Maine 2012 Election Results

Maine held its general election on November 6, 2012, deciding 186 legislative seats. Control shifted: the Senate moved from a 19-15 Republican majority to a 19-15 Democratic majority; the House moved from a 77-72 Republican majority to a 89-58 Democratic majority.

Highlights

• The flip came two years after Republicans had won the Legislature for the first time since 1974, and it left Gov. Paul LePage (R), who was not on the ballot, to govern with a Democratic Legislature.
• Democrats nominated Rep. Mark Eves (D) for speaker and chose Sen. Justin Alfond (D) as Senate president, leaders picked partly for their willingness to take on LePage. They took charge of an 89-58-4 House, with four members unenrolled (Maine's term for independents), and a 19-15-1 Senate with one independent.
• The best-known incumbent to lose was a Democrat. Rep. John Martin (D) of Eagle Lake lost House District 1 to Allen Nadeau (R) by fewer than 300 votes. Martin, in the Legislature since 1964 and speaker for 19 years, blamed heavy spending on negative ads. In District 5, Rep. Michael Willette (R), who switched to the GOP after winning in 2010 as a Democrat, lost to Robert J. Saucier (D).
• The races ran on the old district lines because the post-census legislative plan was not passed until 2013. In all, 42 seats changed party and 15 incumbents lost, all of them Republicans except Martin. Among the results:
  • Sen. Christopher W. Rector (R) lost Senate District 22 to Edward J. Mazurek (D), and Sen. Nichi S. Farnham (R) lost District 32 to Geoffrey Gratwick (D).
  • R. Wayne Werts (D) unseated Rep. Bruce Bickford (R) in House District 70 by four votes after a recount.
  • Rep. Melvin Newendyke (R) kept House District 80 by four votes, and Sen. Garrett Mason (R) held Senate District 17 by 28 votes.
• Voters passed 4 of 5 ballot questions. Question 1 made Maine the first state to approve same-sex marriage by referendum, three years after voters repealed a same-sex marriage law. Bonds for wildlife and water access (Question 3), transportation (Question 4), and water and sewer projects (Question 5) passed, while the community college bond (Question 2) narrowly failed.

Legislature

• House (151 seats): 72 D, 78 R, 1 other or vacant before the election, 89 D, 58 R, 4 other or vacant after; control moved from Republicans to Democrats.
• Senate (35 seats): 15 D, 19 R, 1 other or vacant before the election, 19 D, 15 R, 1 other or vacant after; control moved from Republicans to Democrats.

Legislative races

Ballot measures