PORTLAND – Low pay is one popular explanation for why more than 50 state legislative candidates dropped out of their races after the June primary.

The number of uncontested races for House and Senate seats is unusually high this year; about 30 candidates drop out in a typical election year.

Democrats will not run a candidate for seven House seats and three Senate seats, while Republicans will not contest 18 seats in the House, according to Secretary of State Dan Gwadosky. The parties had until 5 p.m. Monday to file replacement candidates with the Secretary of State’s Office.

Some former candidates say that the $18,000 stipend for a two-year term caused them to drop out.

Rep. Stephen Estes, D-Kittery, withdrew from the House District 1 race primarily for personal and financial reasons.

He fears that unless legislative salaries are increased, as was unsuccessfully proposed last session, only people who are retired, independently wealthy or supported by a spouse will be able to hold office.

“They just have not kept up with the cost of living,” Estes said. “If you look at the situation this year, where there are so many uncontested races, and so many people who decided to pull out after the June primary, that’s kind of a wake-up call to look and see whether the legislative salary is compensating fairly.”

Dwayne Bickford, executive director of the Maine Republican Party, was among the candidates who dropped out of a House race. He said personal and professional commitments would prevent him from devoting several months a year to the Legislature.

“That’s also what I’ve heard from other candidates. It is a real time commitment, and that has precluded some people from serving or even running,” Bickford said.

Rich Pelletier, the House caucus director for the Maine Democratic Party, says candidates who have never run or served in a state office may have realized after filing that they could not afford to live off a legislative salary.

Legislators work five to six months in Augusta during the first session of each term and three to four months during the second session. Their base salary is split over the two years, and they receive per-day allowances for food, housing or mileage, and $1,500 for constituent work.

“I think the average legislative salary of $9,000 a year is low, and it hasn’t risen in many, many years. That makes it very, very challenging to find people who are in a position to take six months off for such little pay,” Pelletier said.

But others, such as Democratic Rep. Ronald Usher of Westbrook, say that significantly increasing the salaries of legislators runs the risk of creating a full-time Legislature.

“If you raise it too much, you’re going to have professional people in here, and they’re not going to be working anywhere else,” he said.

Officials with both parties say the size of the legislative salary is only one factor in the record number of withdrawals this year. The number of candidates recruited to run for office also played a role, they say.