AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine Democratic Party Chairman Phil Bartlett defeated two challengers on Sunday to keep his position, despite a difficult November election for Democrats, in which a Republican won one of the state’s four electoral votes in a historic, first-time split.
The leadership fight showed a lingering post-election fray between wings of the party, with the fight coming from supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who won the Maine presidential caucuses easily over eventual nominee Hillary Clinton.
But Bartlett, a 40-year-old former state senator from Gorham who took over the party after losses in 2014, turned back the challenges in ranked-choice election against outgoing state Rep. Diane Russell of Portland and two-time Maine Senate candidate Jonathan Fulford of Monroe.
He focused on the party’s victories in a speech to state committee members an American Legion hall in Augusta, highlighting Democrats’ narrowing of the Republican majority in the state Senate and retention of a slim majority in the House of Representatives.
“Our staff is really tired of hearing me say that we’re not just looking at the next election,” Bartlett said. “We are looking at how to grow strong, permanent majorities for Democrats in the state of Maine.”
Tom Reynolds, chairman of the Androscoggin County Democratic Committee, also was a Sanders supporter, but nominated Bartlett, saying Bartlett has been “receptive and inclusive” during his stint at the helm and that blaming him for the election’s outcome is unfair.
Vice Chair Peggy Schaffer of Vassalboro, who was chief of staff to former Maine Senate President Libby Mitchell, also was re-elected to her post over Claire Cummings of Norway, a Democratic organizer and executive vice president of the Maine Young Democrats.