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Casey Hanson and Robert Grant Sr. have been elected to the Ellsworth City Council, according to the city’s unofficial results.
The pair beat Nancy Smith and Tiffany Dilda Gaspar in Tuesday’s election. Hanson received the most votes with 1,899 votes and Grant got 1,804 votes. Gaspar secured 1,794 votes while Smith received the fewest votes with 1,698.
Council chair Patrick Lyons did not seek re-election.
Smith, a retired nonprofit CEO and former state legislator, and Hanson, a family physician who served one term on the council beginning in 2021, ran on similar platforms, highlighting their previous experience in city government.
Hanson, who has served as the chair of the city’s Arbor Commission since 2024, said she would like to work with city staff to meet the goals set out in Ellsworth’s comprehensive plan. She emphasized the need to support the city’s small businesses and local entrepreneurs by providing access to workforce housing and childcare.
Hanson would also like to address traffic congestion and the city’s walkability, she previously said.
Grant has focused his campaign on fiscal responsibility, noting that tax bills have skyrocketed over the past several years. He plans on prioritizing what he described as the city’s crumbling infrastructure.
Grant said he decided to run for the office because he was unhappy with the city’s involvement in the decision to relocate the Hancock County courthouse to High Street, rather than Surry Road. The new location requires the city to fund and build an access road, which will cost roughly $1.6 million, connecting High Street to the courthouse site. The $55 million courthouse is expected to be open by 2028.
Neither Grant nor Gaspar have ever held public office, though Gaspar ran for the Ellsworth School Board as a write-in candidate in 2022, she said.