Lawyer and former federal official Bobby Charles led the Republican gubernatorial primary on Tuesday as it went into a ranked-choice count, posting a strong showing for the frontrunner over six others hoping to retake the Blaine House.
Charles had the most first-round votes by a wide margin with 39.2% after riding a wave of grassroots support in an untraditional campaign driven in large part by social media, AI-generated content pushing a message similar to that of President Donald Trump and small meet-and-greets for more than a year.
His closest competitor was entrepreneur Jonathan Bush at 19.3%, while former fitness executive Ben Midgley received 19.1% of the top-choice votes, followed by former state Senate Majority Leader Garrett Mason at 10.8%, when the Bangor Daily News and Decision Desk HQ, its election results partner, determined the race was headed to a ranked-choice count at 10:36 p.m. Four other candidates split 11.6% of votes.
Charles headed into the primary with a lead in polls while spending just over $240,000 on advertising, a fraction of what his top rivals put on the air. Bush, Mason and their allies spent almost $8.5 million on ads alone while Midgley relied on operatives from the inner circle of former Gov. Paul LePage to carry his campaign to Election Day.
It was a divisive campaign, and Charles was at the center of that. He has faced allegations of ethics violations and brash negativity. Most of his opponents have sharply criticized his aggressive proposals on the state budget and slashing spending. Charles has brushed off those attacks and blasted Midgley, Mason and Bush as “never Trumpers.”
Bush attacked both Charles and Mason for their careers as lobbyists, while Midgley, Mason and Jones accused Charles of spreading falsehoods about their backgrounds or his own. While some candidates joined ranked-choice alliances, not one of Charles’ rivals said they would vote for him if he was the nominee during a debate in early May.
Several Republicans in Augusta and beyond have expressed concerns that the firebrand conservative hurts the GOP’s chances in a general election and — if one of the more progressive Democrats wins the nomination — it could open the door for an independent candidate such as state Sen. Rick Bennett, the only independent on the November ballot.
Charles has not wavered from revving up the Republican base, pushing a plan to prevent the “Islamification” of Maine in the final days of his race. He ran as a “crimefighter” and heavily focused on homelessness, addiction and associated problems in Lewiston and Bangor, vowing alongside the other Republicans to fight alleged fraud in the state’s Medicaid system.
His opponents jumped after the BDN reported in May that more than a dozen federal audits criticized the bureau Charles led at the U.S. State Department for roughly 18 months between 2003 and 2005, the Bangor Daily News reported in May. Auditors found poor management, billions spent without accountability and failure to accomplish primary foreign policy goals. Charles disputed the report and accused the BDN of cherry-picking audits.
His message broke through in a field mostly made up of political newcomers. At the polls in Presque Isle Caribou on Tuesday, 71-year-old Jason Barnes said he was considering four candidates and Charles “rose to the top.”
“I’m looking for some change. I’m kind of conservative and I’m concerned about spending in Maine,” he said.
BDN writer Paula Brewer contributed to this report.