Governor Mills (D) was term-limited after two consecutive terms. Hannah Pingree (D) won the election, beating out candidates Bobby Charles (R) and Rick Bennett (I). Pingree earned over 50% of the vote, so the election didn’t go to a ranked choice runoff.
Troy Jackson (D) won the Senate election, beating Susan Collins (R) who was running for her sixth term. Jackson was selected as the Democratic nominee as a last-minute replacement after the winner of June’s primary dropped out. The length between announcing his candidacy and Election Day was just 100 days.
Chellie Pingree (D) beat Ronald Russell (R) in the Congressional District 1 House election. This will be Pingree’s 10th consecutive term.
The Maine Congressional District 2 race was wide open this year after Jared Golden (D) announced his decision not to run for fifth term. It was a tight race between Matt Dunlap (D), the current Maine state auditor, and Paul LePage (R), the former governor of Maine from 2011-2019. LePage received just shy of the 50% of votes required to win before ranked-choice voting kicks in. However, Dunlap conceded the race. Despite this, ranked-choice tabulation is still being conducted as it is needed to have a certified election under state law.
In the State Legislature, Democrats retained a majority in both the House and Senate. In the 35-seat Senate, Democrats will now hold 24 seats, a rise from 20 in 2024. This will be the first time in 40 years that either party has held a supermajority in the Senate.
Democrats, along with Independents who plan to caucus with them, have also expanded their majority in the House, raising their majority from 78 seats to 90.
Democrats control both chambers of the legislature as well as the governorship, making Maine a “Democratic trifecta.”
Both the Maine House and Senate announced their party leadership. Mattie Daughtry of Cumberland County (D) will serve as Senate president, and Trey Stewart (R) of Aroostook County has been named Minority Leader. Ryan Fecteau of Biddeford (D) was nominated for another term as Speaker of the House, and Ken Fredette of Newport (R) will be Minority Leader.
The Maine Legislature will convene for the first time on December 2nd in Augusta, but the bulk of its work will begin in January.
