AUGUSTA, Maine — Arthur Bell of Yarmouth won the nomination for a Maine House of Representatives seat in the closest of five Democratic legislative primaries decided in a Tuesday ranked-choice count by the Maine secretary of state’s office.
The House District 47 race was one of the closest of the primaries decided last Tuesday. A candidate needs to get to 50 percent to win an election outright, though all of the first-round leaders won their races after a ranked-choice tabulation on Tuesday.
Voters in the Falmouth-centered district initially gave Bell an edge with 39.3 percent of votes to 35.8 percent for Heather Abbott, while third-place finisher Peter Fromuth had 25 percent. The redistribution process favored Bell, a retiree who worked in corporate finance. He finished with 53.2 percent of votes to 46.8 percent for Abbott.
In Senate District 11, which covers all of Waldo County, Glenn “Chip” Curry beat Robyn Stanicki with 56.8 percent of votes to win the Democratic nomination. The swing district is sure to be a battleground in November. Republican Duncan Milne, a retired Marine colonel from Liberty, is running for the seat to be vacated by Sen. Erin Herbig, a Democrat.
Here are the results of three other races decided Tuesday after ranked-choice allocations eliminated the third-place finisher:
— House District 49 (part of Brunswick): Poppy Arford wins with 57.3 percent to Katherine Wilson’s 42.7 percent
— House District 41 (part of Portland): Samuel Zager wins with 56.7 percent to Ben Grant’s 43.3 percent
— House District 90 (Bremen, Bristol, Damariscotta, Newcastle, Monhegan, Louds Island and parts of Nobleboro and South Bristol): Lydia Crafts wins with 60.2 percent to Wendy Pieh’s 39.9 percent.