Leadership and Recount Update
Leadership Decisions so Far
Last night and today, most Legislative leadership decisions were made. The Senate Democrats met yesterday evening and chose Mattie Daughtry, Brunswick, as Senate President over Anne Carney, Cape Elizabeth; Teresa Pierce, Falmouth as Majority Leader over both Stacy Brenner, Scarborough and Mike Tipping, Orono; and Jill Duson, Portland as the Assistant Majority Leader over current Speaker of the House and newly elected Senator, Rachel Talbot Ross, also of Portland.
House Republicans met this morning and chose current Minority Leader, Billy Bob Faulkingham to continue in that role. Mike Soboleski, Phillips; and the current Assistant Minority Leader, Amy Arata, New Gloucester also ran for the Leader position, but Faulkingham received over 50% of the vote in the first round. In another 3-way race between Amy Arata, David Boyer, Poland; and Katrina Smith, Palermo, the House Republican caucus chose Katrina Smith. Leadership races are similar to ranked choice elections in that they require a majority to win. In this case Boyer got the least votes in the first round and then Arata and Smith ran head-to-head with Smith prevailing.
The Senate Republicans re-elected current Minority Leader Trey Stewart, Presque Isle, to remain their leader, and elected Matt Harrington, Sanford, to be their new Assistant Leader. Both were unopposed.
The House Democrats will choose their leaders next Wednesday, November 13th. As mentioned in our previous update, current House Majority Assistant Leader, Kristen Cloutier, Lewiston; Rep. Ed Crockett, Portland; and past Speaker and newly re-elected Rep. Ryan Fecteau, Biddeford, are running to be Speaker of the House. Past House Majority Leader Matt Moonen, Portland and Rep. Amy Roeder, Bangor are running for Majority Leader, and Rep. Lydia Crafts, Newcastle; Rep. Lori Gramlich, Old Orchard Beach; and Rep. Nina Milliken, Blue Hill are running to be the Assistant House Majority Leader.
We will let you know as soon as possible the result of these votes next week.
Recounts
Recounts are expected or rumored in the following races in the Maine House of Representatives:
Incumbent Rep. Sally Cluchey, D-Bowdoinham is the declared winner in House District 52 by 16 votes over challenger, David Guilmette, R-Richmond.
Challenger, Sharon Frost, U-Belgrade, is the declared winner in House District 58 by 44 votes over incumbent Rep. Dan Newman, R-Belgrade.
Stephan Bunker, D-Farmington, who had previously run and lost as a Republican for House District 75 and was personally asked to run as a Democrat by Governor Mills, has been declared the winner over Randall Gauvin, R-Farmington by 10 votes.
Peter Wood, R-Norway, is the declared winner in House District 81 by 19 votes over Joan Beal, D-Norway.
Mike Lajoie, D-Lewiston, is the declared winner in House District 96 by 35 votes over Lee Clement, R-Lewiston.
Patty Kidder, D-Springvale, was thought to have won the House District 141 election over incumbent Rep. Lucas Lanigan, R-Springvale, but due to a double counting of some absentee ballots it has since been found that they are in an exact tie at 2476 votes each. If, after a recount, it remains a tie, Governor Mills will declare a new election. In light of Rep. Lannigan’s recent arrest for domestic violence, which was public before the election, this could stir up more partisan back and forth.
In the State Senate, current Representative Raegan LaRochelle, D-Augusta, is requesting a recount in her loss to current Representative Dick Bradstreet, R-Vassalboro. The final percentages are Bradstreet 50.6% to Larochelle’s 49.4%.
In Senate District 8, challenger Leo Kenney, R-Orono, is requesting a recount in his loss to incumbent Senator Mike Tipping, D-Orono. The final percentages in this race are Tipping 50.1 % to Kenney’s 49.9%.
Some of these may not be officially requested, but we will update you as soon as we know and also with any change in results.
Finally, the Congressional race between State Representative Austin Theriault and current Representative Jared Golden will require a ranked choice vote count, as a declared write-in candidate received several hundred votes, which lowered Golden’s lead to just under 50%. With Golden only holding a slight lead of about 2,000 votes, this race may also be headed to a recount.