Politics
Democrat Hannah Pingree and MAGA ally Bobby Charles will face off for Maine governor
Former Maine state House Speaker Hannah Pingree, a Democrat, and MAGA conservative Bobby Charles will face off in what’s expected to be a competitive general election for Maine governor.
Both emerged from the state’s ranked choice voting process early Friday morning, with Pingree — the daughter of Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) — leapfrogging front-runner and former public health official Nirav Shah in the Democratic runoff.
An independent candidate, Rick Bennett, has also qualified to be on the ballot in the race to succeed current Gov. Janet Mills. Bennett, a state senator and the former Maine GOP chair, left the party last summer ahead of launching his gubernatorial run. The general election will not use ranked choice voting.
Republicans are hoping they can take back the Blaine House after eight years of Mills in power, arguing that voters’ frustrations over energy prices and property taxes will power Charles to victory.
Charles, who was the clear front-runner in the GOP primary, worked in the State Department during George W. Bush’s administration before founding a Washington-based consulting firm. He ran a prolific social media campaign, frequently lobbing barbs at Democratic contenders via cartoons and artificial intelligence-generated images. He prevailed in a seven-person Republican field despite vastly more money being spent on behalf of a few other candidates.
His campaign promises included eliminating Maine’s income tax and cutting the state’s roughly $7 billion budget by $4 billion.
Pingree served in the state House more than a decade ago, rising to House speaker from 2008 to 2010. She joined Mills’ administration as the director of the Office of Policy Innovation and the Future, making her one of the Democratic governor’s most trusted advisers.
Pingree was endorsed by Mills in the gubernatorial race and was the third-choice pick of Maine Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner. Her ascendancy would reflect the most continuity of Mills’ tenure, although Pingree indicated that she would differ from the governor’s path on certain decisions related to labor and tribal sovereignty — two issues where Mills has clashed with progressives.
Maine State Auditor Matt Dunlap won the Democratic primary for the state’s 2nd District, a blow to party leaders who backed one of his opponents in the top House battleground.
Dunlap, who emerged victorious from a ranked choice runoff early Friday morning, will face former GOP Gov. Paul LePage in a seat that is a priority target for both parties nationally.
Republicans are optimistic they can flip the district after Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine), who has represented the 2nd District since 2019, opted not to seek reelection this fall. President Donald Trump has won the district three times, including by 9 points in 2024.
Dunlap, who previously served as secretary of state and was backed by the Bernie Sanders-linked Our Revolution, originally jumped into the race to challenge Golden before the incumbent announced in November he would not run. His decision to challenge Golden irked national Democrats, with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee backing one of his primary opponents, state Sen. Joe Baldacci.
Dunlap, however, ended up receiving outside backing from a group, Real Change PAC, which seemed to have ties to Republicans and spent more than $500,000 to boost him and attack Baldacci.
The race was closely fought between Dunlap, Baldacci and former congressional chief of staff Jordan Wood, with the three candidates finishing within 3 percentage points of each other in the June 9 primary. A fourth candidate, Paige Loud, finished the first round with just 10 percent of the vote.
Dunlap faces a tough general election against LePage, the former two-term governor who remains popular with the GOP base — and won the 2nd District in his 2022 attempt at a gubernatorial comeback even as he lost statewide that year.
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