The first Democrat to announce she’s running for senate against Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) identifies as a “queer feminist mermaid” and has bragged about having “been naked on the Internet.”
Bre Kidman, an attorney and artist, filed to run against Collins last week because of the senator’s speech and vote in favor of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused of sexual assault (claims that were not corroborated or supported by evidence). Kidman, in an interview with The Washington Free Beacon, made it clear that the “queer feminist mermaid” identity is artistic, “not a serious identity.”
“I’m a playful person, I’m not going to pretend I’m all serious all the time, because I’m not. I’m mermaid-esque in nature,” Kidman said.
She also told the outlet that her “launch came out from under me – I didn’t realize people were watching the filings so closely.”
Since the Beacon’s interview, Kidman has created a campaign website, which first and foremost explains that she’s “not who most people picture when they think ‘politician’”:
“I’m a millennial. I’ve never run for office. I hate wearing blazers. I drive a dented 10-year-old subcompact with a missing hubcap. I’m a pierced, tattooed, rainbow-haired plus-sized burlesque performer who buys most of their fast fashion wardrobe on clearance. I put the ‘Q+” in “LGBTQ+.’ I live in an 830-square-foot house recently described as ‘probably not intended for year-round occupancy.’ I had a medical marijuana card when I needed it. I have been naked on the internet. I won’t hide who I was before I started running to represent Mainers. I am not slick or polished, but I am smart and passionate.”
On her personal Facebook page, “Bee Kay Esq.,” she describes herself as a “Criminal defense attorney by day and radical fat queer/performance artist/model/musician/activist most other times.” The page is definitely Not Safe For Work. Kidman is also a singer who performs live and has five songs on Spotify, which are described as using “inhuman instruments to give voice to human vulnerability with beats that invite just enough dancing to feel slightly less dead.”
The songs weren’t bad, to be honest.
Kidman was also a previous leader of the Maine Educationalists on Sexual Harmony (MESH), an organization that seeks to teach sex-positivity, and told the Beacon that she could have deleted her online profiles before running, but didn’t.
“I could have deleted the MESH page, I could have deleted my Spotify account, but I didn’t because I’m proud of the work that I’ve done,” Kidman told the outlet. “Building a better culture has been my passion project for years, and I’m going to continue doing that for the rest of my life.”
Local media outlets in Maine appear to be taking Kidman seriously as a candidate. She was interviewed by WGME and was described as “the first transgender and non-binary candidate to serve in the senate” if elected.
Kidman now has a challenger in the race, travel agent Michael Bunker, and other prominent Democrats in the state have expressed interest. While Collins has a multi-million dollar war chest, whoever the eventual Democrat nominee is will have access to potentially millions of dollars raised through CrowdPAC to fund whoever runs against Collins.