Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows confirmed Thursday that Paul LePage won the 2nd Congressional District. LePage received 50.81% of the final vote and Democrat Matt Dunlap received 49.18%, according to WABI.
The seat was open after Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat, decided against seeking a fifth term, POLITICO reported. Dunlap conceded on November 5 while the ranked-choice count was still pending; Maine Public reported that he expected the process would not change the outcome.
Why the count continued
LePage was 362 votes short of a first-round majority, though he led Dunlap by more than 5,000 votes. The Press Herald reported those figures. Maine law requires the ranked-choice process to continue when no candidate receives a majority, regardless of a concession, according to Title 21-A, §723-A.
Under the system, ballots count for the highest-ranked candidate still in the running; a ballot is exhausted when it has no remaining candidate to count for. The statute sets out the process. The Press Herald reported that the Secretary of State’s office spent three days checking ballots and livestreamed the work. It also reported that ballots without LePage, Dunlap or the declared write-in candidate as the first choice could count toward a second choice, or be excluded if left blank.
The district and its incoming representative
Golden won the district’s three previous ranked-choice tabulations, and Donald Trump carried the district in each of his three presidential runs, Maine Public reported. The district’s 2024 race between Golden and Austin Theriault also went to a ranked-choice count after 3% of voters did not select either candidate, according to the Press Herald.
LePage served two terms as Maine governor before leaving office in 2019, when term limits prevented him from seeking another term, The New York Times reported. During the campaign, he separated himself from the Trump administration’s tariffs on Canada and its immigration policies, the Times reported. On November 10, LePage told Maine Public that reversing tariffs on Canadian goods, particularly wood products, would be a priority after he takes office.
