Middle School and Lewiston High School, where
she ran varsity track.
A graduate of the University of Maine at Farmington, Abdi
works as a program coordinator at the Bates College Office of Intercultural
Education. She previously worked for Disability Rights Maine and the
Androscoggin County District Attorney’s Office.
Reached this week, Abdi said she’s focused on speaking with
constituents “and better understanding the issues and needs of my district.”
Asked about the previous comments from Sanborn-Silvers, Abdi
said, “I believe everyone who seeks to serve in public office should read and
understand the United States Constitution. If my opponent did that, he would
know that Article VI says that ‘no religious test shall ever be required as a
qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.’ I am
looking forward to representing all my future constituents, of every faith and
none, in the Maine House.”
Abdi has used her Facebook page to promote her campaign and
highlight events and other progressive causes.