Riding a wave of voter disenchantment with elected officials, LePage has led the field in poll numbers since his surprise primary win in June, while Mitchell worked to shore up her Democratic base. Cutler edged up in the polling numbers while seeking to parlay voters’ weariness with partisan politics to his gain.
Two other independents, Shawn Moody and Kevin Scott, filled out the list of contestants to succeed two-term Democratic Governor John Baldacci.
The Maine gubernatorial election was one of several key races in northern New England:
■ Democratic Representatives Mike Michaud and Chellie Pingree of Maine both won reelection, turning back challenges by their Republican opponents in an election in which voters were angry and members of the Tea Party movement were raising their voices in Maine and across the nation. In the First District, Pingree beat Republican Dean Scontras of Eliot, who sought to portray her as Maine’s version of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Michaud turned back a challenge by Republican Jason Levesque, an Auburn businessman who described Michaud as out of touch with conservative voters in the Second District.
■The US Senate’s second-longest-serving member is headed back to Washington. Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont easily won reelection to a seventh term yesterday, defeating GOP challenger Len Britton and five others. Leahy, a Democrat and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he was honored to have been reelected and believes his refusal to use attack ads against his opponents played a part in his victory.
Leahy, 70, who was first elected in 1974, has earned a reputation as a liberal stalwart on issues such as government secrecy, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq , and US Supreme Court nominations.
He amassed more than $4 million in contributions for his campaign and barely broke a sweat fending off political newcomers Britton and independent Daniel Freilich.
Leahy said yesterday that he knew he would win, based on the reactions he got from voters as he campaigned around the state with his wife, Marcelle.
