A group of around 25 conservative Maine Republicans has split from the state Republican Party to form a new grassroots caucus, days after the state GOP decided against censuring Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) for her vote to convict former President Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial. John DeVeau, who chairs the Aroostook County Republican Committee—one of the committees that voted to censure Collins—said in a statement on March 29 that the group has formed the Maine Grassroots Republican Caucus. DeVeau said the political subgroup is “a kind of Maine-based version of the U.S. House Freedom Caucus,” and dismissed concerns that the new group might divide Maine’s Republican Party. “We didn’t create the division, we’re actually trying to unify the Republican Party by giving the disenfranchised a voice at the statewide level and to restore the Constitutional balance of powers,” DeVeau said in a statement, which indicated that he’s the chair of the …