AUGUSTA – The pace of political activity picked up Monday in Maine as Republicans focused their efforts in the Lewiston-Auburn area and vowed to pull out all stops in securing the election of Kevin Raye as 2nd District congressman.

“This is clearly a tossup race,” said U.S. Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, as he campaigned with Raye in the vote-rich Androscoggin County area.

As Raye and Davis met with voters, GOP National Chairman Marc Racicot announced that the party’s national committee is pledging the maximum amount authorized, $71,820, for Raye’s campaign. Raye, of Perry, faces Democrat Michael Michaud, a veteran state lawmaker from East Millinocket, in the November election.

In addition to the party’s direct expenditures, the congressional campaign committee will likely run a series of independent or issue ads for Raye “that will total well in excess of that,” Davis said.

“Our message is we’re going to make sure he has all the resources he needs to win this race,” said Davis, who agrees with analysts who call it one of 11 tossups among the races for all 435 House seats.

Republicans are eyeing Maine’s sprawling 2nd District as they seek to bolster their majority in the House, where the GOP has 223 seats and the Democrats have 210. One independent serves and there is one vacancy.

Incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins was also in the Auburn area, where she announced a federal grant for low-income housing. Collins is being challenged by Democrat Chellie Pingree of North Haven.

On Monday evening, the action shifted to Hancock County, where former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger was scheduled to attend a fund-raiser for Steven Joyce of Biddeford, the Republican candidate in the 1st District who hopes to unseat Democratic Rep. Tom Allen of Portland.

Three of the state’s top Democratic candidates on Tuesday turn their attention to Maine’s largest city, where they plan to open the party’s Coordinated Campaign office. The Portland office will work to elect Democratic candidates in Cumberland and York counties, Maine’s most populous.

Pingree, Allen and gubernatorial candidate John Baldacci of Bangor plan to meet with campaign workers at the office’s opening. On Monday, Baldacci, who is completing his fourth term representing the 2nd Congressional District, won the endorsement of the Maine Chapter of the Sierra Club for his Blaine House effort.

The environmental group said it reviewed each candidate’s voting records and public statements before making its choice in the four-way race. The other candidates include Republican Peter Cianchette of South Portland, Green Independent Jonathan Carter of Lexington Township and independent John Michael of Auburn.