A U.S. Senate candidate in Maine has selected an unusual logo for campaign T-shirts – the guillotine – citing the need for a revolution to remove big money from politics.

The logo, unveiled this week by Democrat Bre Kidman, recalls the execution device known for its role in the 18th century French Revolution and is intended to symbolize revolt by low- and middle-income people, Kidman said.

“The guillotine is an image which calls to mind what people have done for revolution before,” said Kidman, an attorney who’s running for the seat held by Republican Sen. Susan Collins. “If we can find a better path to revolution than that we owe it to ourselves and our country.”

I was gonna wait until tomorrow to show off these beauties, but Trump got acquitted and I feel like folks could use something to look forward to. So. Get ready for Merch-You-Can’t-Buy! You shouldn’t buy elections, so you can’t buy our locally silk screened, upcycled merch. pic.twitter.com/B0A4HSvDIw — bre????️‍????kidman????????for????Maine????(D) (@BeeKay4ME) February 5, 2020

Kidman, who is non-binary and uses the pronoun “they,” said the logo is something they came up with out of frustration over the large amounts of money in politics.

Kidman said the campaign, which had raised about $16,000 by the end of last year, stopped actively fundraising in July. Merchandise, including t-shirts, patches and buttons, with the new logo is not for sale and instead will be given away to people who want to talk about the campaign ideas with fellow Mainers.

Kidman said the logo is not supposed to be taken literally.

“We’re not going to start a guillotine in Monument Square (in Portland) and start beheading people,” Kidman said. “It’s a symbol of the work we have to do to overcome flaws in our system – flaws that have become deeply evident in the last few weeks.”

More than $18 million had been raised by candidates as of Dec. 31 in the U.S. Senate race in Maine. In addition, the winner of the Democratic primary will secure more than $4 million in money raised by critics of Collins in response to her vote for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

“I don’t think the process we currently have allows for working and middle class people to be raising millions of dollars,” Kidman said. “I think we have to find ways that open the doors to getting more people at the table.”

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