Lewiston City Councilor Scott Harriman held a seat for Democrats in the Maine House of Representatives in Tuesday’s special election.
Harriman got 53.2% of votes to 46.8% for school board member Janet Beaudoin, the Republican nominee for the seat vacated last year by former Rep. Kristen Cloutier, D-Lewiston. The winner benefited from nearly $25,000 in outside spending from his party that went unanswered by Republicans who instead ran a loud media campaign in the city.
Tuesday’s election is in keeping with several Democratic special election victories across the country in a midterm year for President Donald Trump. Despite Harriman’s win, he underperformed Cloutier’s 19-point 2024 victory in a deep-blue district against a Republican who was seen as a uniquely good candidate.
Harriman was one of two councilors censured in October for using the encrypted Signal app to communicate with a detective in violation of public records laws. Beaudoin also criticized him for voting against an initial investigation into former Councilor Iman Osman, who resigned in January following a theft indictment and separate questions about his residency.
The conservative Maine Wire focused heavily on the race, which came on the heels of last month’s federal immigration enforcement surge into Maine and welfare fraud allegations at immigrant health care providers including Gateway Community Services, which is based in Portland but has a large presence in Lewiston’s Somali community.
Beaudoin was joined at the polls on Tuesday by former Gov. Paul LePage, who is running for the 2nd Congressional District. Republican gubernatorial candidates supported her, and many lawmakers gave to her. But the party spent no money to fight back against the aggressive Democratic outside spending, seeing little to no path to victory in such a blue district.
The victory returns the Democratic edge in the House to a 75-72 advantage over Republicans with three liberal-leaning independents providing a cushion. Another seat is vacant following the January death of Rep. Kathy Javner, R-Chester, who is likely to be succeeded by a Republican in a June special election.