PORTLAND, Maine — Maine’s ranked choice voting process has wrapped up, setting the stage for a competitive fall election season. Democrat Hannah Pingree and Republican Bobby Charles emerged as their parties’ nominees for governor, following a June 9 primary that required a ranked choice runoff to determine winners.
In the state’s 2nd Congressional District, Democrat Matt Dunlap claimed his party’s nomination. He will now face former Republican Gov. Paul LePage — a close ally of President Donald Trump — in what is expected to be one of the most hotly contested House races this November. Democrats are fighting to hold the seat as part of the broader battle for control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Maine’s primary season also saw Democratic voters select oyster farmer Graham Platner to challenge longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins. Platner’s win was decisive enough that it did not require a ranked choice runoff.
The governor’s race is an open contest because Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who has been in office since 2018, is term-limited and cannot seek re-election. That opened the door for five Democrats and seven Republicans to actively campaign in the June 9 primary. With such large fields in both parties, no candidate crossed the 50% threshold needed to avoid ranked choice tabulation. The Democratic contest was especially tight, with the top four candidates separated by only a few percentage points.
Democratic primary voters considered several candidates for governor: Pingree, the former speaker of the Maine House of Representatives; Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows; former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson; energy executive Angus King III; and former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Nirav Shah.
The Republican field was even larger. GOP voters chose among Charles, a former U.S. assistant secretary of state; healthcare executive Jonathan Bush; former Maine Senate Majority Leader Garrett Mason; former Paris, Maine, selectman Robert Wessels; and businessmen Owen McCarthy, David Jones, and Ben Midgley.
Gov. Mills had entered the U.S. Senate primary but suspended that campaign in April. On election night, she reflected on her time on the campaign trail, saying: “Throughout my two campaigns for governor and this one for Senate, what I have always loved the most is traveling across our beautiful state and getting to talk to Maine people.”
In the 2nd Congressional District Democratic primary, voters chose from former Maine Secretary of State Dunlap, state Sen. Joe Baldacci, former U.S. Senate candidate Jordan Wood, and social worker Paige Loud. LePage, meanwhile, ran unopposed on the Republican side. He served as governor from 2010 to 2018, during which time he built a reputation as a vocal critic of liberalism and a strong supporter of Trump.
The 2nd District seat is open because Democratic Rep. Jared Golden, who has held it since 2018, announced he is stepping down. Golden, known as a moderate who occasionally broke with his party, explained last year that he has “grown tired of the increasing incivility and plain nastiness that are now common from some elements of our American community.”
Though Golden won the district multiple times, it has also shown strong backing for Trump, who captured an electoral vote there in three straight presidential elections. The district covers a large geographic area, encompassing much of Maine’s rural land, logging country, and key fishing ports.
Maine has used ranked choice voting for a decade, after voters approved the system. Under the process, voters rank candidates in order of preference. If no one tops 50% of the vote, the last-place candidate is eliminated and those voters’ second choices are redistributed. The process continues until one candidate achieves a majority.
