Officials announced the results of the ranked-choice runoffs in the crowded primary to replace term-limited Gov. Janet Mills.
Read more Raúl Rangel uses ‘pure reaction’ to make save that moves Mexico into knockout stage of World Cup
The crowded race to replace Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a term-limited Democrat, narrowed to two candidates early Friday when state election officials announced the results of ranked-choice runoffs.
Hannah Pingree, a former state House speaker and the daughter of U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree (D), won the Democratic nomination. She was endorsed by Mills after working for the governor heading Maine’s policy innovation office.
She will face Republican Bobby Charles, who served in the State Department under the George W. Bush administration and has fashioned himself after President Donald Trump.
Their victories were announced more than a week after the June 9 primary. Officials tabulated the votes under their state’s ranked-choice system after neither candidate won a majority of voters’ first picks.
Maine State Auditor Matthew Dunlap narrowly clinched the Democratic nomination for the state’s 2nd Congressional District. He will face former governor Paul LePage, a Republican, in November in what could be one of the country’s most competitive congressional races.
Dunlap beat three other Democrats competing in the primary to succeed Rep. Jared Golden (D), who is not running for reelection, including state Sen. Joe Baldacci, who was endorsed by the campaign arm of House Democrats. Some Republicans view the race as a prime opportunity to flip a House seat in the midterms. Trump carried the district nearly 10 percentage points in 2024.
Maine allows voters to rank candidates on their ballots for some races rather than choosing only one. If no candidate clears 50 percent of the vote, election officials eliminate the last-place candidate and then redistribute the votes of people who chose them to their next-ranked pick. That process continues until one candidate reaches a majority.
Nirav Shah, who led the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, finished second in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. He narrowly led in the first round of voting, but Pingree pulled ahead as other candidates were eliminated.
Read more Awer Mabil is proud to represent Australia as one of team’s refugees playing in the World Cup
Pingree also beat former state Senate president Troy Jackson and Shenna Bellows, Maine’s secretary of state. Angus King III, the son of Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), did not advance to the runoff after he finished last in the five-way Democratic race.
On the Republican side, Charles has campaigned on pledges to stop illegal drugs and abolish the state income tax, and last month he released a plan to stop the “Islamification of Maine.”
The Navy veteran and former federal investigator beat a crowded field, including Jonathan S. Bush, a cousin of George W. Bush, and Benjamin Midgley, former president of Planet Fitness.
“We need to get along with the Trump administration, not be hostile to them,” Charles said to supporters last week.
As governor, Mills positioned herself as a fighter. Her office was flooded with thank-you notes and tokens of appreciation after she stood up to the president during a White House meeting.
The race to replace Mills, though, has at times been overshadowed on the national stage by her unsuccessful bid for a U.S. Senate seat.
Graham Platner last week won the Democratic primary for Senate, weeks after the governor ended her campaign. He overcame a slew of controversies to clinch the Democratic nomination, including his tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol, allegations he mistreated women and an incendiary digital footprint.
The liberal upstart will face longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins in the November election, which is considered crucial to Democrats’ hopes of flipping the Senate. Collins ran unopposed in the Republican primary and is seeking a sixth term.
Read more Valenzuela hits go-ahead double in Blue Jays’ win over Red Sox
