Party leaders rush to find new candidates 26 Republicans, 9 Dems quit race

Leaders of Maine’s three political parties are busy working the telephones this week in an effort to replace 37 former State House hopefuls who have withdrawn their candidacies for the Legislature.

Monday marked the deadline for party candidates to drop out of the running, and based on the numbers, more Republicans had a change of heart than either Democrats or Greens.

According to the Secretary of State’s Office, 26 Republicans ended their candidacies compared to nine Democrats. Before the withdrawals, the GOP had fielded 186 candidates – one for every House and Senate district – and the Democrats had 185.

Also, the Maine Green Independent Party, which fielded only 12 legislative candidates, had two of those quit by Monday’s deadline.

The parties have until 5 p.m. July 24 to name replacement candidates to appear on the November ballot.

Spokesmen for the state’s major political parties said Tuesday that most of the withdrawals were due to competing personal commitments for the candidates, and predicted they would fill the resulting vacancies.

“If you look at the areas we’re talking about here, we’re not going to have any trouble,” said Maine Democratic Party spokesman Arden Manning.

Despite the higher number of GOP withdrawals, officials with that party expressed similar optimism.

“We’re already in the process,” said Ben Gilman, political director of the Maine Republican Party.

For instance, at a July 18 caucus, Somerset County Republicans plan to name state Sen. S. Peter Mills of Cornville to replace Maitland Richardson of Skowhegan, who stepped aside in the Senate District 26 race after Mills lost the GOP nomination for governor in June.

While most of the dropouts have never held public office, two incumbents also called it quits.

One, state Rep. Jeffrey Kaelin, R-Winterport, abandoned his bid for a third term last week amid public fallout from a June drunken driving charge.

The other, state Rep. Arthur Lerman, D-Augusta, stepped aside this week to focus on finding a new full-time job, he said.

Lerman, a member of the Legislature’s powerful Appropriations Committee, had been employed as the executive director of a social service agency, but in a Monday news release said his legislative duties had taken too much time away from that position.

Locally, Bangor Republicans will have to find replacements in two House races.

In House District 15, representing part of Bangor’s west side, Republican Gary George withdrew his candidacy against Rep. Jacqueline Norton, a Democrat seeking a fourth term.

On the other side of the city in House District 17, Republican Alfred J. Gagne ended his bid against Democratic Rep. Sean Faircloth, who has served three terms in the House and one in the Senate. The District 17 race also features one independent candidate, Michael Turcotte, a photographer and small business owner.

The number of candidate withdrawals was on par with past election cycles. In 2004, 40 candidates pulled out of the running after the June primaries. In 2002, 55 candidates called it quits.