PORTLAND, Maine — The city of Portland remained a liberal stronghold on Election Day, eschewing a dramatic state and nationwide shift to the right to vote almost exclusively Democratic.
Voters in Maine’s largest city, once ranked by political analysis firm as the state’s most liberal municipality, supported no Republicans for state or national offices and only backed one non-Democrat at the polls: incumbent independent Benjamin Chipman in House District 40.
Portland residents even split from the statewide pack to side convincingly with longshot Democratic challenger Shenna Bellows in Maine’s U.S. Senate race, 13,256 to 10,572. As a sign of how much the city was an outlier in that race, incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins ended the night with nearly 70 percent of the vote, and three media outlets had proclaimed her the winner within 10 minutes of the polls closing.
Statewide, controversial Republican Gov. Paul LePage won re-election and the GOP appeared to wrest control of the Maine Senate from Democrats, who held a majority in the Legislature’s upper chamber for the past two years, and gained ground in what had been a strongly blue House.
In Portland, where Maine’s first legal same-sex marriages were performed in late 2012, 71 percent of those who voted backed Democratic challenger Mike Michaud, a six-term congressman who sought to become the nation’s first openly gay candidate to be elected governor.
In addition to sending prominent Democratic state Sens. Justin Alfond and Anne Haskell back to Augusta, Portlanders defied the Election Day trend to again pick Democrats for seven out of eight House seats, with the aforementioned Chipman being the lone exception.
Below is a roundup of Portland House race results as published by The Forecaster:
House District 36
Democratic Rep. Denise Harlow has won her third, two-year term in the Maine House of Representatives by defeating two challengers in the new House District 36 on Tuesday.
Harlow beat Republican Richard Dodge 1,457 to 579. Samuel Chandler of the Green Independent Party trailed with 418 votes. The tallied votes do not include absentee ballots.
House District 36 is comprised of the western section of Portland north of Bishop Street and south of the Portland Terminal railroad tracks.
House District 37
Democratic Rep. Richard Farnsworth will return to Augusta for a second consecutive two-year term, this time in the new Maine House District 37. He was elected unopposed Tuesday.
Farnsworth was unopposed in the race for the district extending from Libbytown to the Westbrook boundary after Republican Jonathan Pfaff withdrew from the race in September.
Farnsworth, most recently the House chairman of the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee, also served one term in the Maine House in the late 1990s.
House District 38
Democratic Rep. Matt Moonen will continue to represent the city’s West End after winning a new two-year term on Tuesday.
Moonen defeated Republican Thomas Loring 2,612 to 477 in the new House District 38. Loring did not run an active campaign. Green Independent Party candidate Tom MacMillan was forced to withdraw in August after moving from the district.
The totals do not include absentee ballots.
House District 39
Democratic Rep. Diane Russell won a fourth, two-year term in the Maine House of Representatives on Tuesday, defeating Green Independent Lauren Besanko 2,211 to 846.
Russell now serves in House District 39, covering the city’s East End and Casco Bay islands. Republican candidate Ashley Ryan withdrew from the race in September.
House District 40
Independent Ben Chipman won his third, two-year term in the state House of Representatives on Tuesday, beating Democrat Herb Adams and Republican Mark Lockman.
Chipman defeated Adams, a former House member, 1,336 to 758. Lockman, who did not run an active campaign, finished third with 148 votes in the Maine House District 40 race.
The district consists of the city Parkside and West Bayside neighborhoods as well the area surrounding the University of Southern Maine.
House District 41
Democratic Rep. Erik Jorgensen won a second, two-year term Tuesday in the Maine House of Representatives by defeating Republican challenger Dr. James Azzola 2,553 to 757.
Jorgensen, who served on the Legislature’s Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee during his freshman term, will serve in the new House District 41, comprised of the city’s Deering Center area around Stevens and Brighton avenues.
House District 42
Democratic Rep. Peter Stuckey won a fourth, two-year term in the state House of Representatives on Tuesday, defeating Republican businessman Marc Lamontagne 1,993 to 863.
Stuckey will now serve in House District 42, covering the area north and east of Back Cove to Canco Road, Allen Avenue and the Falmouth boundary.
Stuckey, who also coaches the Portland High School boys hockey team, served on the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee during the 126th Legislature.
House District 43
Rep. Mark Dion, a former Cumberland County sheriff and city police officer, easily won a third term representing portions of northern Portland and west Falmouth in what is now House District 43. Dion defeated Republican Shannon Rafferty-Roy, 2,144 to 959.
Dion is considered a strong contender for a leadership position for Democrats in the new Legislature.
