The district attorney for Kennebec and Somerset counties is mounting a challenge for the position of attorney general, one of three constitutional offices chosen by the Legislature.

Maeghan Maloney is looking to unseat Attorney General Aaron Frey in a rematch of the 2018 race, which included three other candidates.

But don’t expect much public campaigning, pronouncements or deliberations. Maine’s three constitutional officers, which also include the secretary of state and treasurer, are elected by lawmakers through a secret ballot process and candidates seek to persuade lawmakers in private, one-on-one conversations.

Attorney General Aaron Frey speaks to the Judiciary Committee at the State House in Augusta in January. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows confirmed she is seeking reelection. No challengers have emerged publicly. State Treasurer Henry Beck said he will not seek another term as treasurer, and it wasn’t immediately clear who may seek the post.

Both Frey and Maloney are Democrats, the party that controls both chambers of the Legislature and therefore gets to select the constitutional officers.

Democrats in the Senate and House of Representatives will hold a joint meeting on Dec. 3 to vote on nominations and formally vote during a joint session of the Legislature on Dec. 4, according to Brian Lee, communications director for House Democrats. Lee said the candidates will be allowed to address the nomination caucus and possibly at the joint session of the Legislature.

Frey is seeking his final two-year term before he runs up against term limits. He could not be reached Friday to discuss his candidacy. His first two years in office overlapped with the end of President-elect Donald Trump’s first term in office.

Maloney said she is challenging Frey because Maine needs an attorney general who will be able to serve throughout Trump’s upcoming four-year term. “Maine needs someone who is going to fight for four years, not just two,” Maloney said in an interview.

Maeghan Maloney, district attorney of Kennebec and Somerset counties, is seen in her Augusta office in 2019. Kennebec Journal file photo by Joe Phelan

The entire Legislature is elected every two years, so there is no guarantee that Democrats will still be in control during Trump’s final two years. Democrats have had a governing trifecta with control of the Legislature and Blaine House since 2019, but Republicans made gains in November, narrowing the Democratic hold to 77 seats in the 151-seat House.

“At least it would be possible for me to serve for the entire Trump administration,” Maloney said. “There will be a lot that will be happening two years from now. There will be cases that have not yet started that will be mid-process in two years, and those cases would benefit from having a consistent leadership.”

In a letter to lawmakers announcing his reelection bid, Frey noted past efforts to work with Democrats and Gov. Janet Mills to stand up to Trump and other conservative states, including opposing efforts to divert defense spending to build Trump’s border wall, repeal the Affordable Care Act, undermine the Child Welfare Act and overturn the Federal Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone, one of the two pills used in the most common type of abortion in the nation.

“Maine needs an attorney general who will hold the line in safeguarding democracy and protecting individual rights from the coming Trump administration. I have that experience,” Frey wrote. “In my first two years as attorney general, I worked closely and consistently with other Democratic attorneys general to hold Donald Trump and his administration accountable during his first term.”

Frey recently told the Maine Morning Star that he traveled to Philadelphia to meet with 19 other Democratic attorneys general to discuss ways to respond to a Trump presidency. He told the online news organization that the group has spent months preparing for another Trump presidency.

Frey faced scrutiny and criticism when he disclosed in April 2023 that he had been in a romantic relationship with an employee for eight months. The disclosure was made only after a formal complaint about the relationship was filed by the female employee’s brother-in-law and reporters began asking questions. An investigation ordered by lawmakers found that Frey made “an error in judgment” by not disclosing the affair sooner.

Maloney, meanwhile, has been the subject of two complaints with the Maine Overseers of the Bar, which enforces professional and ethical standards for attorneys licensed to practice in Maine.

In 2019, Maloney was admonished for discussing the details of a pending criminal case with a judge in a private conversation in that judge’s chamber without a defense attorney present. The judge requested the conference to discuss a possible ethics violation and the discussion was recorded by a clerk and court reporter. But that conversation also touched on a criminal case pending before that judge.

The judge did not believe Maloney committed an ethical violation. But Maloney’s discussion of the pending case without the defense attorney present prompted the Law Court to strike the resulting guilty verdict, causing additional proceedings.

Maloney said in an interview that she believed that the defense attorneys would be provided a copy of the transcript, but that never occurred.

Although she could have fought the complaint, Maloney took responsibility for the meeting and agreed with the board’s admonishment – the lowest level of discipline reserved for “minor misconduct” that doesn’t injure anyone and is unlikely to be repeated.

Maloney is currently facing a rules of conduct complaint based on her handling of a case involving a woman who was allegedly drugged and sexually assaulted at a Waterville bar.

The victim accused Maloney of reaching out to the victim’s friend, who is a domestic violence advocate, and offering to share confidential information about the case to work around her attorney and secure a plea agreement.

Maloney said that one of those allegations had already been dismissed and that she was simply trying to connect the woman to the victim’s advocate.