Mills reelected as Moore, Perry, Davis and Granger win locally

Democratic Governor Janet Mills was reelected to a second term, decisively defeating former Republic Governor Paul LePage, and Congressman Jared Golden appeared to be headed to another victory over Bruce Poliquin in the November 8 midterm election in Maine. It's expected Golden will win once the ranked-choice voting outcome is decided on November 15.
In Washington County races, incumbent District Attorney Matthew Foster was defeated by Robert Granger, Rep. Anne Perry narrowly held onto her Maine House seat, newcomers Kenneth "Bucket" Davis and Tiffany Strout, both Republicans, were elected to the House, and State Senator Marianne Moore easily retained her seat.
The following results are based on unofficial and incomplete tallies.
With 91% of the precincts reporting, Mills held a commanding lead over LePage, receiving 56% of the vote to 42% for LePage. In a speech after the election, Governor Mills stated that her campaign was focused on "listening to the people of Maine, hearing your concerns, telling you the truth and delivering solutions, not vitriol." She said that voters "sent a clear message -- a message that says we will continue to move forward, and we will not go back; we will continue to fight problems and not one another."
With ranked-choice voting used in the federal election for the U.S. House of Representatives, Golden needed a majority of votes to be declared the winner immediately after the ballots were counted. He fell just short of that, garnering 48.8%, with 87% of the precincts reporting. Poliquin garnered 44.3% of the votes. However, independent candidate Tiffany Bond received 6.8% of first-choice votes, and most of those are expected to go to Golden for the second choice votes, once the ranked-choice tabulating is completed.
Matthew Foster, the embattled two-term district attorney for Hancock and Washington counties, was headed to defeat, receiving 48.3% of the vote to 51.7% for Robert Granger, with 88% of the precincts reporting. Granger, a longtime attorney from Blue Hill, ran as an independent. Just before the election it was revealed that Foster had been criminally investigated concerning allegations of sexual abuse of a child, which he has denied. Other voters had concerns that Washington County cases were not a priority for his office. Granger won in Eastport by a vote of 339 to 275 and Machias 363 to 332, while Calais voted for Foster 699 to 463.
For Washington County seats in the state legislature, the contest for the new House District 9 seat proved to be a nail-biter. Republican challenger John "Jake" Chambers of Calais was leading long-time state Democratic Rep. Anne Perry of Calais by just over 100 votes, with 90% of the precincts in the district reporting, when Eastport's results came in just before noon the day after the election, giving Perry a 222-vote margin over Chambers in the island city. With all of the towns reporting, Perry won by 108 votes, for a margin of 51.5% to 48.5%. Chambers and Perry were nearly tied in Calais, with Chambers receiving 633 votes to 602 for Perry. Eastport had not previously been in the Calais area district.
For the House District 10 seat, Republican Kenneth "Bucket" Davis of East Machias defeated independent candidate Melissa Hinerman of Machiasport by a margin of 62.3% to 37.7%, with 82% of the precincts reporting.
In House District 11, Republican Tiffany Strout of Harrington was the winner, receiving 69% of the vote and defeating Democratic candidate Roland "Skip" Rogers of Jonesport, who garnered 31%, with 82% of the towns reporting.
For the Maine Senate District 6 seat, incumbent Republican Marianne Moore was reelected, defeating Democratic challenger Jonathan Goble of Cherryfield by a margin of 67.% to 32.5%, with 84% of the precincts reporting.
While Democrats will continue to have majorities in both chambers of the state's legislature, Washington County will now be represented by three Republicans and only one Democrat.