Democratic nominee Brian Thomas has a more than 3,000-vote lead on Republican and controversial former District Attorney Matthew Foster for Hancock County’s probate judge seat.
As of 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Thomas had 16,822 votes and Foster had 13,619 votes with 34 of 37 municipalities having reported unofficial results.
“I’m certainly encouraged, and I think it’s likely that it’ll hold based on what hasn’t been counted yet,” Thomas told the Bangor Daily News Wednesday morning. “I’m honored that people have given me the chance to serve as the probate judge.”
The candidates are vying to fill a seat that’s been largely in limbo since April 2025, when current Probate Judge William B. Blaisdell was suspended from practicing law after facing multiple contempt orders over overdue child support payments to his ex-wife.
The county’s probate judge handles cases often involving sensitive familial matters like estates, guardianships and name changes. Since Blaisdell’s suspension, those cases have been overseen by probate judges from nearby counties.
Thomas, a Lamoine land trust lawyer and former archaeologist, won the Democratic nomination as a write-in candidate after learning no one was challenging Foster.
The Republican nominee and former local district attorney lost reelection in 2022 after he was caught lying in a candidates forum about whether he ever had been investigated by the state attorney general’s office.
Foster was investigated by state officials in 2017 and 2018, while he was the top prosecutor in Hancock and Washington counties, for allegedly inappropriately touching a 13-year-old child who was living with him at the time. He has denied the allegations and was never charged with a crime.
Foster also came under scrutiny in 2020 after he was accused of posting a racist meme on Facebook that mocked looters during protests over the death of George Floyd, according to the Ellsworth American. He later denied having posted the memes, saying his account may have been hacked.
Foster runs Downeast Legal Services on State Street in Ellsworth.