Despite yesterday’s vote, Maine’s election season is far from over. With neither candidate for Lewiston mayor winning 50 percent or more of the vote, incumbent Carl Sheline and former state representative Jon Connor will go head-to-head in a runoff election scheduled for December 12th. Full results from the 2023 election are listed below.
Statewide Ballot Measure Results
Central Maine Power (CMP) and Versant Power won a huge victory in yesterday’s referendum vote. By a large margin, Maine voters voted against forming Pine Tree Power — the consumer-owned utility company that would have ended CMP and Versant’s control over the state’s electric grid — and in favor of a referendum sponsored by CMP’s parent company. Independent auto repair shops also emerged as some of the referendum’s biggest winners. Following Massachusetts, Maine will become the second state in our union to recognize a car owner’s “right to repair.”
QUESTION 1: Do you want to bar some quasi-governmental entities and all consumer-owned electric utilities from taking on more than $1 billion in debt unless they get statewide voter approval?
Result: YES
QUESTION 2: Do you want to ban foreign governments and entities that they own, control or influence from making campaign contributions or financing communications for or against candidates or ballot questions?
Result: YES
QUESTION 3: Do you want to create a new power company governed by an elected board to acquire and operate existing for-profit electricity transmission and distribution facilities in Maine?
Result: NO
QUESTION 4: Do you want to require vehicle manufacturers to standardize on-board diagnostic systems and provide remote access to those systems and mechanical data to owners and independent repair facilities?
Result: YES
QUESTION 5: Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to change the time period for judicial review of the validity of written petitions from within 100 days from the date of filing to within 100 business days from the date of filing of a written petition in the office of the Secretary of State, with an exception for petitions filed within 30 calendar days before or after a general election?
Result: YES
QUESTION 6: Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to require that all of the provisions of the Constitution be included in the official printed copies of the Constitution prepared by the Secretary of State?
Result: YES
QUESTION 7: Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to remove a provision requiring a circulator of a citizen’s initiative or people’s veto petition to be a resident of Maine and a registered voter in Maine, requirements that have been ruled unconstitutional in federal court?
Result: NO
QUESTION 8: Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to remove a provision prohibiting a person under guardianship for reasons of mental illness from voting for Governor, Senators and Representatives, which the United States District Court for the District of Maine found violates the United States Constitution and federal law?
Result: NO
Local Races
Lewiston Mayor
Incumbent Mayor Carl Sheline received the most votes — 3,624, or 45% of those cast — but because none of the four candidates received a majority, he and Jon Connor will face off in a runoff election in December. Luke Jensen and Joshua Pietrowicz were eliminated after receiving 12% and 5% of the vote, respectively.
Lewiston City Council
There are some new faces on City Council. Three incumbent councilors — including the former body president — were voted out of office; in fact, the only incumbents not ousted by voters were those who ran unopposed. Former City Council President Rick LaChapelle (Ward 4), Robert McCarthy (Ward 2) and Lee Clement (Ward 6) were all prominent conservative voices on City Council, and all three were ousted from their positions on Tuesday night. During their tenure on this body, they struck down proposals for a homeless shelter, denounced Mayor Sheline’s ad-hoc committee on public safety for allegedly “pandering to anti-police activists” and were attacked for organizing private meetings on city council issues at a local bar. The majority of City Council members will be new to their positions, though not necessarily to local office.
Ward 1: Josh Nagine (Ran Unopposed)
Ward 2: Susan Longchamps
Ward 3: Scott Harriman (Ran Unopposed)
Ward 4: Michael Roy
Ward 5: Eryn Soule-Leclair
Ward 6: David Chittim
Ward 7: Tim Gallant (Ran Unopposed)
Lewiston School Committee
Megan Parks will serve her fifth term on the at-large school committee seat after defeating one challenger, Matthew D. Agren. In the individual ward races, only one incumbent was defeated: in Ward 7, Paul Beauparlant lost to Donna Gallant by only seven voters. More information on school committee results is provided below.
At-Large: Megan Parks
Ward 1: Jean Phoenix McLaughlin (Ran Unopposed)
Ward 2: Janet Beaudoin (Ran Unopposed)
Ward 3: Elizabeth Eames (Ran Unopposed)
Ward 4: Craig Charpentier
Ward 5: Ashley Medina (Ran Unopposed)
Ward 6: Meghan Hird (Ran Unopposed)
Ward 7: Donna Gallant
