AUGUSTA, Maine — Democrat Chris Johnson of Somerville won a special election Tuesday over Republican Dana Dow of Waldoboro to fill a vacant seat in the state Senate.
With all but two of the 22 towns that make up District 20 reporting, Johnson had 3,191 votes, or 54 percent, according to unofficial results from town officials.
Dow took 2,758 votes (46 percent) and conceded the race at about 10 p.m. Tuesday, Maine Democratic Party officials confirmed.
Party Chairman Ben Grant congratulated Johnson on the win, considered by many to be an upset.
“The people of Lincoln County spoke for people across Maine today, and the message was clear: this is not what we voted for in 2010,” Grant said in a statement. “[Gov.] Paul LePage’s agenda is wrong for Maine, and Republican legislators have been far too willing to fall in line in the face of mounting evidence that the GOP’s plans aren’t working.”
Senate District 20 encompasses all of Lincoln County as well as Windsor in Kennebec County and Friendship and Washington in Knox County.
The seat was vacated officially on Dec. 31 when Sen. David Trahan resigned. Trahan, a two-term senator from Waldoboro, stepped down to take the reigns of the Sportman’s Alliance of Maine, one of the most powerful lobbying groups in Augusta.
Johnson, who lost to Trahan by a 56-32 vote during the 2010 election for Senate District 20, takes over a seat that has been in the Republicans’ column for the last decade. He carried the communities of Damariscotta, Newcastle, Bristol, Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor, Edgecomb and Whitefield, among other towns.
“I’m thrilled with tonight’s win and thankful to all of the volunteers who helped tonight be a success and all of my supporters who turned out to the polls,” Johnson said in a statement. “It was clear on the campaign trail that voters are frustrated with Governor LePage and his agenda. They have every right to be.”
Dow, who currently represents District 50 in the Maine House, was selected in January by Lincoln County Republicans ahead of another House member, Rep. Leslie Fossel of Alna, to run for the Senate seat.
Dow previously held the Senate District 20 seat for two terms prior to Trahan’s election in 2008. He carried Wiscasset, Jefferson, Southport, Nobleboro and Waldoboro on Tuesday.
The win by the Democrat shifts the balance slightly in the Maine Senate. Once Johnson is sworn in, there will be 19 Republicans, 15 Democrats and one unenrolled senator.
Congratulations Senator-elect Johnson!
I won’t be surprised if there is a Democratic sweep in the state this time around. Mainers are NOT impressed with LePage and his cronies.
I guess that Tea is getting kind of cold.
Not that it maters to the losers on the left, but the rest of us who have to pay taxes are not looking forward to Democratic thieves reaching into our wallets. The only solutions the Leftists of Maine have come up with is some of the highest taxation rates, worst business environment and a large segment wholly dependent on entitlement programs. This is the precise outcome of the Democratic playbook; hate for success, high taxes and a poor under-educated populace who vote loser Lib so they can keep feeding at the teat of the producers.
So, so bitter. Why is it that the Right is so negative and pessimistic? That is no way to go through life. I mean, really, work with what you got.
Nobody hates success. To me, a rising tide lifts all ships. I want everyone to be successful but to do so requires some investment, education, and not sitting at home complaining about everything while clutching a bible and praying.
Here’s a minor, but a good example. Back in 2009 when Marriage Equality was overturned by what really was just a bunch of bible-thumpers with their knickers in a twist, the estimated increased revenue, per year, had the law remained in place, was $22 million. This would have cost the State -zero- dollars. But, no, instead of making the State attractive and progressive looking, it turned us into Mississippi North, and lost the $22M in revenues.
No, the idea of sitting around cutting taxes to the point where no money is moving anywhere because no services are provided, no infrastructure repairs are done, no schools get the funds needed to teach the next generation, and companies flee the state because it has turned into another Appalachia, is not the route to go. We need to attract businesses from outside and while taxes are important, I would say energy costs, transportation, communications, an educated labor pool, and infrastructure are way up on the list.
Instead of complaining, what are you doing to move the State forward? Reminds me of “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” Coined by a liberal Democrat, as I recall.
that would be great. we can go back to having more thiefs at maine turnpike authority, and maine state housing who has no money to give to poor people but has money to give 1000 dollar bonuses to it’s staff, donate money to all sorts of non housing related organizations out of state and give their staff massages, and of course rent hotels all over the world and have no one to answer for all of this. go back to having dhs insure ANYBODY that wants to get on the system and more of the able bodied who have” stopped looking for work because “the state has given me another year of unemployment so why should i look”.
yes yes i cannot wait for those days…..
unbelievable! get your heads out of the clouds. THERE IS NO SANTA CLAUS!, unless you are a democrat. then you beleive in the tooth fairy too!
Of course you FAIL to grasp that concept that the Maine Turnpike Authority does not provide ANY funding to the poor. MSHA has done exactly what it was charted to do and has not failed in any way. So far, the current investigation HAS FOUND ZERO EVIDENCE of any wrong doing. By the way, the last I checked, the STATE does not provide funding for exetended unemployment insurance which is needed because Paul LePage’s “job creation” plan has so far cost the state 4000 plus LOST JOBS. You need to pull YOUR head out of something but it isn’t the clouds…
Disqus generic email templateand I suppose the wasteful spending that the mta has done which has caused higher tolls and less money for improving the roads and less money for better wages for the mta employees and the poor sucker that has to pay the higher toll going to work for minimum wage cause of the high taxes his boss has to pay caused by the politics of the democrats for the past 30 years has nothing, nada thing to do with any of these thieves? it is obvious which cloth you are cut out of so get a grip santa.
MHSA did everything but meet its primary mission of providing AFFORDABLE HOUSING. It did fund social action programs, a lot of political cronies, and p’sd away their assets. It’s current director has sent contracts to Women Unlimited and her partner, Betsy Sweet and their buds. in the girl’s club…and that’s ILLEGAL.
Got an authoritative cite for the lost 4,000 jobs?
Are you a union hack?
Democrat petty theft!
Republicans go for the Gold!
They targeted the Post Office !
A picture is worth a thousand words!
http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2006/12/images/20061220-6_20061220-2d-0716-1–515h.html
What do you call the relationship the loser Liberal Democrats have with the unions across America other than incesteous thievery. Every public infrastructure project costs 25% more when the projec
I call it insuring that Americans have a living wage in order to support their families.
I couldn’t agree more. More people voted in this special election, than voted in the entire state’s republican caucuses. Sure looks like a sign that people are utterly fed up with LePage’s leadership, or lack thereof.
9,000 registered Republicans in this district sat it out.
The R’s won’t make that mistake again; but given how politically ‘dumb’ they are, they probably won’t turn out the vote the next time.
Maybe the true Republicans are just sick of the Tea Party, Maine Heritage Policy and ALEC telling them how it should be. I know many who are sick of the lies and the agenda those have set.
They are certainly sick of Charlie Webster.
Not a single prominent republican has come to his defense or is supporting him.
He’s poison.
1 down, 19 to go!!!
Like their counterparts on the national level, Maine state Republicans will, I suspect, be heavily defeated in the 2012 elections for the State House and Senate. It simply doesn’t occur to either the national or the state officials that most Mainers, like most Americans, are moderates on many issues and don’t want to punish public employees at the expense of the wealthy, among other parts of the GOP state and national agenda.
It will be interesting to listen to WVOM gadfly Ric Tyler spin this. Odds are he will make some excuse (like he always does) for the Democrat winning this seat.
I don’t know why anyone listens to Ric Tyler. He’s such a wholesale shill for all things GOP and Tea Party. And he’s a bit of a goofy putz to boot.
You make that sound like the two groups aren’t perfectly interrelated.Look up Strange Brew-2012 TP calendar.
Tyler did not disappoint. He spent time with Andre Cushing putting the victory for Johnson in the hands of the unions. They both spent more time talking about how great the Republicans and LePage are and the great things they are doing for the state.
Question… does Blueberry Broadcasting receive payments from from the GOP for this type of discussion. Or does the RNC pay Tyler directly?
I was on Central Street in Bangor yesterday, waiting for my husband, over heard Ric Tyler talking on the phone. He should be more careful were he conducts his business conversations, I had to be were I was, and I could not help but hear him, even though I tried not to.
I can ‘t stand that program
Maybe like myself he despises watching hard working Mainers get Mugged by the Dems.Only to end up paying for more and more entitlement programs that are front funded
Thanks Ric!
What about all the Rush Limbaughs ??
Anyone but the Republican.
A democrat won? And the lePage worshippers said it couldn’t happen. Just the first of many more to come. LePage will be the lamest duck governor ever after November.
Democrat Chris Johnson is merely the grip on the handle of the “Clean Sweep Broom” coming to clean up the GOP/Tea Party mess made by Mr. LePage and crew next November. It’s time to put Maine back to work and in working order. That’ll never be done under narrow minded leadership that seeks only it’s own support by putting down nearly everyone and everything in our State.
Great news for the working people of Maine. The LePage administration is anti-worker and he hasn’t created a single job for Maine. I expect once his party gets defeated big time in November he’ll do a Sarah Palin and quit.
Or a bus tour all the way to Florida, then Lauren will go on “Dancing with the stars.” Such as it is that’s the new reality of living in America.
“…and he hasn’t created a single job for Maine”? Why, didn’t he give his daughter a job for $42,000 / year plus bennies? There’s one job. :-)
That would be “NET job creation.” LePage takes credit for creating a couple of hundred low wage telemarketing jobs, and a couple of dozen mill jobs, but fails to accept any responsibility for the net loss of 4000 plus jobs. See, in LePage’s world, there are no losses, only gains. Then again, he believes in unicorns, leprechauns, and trickle-down economics.
Not great news for those in Maine who pay the taxes. Great news for lazy loser Libs who will take my tax money to buy your loser votes. What happens when there is no more money?
Dana Dow is a moderate and has been consistently very popular in his former senate district and that district has been a Republican stronghold for a long, long time.
This is a major defeat for Republicans.
Party leadership are grasping at straws and have already lined up their excuses and have been blaming “the unions” for helping the Democrat. Unions are the scary boogeyman of the week I guess.
The biggest open questions about the 2012 elections have begun evolving from wondering whether both Maine legislative houses will go Democrat to asking if Democrats will win by big enough margins to have veto proof majorities in both.
Veto proof Democrat majorities in both houses will assure that not only will Lepage be stopped from doing more damage but the most destructive of his right wing moves will be reversed completely and upheld after his veto. Lepage would be the lamest possible of lame ducks which would leave him extremely angry and frsautrated. In that case he might even resign before his term is up.
Sadly, the unions have been the scary boogey-man of the pro-business con-servatives since there have been unions. One merely has to look at the history of the anti-union folks and their activities to understand the depth of the hatred that they have for unions and the lengths that they will take, up to and including murder, to bust up union organizing. And what it is that they fear? That they will not be able to intimidate workers into doing more work for less pay and benefits, under unsafe consitions all of which might cut into their already obscene profits.
Jimmy Hoffa ring a bell? Carl Yablanski who had his family assassinated by union thugs?
To your last sentence-Maine would never be that lucky.I hope the rest of your post comes true but it will only happen with real Mainers working for the good of the state and country.We still have a long way to go and many obstacles.
They drank the tea and didn’t like it…..
I’m a moderate, registered Republican, and appalled by the crude buffoon in the Governor’s office.
I voted for Mr. Johnson. I’ve met him and he’s a decent, intelligent fellow. Nothing against Dana Dow, but anyone who supports LePage is getting in the way of a solution to our serious problems,
some of which were created by Baldacci, and some of which are the result of bi-partisan irresponsibility in underfunding our state pension funds.
I wish Mr. Johnson well, and hope he will continue to be a common sense centrist.
When the meeting about DHHS cuts was held in Houlton,there was some tool up there parroting LePage’s line.When confronted by the audience he had no answers whatsoever.I feel sorry for his district.
Dow didn’t do so bad, after all he got a slightly larger percentage of the Lincoln County vote than LePage did in 2010. But the fact remains that Lincoln County is like other places in Maine, about 60% of the voters didn’t support LePage in 2010 and Dow could only win back about 5%. Talk about trying to run in the face of a blowhard headwind! Let’s see what’s left for the bully in the pulpit after November. My guess is not much!
Sorry to rain on your parade LePage.
The tide has turned and your reign will be reined by the People of Maine this November.
yessah
This is only the start !!
We would have been much better off if Libby had won the govenor
The Awakening has begun!!!
a sad and ignorant day in Maine.. once again proving that the folks in Maine have their mouth open wide and their hand out long…. ugh
More like their eyes wide open and their middle finger held up high at LePage….
Do you pay taxes?
Too bad we’re not all geniuses, like you.
Real sad people just do not see that the destroyacrats keep them poor and wanting more.I guess a little promise and can not deliver goes a long way. Projections were that we would be destroyed from with in.I guess the party of unfunded promises is going to do it.
You got the Republicans to blame for not getting the other Republicans out
Probable right there! to tired working for a biscuit!
Wonder how many was from other counties?
According to Republicans 54% is a LANDSLIDE and means VAST majority.
…
Not too shabby for a seat that is usually held by a Republican. And, he defeated the man that termed out prior to Trahan’s election.
Hmm a special election held in Mid-winter while a vast majority of Maine’s older population is south. Let’s see what happens next time when a REAL election is held before they all head south.
Ummm Wayno, have you ever heard of an……absentee ballot?
Wayno.. you might look into the fact that Trahan announced his intention to leave his seat last August, and then pushed his leaving until Dec 31st. This meant a special election HAD to be held, Vs him leaving in Sept and us voting at the regular election in November… also not that the SOS set the date for the special election.
The GOP controlled ALL aspects of this event, so your “bellyaching” about the situation is a bit silly isn’t it?
( we won;t even get into the lack of representation my district has RIGHT NOW and since the beginning of this session as a result of Trahans choice to wait so long to leave his seat… nor will we look at the legislation he pushed right before he left that heavily favors SAM, not will we talk about the full page support for SAM on his last official mailing prior to leaving his senate seat… nope… not gunna get into those issues)
I’m not saying anyone. Dem or Rep, did anything to cause this problem, I’m just saying that older folks who are generally conservative voters are out of state right now. I’m not “bellyaching” as you say, I’m just stating a fact. And what’s wrong with SAM? I am neither a hunter, nor a fisherman, but these folks have the right to do both.
Come on Charlie Webster – must have been the busloads of immigrants and college student votes that resulted in this win for Chris Johnson. Atleast we wait for official results and don’t make up our own!
This sure is a precursor to what gov. lapudge should expect in the next election cycle.