NEW: Dunlap admitted he was “utterly unqualified” for State Auditor job
The bad news continues for incompetent radical Matt Dunlap. Yesterday, we learned that Dunlap let fraud go unchecked as State Auditor, and today, we learned that he admitted he was “utterly unqualified” for the job.
And that’s not all: As Secretary of State, Dunlap’s subordinate helped an illegal immigrant obtain a license in order to buy a gun and rob a bank, Dunlap faced multiple lawsuits for failing to do his job, and his department improperly disposed of state records, exposing “enough material for mass identity theft.”
Read the full story here or see excerpts below:
Democrat candidate admits he’s ‘utterly unqualified,’ wants a promotion anyway
Benjamin Roberts
The Blaze
September 1, 2026
Matt Dunlap is running as a Democrat for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, claiming to have cut government waste and improved bureaucratic efficiency as Maine secretary of state and state auditor.
His track record tells a different story. After more than two decades in office, Dunlap leaves in his wake an illegal-alien armed robbery scandal, a federal voting lawsuit, a string of missed deadlines, and even flunked exams.
Maine’s Democratic state auditor, Matt Dunlap, who is now pursuing a bid to represent Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, released a report earlier this year sounding the alarm that the state’s internal watchdog for its MaineCare program had a serious gap in utilization control.
During his first tenure as secretary of state from 2004 to 2011, Dunlap’s subordinate Robert O’Connell helped an illegal alien acquire the identification necessary to buy a gun. That alien later used that gun to commit armed robbery.
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That same year, Dunlap also ran afoul of the federal government. In July 2006, the Department of Justice sued the State of Maine and Dunlap for allegedly neglecting voter registration list maintenance and disability access upgrades for polling places.
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The scandals didn’t stop there.
In 2007, local news outlet WGME strolled onto the State Lottery Commission’s property and scooped up numerous discarded records, including citizens’ names, Social Security numbers, birthdates, and other sensitive data. There was enough material there for mass identity theft, according to the outlet.
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Dunlap faced another lawsuit in 2009 after he failed to certify a people’s veto petition that aimed to repeal Democrat then-Governor John Baldacci’s sales tax expansion. Activist group Still Fed Up with Taxes sued after Dunlap’s office blew past the October 13 deadline for signature verification.
Dunlap ultimately relented, and the measure reached the June 2010 ballot. The measure passed, and a judge later ruled that Dunlap’s office had no authority to miss the deadline.
“[Dunlap] said his staff was overworked, neglecting to mention that, instead of checking off names, he’d spent a week of that crunch time at a conference in Kentucky,” the Portland Press Herald reported in 2012.
Dunlap tried to leave his secretary of state scandals behind him in 2021, switching gears to become state auditor. Dunlap admitted he was “utterly unqualified” for the state auditor role, just as he was when he ran for secretary of state in 2004, according to Bangor Daily News.
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“Whether it’s failing to protect Mainers’ sensitive information, hold bad actors accountable, or simply do his job properly, incompetent radical Matt Dunlap proved to Mainers time and again that he is not a trustworthy steward of their tax dollars,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman Maureen O’Toole told Blaze News. “He’ll be held accountable for his failures at the ballot box in November.”
Dunlap did not respond to a request for comment. O’Connell and Clarke could not be reached for comment. Dunlap will square off against former Republican Maine Governor Paul LePage in November’s midterm elections.