Recounts decide two House races> Tuesday’s final results show Democrats with 89-61 majority

AUGUSTA – The last of 10 recounts on Tuesday affirmed the victory of Democrat Marc Michaud in House District 151 by 155 votes and for Republican Thomas Shields in House District 72 by 128 votes.

The recounts mean that Democrats will retain a sizable margin in the House of Representatives. There will be 89 Democrats, 61 Republicans and one independent, with one district to be decided. Losing candidate Laura J Sanborn of Alton has refused to sign the recount verdict in House 137 and has asked that the House decide the race. The recount showed that Republican Anita P. Haskell of Milford won by 25 votes.

House 151, with a Democrat enrollment of about 70 percent, was supposed to be an easy win for Michaud since it was the exclusive territory of John Martin for decades.

It didn’t work out that way.

Republican Troy D. Jackson of Allagash was one of the woods workers who blocked roads last year in response to poor wages paid to American workers. He is also a student at the University of Maine at Fort Kent.

“He had the loggers and he had the students,” said Michaud to explain the close race.

The retired teacher said he always had it in the back of his mind to run for the State House. He served on the Fort Kent Council for 15 years, 12 as chairman. He also served an unexpired term on the SAD 27 school board. Once Martin announced his move to the Senate last year, Michaud jumped at the chance for the vacant House seat, representing the biggest district in the state.

Michaud said he worked hard and did well in Fort Kent, but Jackson had surprising strength in the outlying areas. “People in the towns have told me that they wanted one of their own. There was the perception that he would be a better spokesman for the loggers. I look forward to changing that perception,” Michaud said.

He also looks forward to eliminating the fingerprinting of school teachers, which he called “a slap in the face” of all state teachers. His first choice is to serve in the Legislative Appropriations Committee. “They tell me that is tough for a freshman, but I will stick to my guns,” he said. His second choice is the Education Committee.

Losing candidate Jackson said he was proud of his effort, handing out 5,000 brochures and visiting 90 percent of the houses in the sprawling district. He will graduate in a month and try to find work outside the Maine woods. “There is no future in the woods. Our area is losing people every year. The area is dying. There is plenty of money in the woods, but it isn’t going to the workers and no one is trying to help us,” he said.

Jackson said he ran as a voice of the loggers, not of the Republican Party. “This wasn’t about a party. I have nothing against either party,” he said.

He thought he had it won on election night when he was up by about 350 votes. Then the Fort Kent vote came in and erased his lead.

Michaud could not sit around and wait for the vote totals. Instead he jumped in his truck when the polls closed and drove about 600 miles around the district to pick up his political signs. It wasn’t until he returned at 4 a.m. that he learned that he had won the race.

The recount was far more nerve-wracking, Michaud said.