BANGOR – Late returns in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate showed Jean Hay Bright of Dixmont edging out her opponent for the party’s nomination to challenge Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe in November.

With 99 percent of precincts reporting by Wednesday afternoon, Hay Bright held a 1.4 percent – or 600-vote – lead over Orono attorney Eric Mehnert, according to unofficial results compiled by the Bangor Daily News.

With just a few, sparsely populated northern Maine towns yet to report by Wednesday evening, it became increasingly unlikely for Mehnert to close the gap.

“I’m grateful to all those Maine Democrats who voted in the primary,” Hay Bright said, “and to our hundreds of volunteers and supporters who made this victory possible. Now we move beyond the primary and begin the task of unseating Olympia Snowe and increasing the Democratic margin in the United States Senate.”

Mehnert, a civil rights attorney, conceded the race with a phone call to Hay Bright at about 8:45 p.m.

“Jean Hay Bright has traveled many of the same roads as I have, running a

solid campaign based on her values and beliefs,” Mehnert later said in a prepared statement. “I admire her courage for standing up for those beliefs and look forward to supporting her as the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate.”

Hay Bright’s campaign had prepared for a recount, considering the slim margin of victory.

But the race, while close, wasn’t close enough – within 1 percent – for the Secretary of State’s Office to presume there would be a review and automatically collect the ballots, as it is required to do under state law.

But it was close enough -within 2 percent – that Mehnert could have requested a recount at no cost to his campaign.

He declined to do so.

“We have concluded that no further purpose could be served in seeking a recount,” he said.

According to the unofficial results, Hay Bright won in 12 of the 16 Maine counties, with her most convincing wins coming along the midcoast.

Mehnert’s largest margin of victory came in Penobscot County, where he took 59 percent of the vote. He also won in Cumberland County.

Neither Hay Bright, a writer and organic farmer, nor Mehnert has held elective office.

Hay Bright, 58, finished next-to-last in crowded primary races for the 2nd District congressional seat in 1994 and for the U.S. Senate two years later.

Mehnert, 45, who practices law with his wife in Bangor, was once chief of enforcement for the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.

On the GOP side, Snowe comes into this year undefeated in two Senate races, eight bids for Congress and three runs for the state Legislature. She is considered a heavy favorite in the fall campaign.

Snowe, unopposed for the Republican Senate nomination as she seeks a third term, announced Wednesday some additions to her campaign staff and the opening of a new campaign office in Bangor.

“We have been steadily building a grass-roots network of campaign leaders throughout the state, and we are looking forward to a busy summer and fall with an energetic network of staff and volunteers,” Snowe campaign Chairman Ted O’Meara said in a statement.

The November Senate race will also include one independent candidate, William Slavick, a peace activist and retired professor from Portland.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY JOHN CLARKE RUSS

Eric Mehnert (left), a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, walks with his wife, Cindy Mehnert, and their year-old yellow Labrador retriever, Eli Atticus, on a trail in Dwight B. Demeritt Forest in Orono on Wednesday afternoon. Behind them, campaign communications director Diane Russell takes calls on her cell phone.