Whitefield Democrat Christopher Hamilton and Chelsea Republican Michael Lemelin will face off in Maine House District 88 after winning their primaries Tuesday, July 14, while the results of a Democratic primary in Maine House District 90 remain uncertain.
Hamilton, a farmer, defeated Jefferson businessman Wayne Farrin 663-311, according to unofficial results from town clerks.
“I congratulate Chris Hamilton for a nice clean campaign,” Farrin said in an email Wednesday morning. “With the limits put upon us, he worked longer and harder to get his message out. He will be a fantastic candidate for the Democratic Party in November.”
Lemelin, a businessman, defeated Whitefield counselor Elizabeth Doyle 357-334 on the strength of a 157-30 advantage in his hometown.
State Rep. Chloe Maxmin, D-Nobleboro, currently holds the seat. A freshman legislator, Maxmin is running for Maine Senate District 13. She defeated Lemelin to win her House seat in 2018.
House District 88 includes Chelsea, Jefferson, part of Nobleboro, and Whitefield.
In House District 90’s Democratic primary, Newcastle social worker Lydia Crafts has a lead, with 677 votes to 605 for Bremen farmer Wendy Pieh and 197 for Newcastle attorney David Levesque.
The results are not complete, however. Newcastle did not report results due to a problem with its vote-tabulation machine, and Monhegan did not report results by press time.
If no candidate garners 50% of the vote – Crafts currently has 45.77% – ranked-choice voting will determine the outcome.
House District 90 includes Bremen, Bristol, Damariscotta, Monhegan, Newcastle, part of Nobleboro, and part of South Bristol.
The Democratic and Republican primaries in House District 88 and the Democratic primary in House District 90 were the only contested legislative primaries in the county.
For town-by-town results from all primaries, see the charts on Page 5.
Elsewhere on the ballot, Lincoln County Democrats, like their counterparts across the state, backed Maine Speaker of the House Sara Gideon in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.
With 75.8% of the results in, Gideon had collected 71.7% of the vote to 22.7% for Betsy Sweet and 5.6% for Bre Kidman, according to the Bangor Daily News.
Lincoln County voters of all affiliations supported two bond issues: $15 million for high-speed internet infrastructure and $105 million for transportation infrastructure.
Those bond issues were on their way to passage with 74.7% and 78.2% of the vote as of Wednesday morning, according to the BDN.
