Rick Long, a logger and legislator from Sherman, has narrowly won a Republican primary against Presque Isle farmer and city council member Emily Smith, and will face Democrat Michael Carpenter in the race for a northern Maine Senate seat in November.
In a district spanning northern Penobscot County through central Aroostook County, Long received 50.8 percent of the vote in the June 16 primary.
Official results were released by the Maine Secretary of State July 3.
Long, a logger who’s spent the last six years as a Republican state representative, won a majority of votes in southern Aroostook County towns like Island Falls, Patten and Houlton, while central Aroostook towns tended to favor Smith, a chairperson of the Presque Isle City Council and farmer.
Long is going on to face Democratic contender Michael Carpenter, a former attorney general from 1991-95 who runs a law practice in Houlton and a family-owned horse-drawn carriage business in Acadia National Park.
The winner of the race will succeed Republican Sen. Michael Willette, a Presque Isle real estate agent who was first elected to the State House in 2008 and won the Senate District 2 seat in 2014.
