Maine Democratic Senate candidate Sara Gideon.
Maine Democratic Senate candidate Sara Gideon.
Democrat Sara Gideon, who is challenging Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) for a Senate seat, has largely been silent about the accusations by Tara Reade against former Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, according to critics.
Gideon serves as the speaker of the Maine House of Representatives. She was vocal during the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, even tweeting her continued support for his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford in September 2019.
“One year ago today. Thank you Dr. Ford for your bravery. #BelieveWomen,” Gideon tweeted.
When Ford brought accusations but no strong corroborating evidence against Kavanaugh in 2018, Democrats were vocal in spreading a message that women should be believed. Gideon said she felt betrayed by Collins who voted for Kavanaugh, because Collins said she didn’t believe Ford’s accusations. But Gideon hasn’t commented on Reade’s accusations against Biden.
Reade alleges Biden sexually assaulted her in 1993 when Reade was an aide to then-Sen. Biden. The Guardian reported: “Reade, now 56, says that in1993, in a corridor in a Senate office building, [Biden] pushed her against a wall and assaulted her, penetrating her with his fingers.”
The calls for Gideon to acknowledge the situation and make her position on the allegations against Biden have been growing, The Maine Examiner wrote on May 8:
“Speaker Sara Gideon has been facing calls for her to take action to fix Maine’s failing unemployment system and then calls to reconvene the Maine Legislature to revise Maine’s current reopening plan, which is causing Maine to hemorrhage small businesses on a daily basis," the Examiner wrote. "In the past two days, a new chorus of calls have risen, calling on Gideon to comment on the corroborated sexual assault allegations against the candidate she endorsed for president, Joe Biden.”
Republicans want to know where is the outrage about the accusations and support for Reade, especially from Gideon’s camp.
Gideon released a statement in May, which Politico reported. That statement read in part:
“Sexual assault and sexual harassment are incredibly serious issues, and for too long, people have been too afraid to come forward. Every person should be able to come forward and tell their story, and have it thoroughly looked into. I voted for Joe Biden in the primary because I thought he could bring this country together and meet the challenges we face. I still believe that to be true.”
Republicans, however, are seizing on what they call a double standard.
Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) released a statement to Politico in May regarding the situation.
“Democrats are having to wrestle with this,” said Young, who is the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. “I know Republican senators were getting very probing questions in the midst of the Kavanaugh situation related to this. This has to be highly uncomfortable for Democratic candidates for the U.S. Senate.”
What makes Reade’s accusations different than Ford’s is that, according to a court document obtained by the San Luis Obispo Tribune, Reade told her ex-husband about the sexual harassment she dealt with while working for Biden in 1993.
The Maine Examiner notes that the Reade story and Gideon’s silence have been largely ignored in Maine.
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