AUGUSTA, Maine — A fourth-term state representative from Bath will resign from the Legislature on Friday to take a private-sector job, reducing Democrats’ safe majority to 87 and vacating a second seat in the Legislature’s lower chamber.
Rep. Jennifer DeChant said in a Thursday statement that she would resign from the House of Representatives at the end of the week after being offered “a unique career opportunity in the private sector” that would prevent her from serving the remainder of her term.
DeChant, 50, has a background in marketing and has most recently been the executive director of the Chocolate Church Arts Center in Bath. She easily won her four races for the seat since 2012, never finishing with less than 62 percent of votes.
The Associated Press reported that DeChant has accepted a job with Charter Communications, which operates as Spectrum in Maine.
She is the second Democrat elected in November 2018 to give up a seat in this Legislature after Aaron Frey of Bangor refused to be sworn in so he could be elected attorney general by the new Legislature. Voters in Bangor and Orono will pick Frey’s replacement on March 12.
Local party committees will be able to nominate new candidates to run for DeChant’s seat. Gov. Janet Mills will call a special election to replace her that will likely come in the spring.
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