Leonard Leo is making bigger plays in Maine politics

Leonard Leo has owned a home on Maine’s Mount Desert Island for years, but the conservative legal titan’s more recent donations show he is becoming a boon to Republicans here.

The longtime Federalist Society leader who helped former President Donald Trump cement a conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court has used his advocacy group to give $375,000 to a political network affiliated with state Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, and he has also funded a group fighting offshore wind and lobstering regulations.

The Concord Fund, a Virginia-based nonprofit that is part of Leo’s network of influential conservative advocacy groups, had donated to the various Maine-based causes going back to 2022. The latest support is a sign of his potential to more forcefully influence politics in a state that Democrats — in part by running better-funded campaigns — have controlled since 2018.

The Leo-linked fund is the top donor to For Our Future, a political action committee led by conservative activist Alex Titcomb and tied to The Dinner Table , which Libby helped Titcomb form after winning election in 2020.

The Concord Fund’s most recent donation of $225,000 to For Our Future came in February, according to campaign finance records . The fund’s $375,000 in total given to the group is well ahead of the $10,000 given by the next-biggest contributor since it formed last year.

Leo, who purchased his Northeast Harbor home in 2018 and also lives in northern Virginia, said in a statement Thursday he is “proud to support organizations doing great work in Maine to stand up for hardworking Americans and small businesses.”

“I’ll continue to work with organizations that advance the principles of small government, separation of powers and the rule of law,” Leo said.

Libby deferred to Titcomb for comment. Titcomb , who is also The Dinner Table’s executive director, said the fund’s representatives have not asked about how the group will use the donations. Titcomb said most spending will be focused on state-level races in Maine.

The Dinner Table is also leading an effort to hold a referendum in Maine on requiring photo identification to vote. Titcomb said his group is “trying to set an example of being more transparent.” Leo has argued his dark-money network is rivaling Democratic groups that also do not disclose all donors and have influenced politics in Maine as well.

“Hopefully, we can continue to get larger donors,” Titcomb said Wednesday. “We’ve been saving money, so we definitely have a lot of ammo in the bank in regard to what we could spend to try to influence elections this cycle and into next year.”

Last year, the town of Mount Desert paid $62,500 to settle a lawsuit from a Bar Harbor man who claimed police officers arrested him without cause at Leo’s behest in 2022 amid the man and others protesting outside Leo’s home following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that had codified federal abortion rights.

Leo’s fund has been helping lobstering groups as well. The Concord Fund gave $573,000 in fiscal year 2022 to the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association , among dozens of grants that year to organizations in various states, with the top gift of $8.8 million going to an anti-abortion group, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, per IRS filings .

The South Portland-based stewardship association describes itself as a bipartisan nonprofit that advocates for “wild harvesters” in New England’s commercial fishing industry. It has opposed offshore wind and lobstering regulations it views as harmful to Maine fisheries while working closely with legislative Republicans who are critical of offshore wind.

Jerry Leeman III, who is listed as the stewardship association’s founder and CEO, thanked a reporter for reaching out Thursday but said “we respect the privacy of our donors.”

Leo and his network have supported the conservative Maine Policy Institute and the Maine Wire, its news arm, according to disclosures on the site. Additionally, Leo and his wife have each given $5,000 to state Rep. Austin Theriault’s Pit Crew PAC as the Fort Kent Republican runs for Congress against U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat from Maine’s 2nd District.

A Leo spokesperson said the Concord Fund is also making ”significant contributions to the Maine Republican Party for state races and groups involved in the 2nd Congressional District race.”