BANGOR, Maine — Democrats looked poised to storm back into control of the State House for the first time since 2009 after Tuesday’s election by flipping the Maine Senate blue and expanding their margin in the House of Representatives to back Attorney General Janet Mills, the state’s governor-elect.
It’s a mirror image of what the parties faced eight years ago, when Gov. Paul LePage and Republicans ousted Democrats from power. It could set off a course change. Mills has vowed to implement voter-approved Medicaid expansion, which is stuck in a months-long court battle.
Senate Democrats claimed victory in at least 19 of the state’s 35 districts on Tuesday night, erasing Republicans’ current one-seat edge. Robert Caverly, the chief of staff for Senate President Mike Thibodeau, R-Winterport, conceded the Senate majority Tuesday.
Democrats also said they won at least 80 of Maine’s 151 House districts after only holding a three-seat plurality over Republicans in the lower chamber. A consultant for House Republicans didn’t confirm that call.
To read the rest of “Democrats surge to solid control of Maine Legislature,” an article by contributing Bangor Daily News staff writer Michael Shepherd, please follow this link to the BDN online.
