Legislators lose primary races

Experience didn’t help candidates at the polls as newcomers win June 13

REGION — Whatever area Democrats are looking for in a legislator, it’s not legislative experience. The same was true for county commissioners last Tuesday, June 13, as all three locally contested primary races went to the candidate lacking the benefit of time logged under the State House done.

State Senate, District 7

(representing Cape Elizabeth, South Portland, southernmost Scarborough)

The race to replace Cynthia Dill, who last night become the Democratic Party nominee for U.S. Senate, pitted three-term state Rep. Bryan Kaenrath against Rebecca Millett, a former member of the Cape Elizabeth school board.

Although not yet termed out, Kaenrath was hoping to follow Dill’s trajectory by ascending to the upper house. Dill won a special election last May to replace state Sen. Larry Bliss, who left Maine for a job in California. She moved up from the House and served a half term before announcing her candidacy for national office.

Voters quashed Kaenrath’s ambitions, however, choosing Millett as their standardbearer with 71 percent of the vote.

Millett swamped Kaenrath in Cape Elizabeth, 737-214, and scored a solid victory in Scarborough, 154-80. More hurtful, she also beat Kaenrath in his home city, 211-151.

Millett will now face South Portland property manager and sometime developer Gary Crosby. An appointed member of South Portland’s board of appeals, Republican Crosby has yet to win elective office despite several previous runs at both the state Legislature and the City Council.

State Senate, District 6

(representing central and northern Scarborough, Gorham, and part of Westbrook)

With incumbent Democratic state Sen. Phil Bartlett termed out, the door was opened for Tim Driscoll, of Westbrook, who was similarly termed out after four consecutive terms in the House, to swap seats. Instead, political newcomer James Boyle, an environmental consultant from Gorham, won the day.

In his hometown, Boyle steamrolled Driscoll, 580-97, while also capturing Scarborough, 462-317. For his part, Driscoll scored a 286-64 margin on his own turf.

Boyle now goes into the November general election against Republican nominee Ruth Summers, wife of current Secretary of State Charles Summers. Last night, Charlie Summers won his party’s nod to face Dill, former Gov. Angus King and Libertarian Party candidate Andrew Ian Dodge for the right to replace Olympia Snowe in the U.S. Senate.

County Commissioner, District 4

(representing Cape Elizabeth, South Portland, Westbrook and part of Portland)

South Portland special education teacher Boyd Marley served four terms in the state Legislature, from 2000-2008, and more recently worked on the Jetport Terminal Expansion Committee. That experience was not enough, however, to ward off South Portland City Councilor Tom Coward, who won the primary contest with 54 percent of the vote

Marley eeked a narrow victory in Portland, 117-107, but lost to Coward in Cape Elizabeth (370-334), South Portland (633-588), and Westbrook (312-176).

With no Republican nominee in the primary race, Coward now appears fated to slide into the county commissioner role come November.

The state’s only other officially recognized political party, the Green Independents, did not field a single local candidate. However, there was a Green ballot, which, in South Portland, drew eight write-in votes for both state Senate and county commissioner, proving there are at least some in the city who still identify with the party.

No unenrolled, or, “independent,” candidates met the June 1 deadline to file for the local state senate or county commissioner races, although will be three-way races in House Districts 122 (easternmost part of South Portland) and 123 (central South Portland and westernmost Cape Elizabeth).

U.S. Senate

Voters in the coverage area of the Current – Scarborough, South Portland and Cape Elizabeth – were clearly aligned with their peers statewide in the selection of candidates for U.S. Senate.

Both easily captured all three municipalities. In the four-way race for the Democratic Party nomination, Dill won Scarborough with 57.9 percent of the vote, South Portland with 65.2, and her home, Cape Elizabeth, with 72.6 percent.

Summers led the six-way Republican Party contest by taking South Portland with 41.8 percent of the vote, Cape Elizabeth with 37.6 percent and his home, Scarborough, with 57.6 percent.

In Cape Elizabeth, the Democratic race broke down this way: Dill, 670 votes; former Secretary of State Matt Dunlap of Old Town, 129; state Rep. Jon Hinck of Portland, 102; and Portland businessman Ben Pollard, 22.

On the Republican side, it was Summers, 288; state Treasurer Bruce Poliquin of Georgetown, 166; Attorney General William Schneider of Durham, 138; former state Senate President Rick Bennett of Oxford, 136; state Rep. Debra Plowman of Hampden, 24; and conservative activist Scott D’Amboise of Lisbon, 13.

In South Portland, the Democrat order of finish was: Dill, 890; Dunlap, 229; Hinck 174; Pollard, 50; with a strong showing of 22 write-ins. The Republican tally was: Summers, 360; Poliquin, 140; Schneider, 136; Bennett, 113; D’Amboise, 73; and, Plowman, 38.

The Scarborough vote total for Democrats was: Dill, 470; Dunlap, 160; Hinck, 127; Pollard, 55. Republicans crossed the line, in order: Summers, 758; Poliquin, 174; Bennett, 150; Schneider, 139; D’Amboise, 53; and, Plowman, 41.