A school board member flipped a Maine Senate seat by 50 votes on Tuesday. Two years ago, the Republican won it by 29 points.
Elizabeth Bosworth, a Fryeburg Democrat and former teacher, beat former Rep. John Andrews, R-Paris, in a western Maine district that runs from Oxford County into parts of Cumberland and Androscoggin counties. It voted for President Donald Trump by about 9 points in 2024.
Her win was the most dramatic of four Democratic pickups in and around Oxford County, where the party also flipped three state House seats. All four ranked among the most expensive legislative races in Maine, though Republican groups largely left the Senate race alone.
The gains helped Democrats expand their majorities in both chambers of the Legislature on a night of wins nationwide, including Troy Jackson’s ouster of U.S. Sen. Susan Collins. They also give Maine Conservation Voters, which ran its first-ever field program in these districts, new allies heading into a session where it plans to push for limits on large data centers.
The margin between Bosworth and Andrews is close enough for him to request a state-funded recount. He could not be reached for comment, and Bosworth said she hasn’t heard from him since the results came in. She was in Augusta on Friday to vote for caucus leaders.
“I knew we had a big ski hill to climb, but it’s slowly sinking in and I just can’t wait to get to work,” she said.
The race ranked seventh in outside spending among Maine’s 35 Senate districts, according to campaign finance data compiled by the Bangor Daily News. But Democratic-aligned groups accounted for nearly all of the outside money. Republican groups spent less than $4,000, and Bosworth’s publicly funded campaign outspent his privately funded one by more than 4 to 1.
Republican groups spent more heavily on three House races in the area but lost all three. In Fryeburg and four neighboring towns, Chris Lewey, a naturalist who runs wildlife tours, beat former Rep. Caleb Ness by 140 votes. Chris Easton, a retired teacher, carpenter and farmer from Norway, unseated first-term Rep. Peter Wood.
“I’m sorry to have let everyone down,” Wood wrote in a Wednesday concession post. “I felt like we worked hard and did everything we could to win but the end result was not meant to be.”
In the Bridgton-area District 83, Democrat Tim Becker, a tax attorney originally from Boston, unseated first-term Rep. Marygrace Cimino. Easton and Becker each won by fewer than 300 votes in districts that were already close. Wood and Cimino won in 2024 by fewer than 70 votes apiece, and Trump carried both districts by about a point.
The political arm of Maine Conservation Voters spent about $42,000 in the four districts Democrats flipped, part of more than $280,000 it spent on legislative races statewide.
Its paid organizers and volunteers knocked on more than 4,000 doors in swing districts from Durham to Fryeburg, according to a memo from the group. Its ads hit candidates who opposed bills this year to temporarily ban new data centers and end a corporate tax break for them.
“Thanks to our efforts, voters will be aware that data center regulations are on the ballot,” Rani Sheaffer, the group’s deputy director, said in the memo.
The progressive Maine People’s Alliance helped recruit Easton, and its political arm spent in his race and Bosworth’s. Mike Newsom, a western Maine organizer for the group, canvassed with Easton and said he built trust with voters quickly.
Newsom said he wasn’t sure how much of the wins could be credited to the national wave, since the area has been represented largely by Republicans for a generation.
“Something’s different,” he said. “The only thing that I can tell is different … is the grassroots work.”
But wave elections always often have a way of bouncing back. With conservative constituencies back home, the new Democrats may have a hard time holding their seats in 2028. That is already on Bosworth’s mind, even though she hasn’t even taken office yet.
“People are probably ready for a little bit of a change, but I also know that it’s not just strictly Democrats out there, and that we really need to show up for our entire community,” Bosworth said. “I mean, I didn’t win by much.”
Daniel O’Connor is a Report for America corps member who covers rural government as part of the partnership between the Bangor Daily News and The Maine Monitor, with additional support from BDN and Monitor readers.