2 Waldo County incumbents unseated

BELFAST – A couple of incumbents were ousted from the state House of Representatives, and a popular two-term state senator was returned to office by a comfortable margin when Waldo County voters went to the polls Tuesday.

Three-term incumbent House District 43 representative Walter Ash from Belfast went down to a narrow defeat against challenger Jane Crosby Giles.

The Democrat Ash carried the pair’s hometown of Belfast, but Republican candidate Crosby Giles came out on top in Belmont and Northport to win a narrow 22-vote victory. Crosby Giles’ margin of victory was so narrow that Ash indicated Wednesday he intended to call for a recount.

When Ash and Crosby Giles squared off for the seat two years ago, Crosby Giles emerged as the winner on election night by 13 votes. When the ballots were recounted, Ash ended up winning by five votes.

In another upset, Democratic challenger Lance Weddell of Frankfort defeated first-term Republican House District 41 representative R.K. Lindell, also of Frankfort. Weddell topped Lindell by a 288-vote margin in winning five of the district’s six towns.

The outcome was less clear in an open race to fill the seat given up by unsuccessful independent gubernatorial candidate Barbara Merrill of Appleton.

In the race for House District 44, Republican Robert Walker of Lincolnville was holding a slim lead of 10 votes over Democrat Peter Misluk of Searsmont. Walker was leading Misluk by a vote of 2,075 to 2,085.

That result is uncertain, however, because the town of Hope in Knox County apparently failed to record the results of 50 ballots.

The ballots were placed in a locked box on election night and Town Clerk Florence Merrifield was awaiting word from the secretary of state as to how to proceed. Given the problems with the count and the close nature of the results, the race could be headed for a recount.

In the race to replace Rep. Jeff Kaelin, R-Winterport, who stepped down in House District 42, his party’s replacement, Michael Thibodeau, won a 90-vote victory over Democrat Donna Gilbert. Both Thibodeau and Gilbert are from Winterport, and their hometown proved to be the deciding factor in the race as Thibodeau polled 938 votes to Gilbert’s 739 votes.

Two-term incumbent John Piotti, D-Unity, was easily re-elected in House District 45 over his Republican challenger, Ryan Harmon of Palermo. In winning all but Harmon’s hometown of Palermo, Piotti attracted 2,232 votes to Harmon’s 1,322 in the eight-town district.

Two-term incumbent Sen. Carol Weston, R-Montville, the house assistant minority leader, easily won re-election to Senate District 23 over her Democratic challenger Gail Chase of Unity. Weston carried all but a handful of the 26 Waldo County communities in the district, including coming to within one vote of beating Chase in her hometown. Unity voters favored Chase over Weston by a vote of 359-358. Overall, Weston polled 55 percent of the county vote to Chase’s 45 percent.

In a rerun of the House District 43 race two years ago where Ash prevailed by five votes after a recount, Crosby Giles polled 2,065 votes to Ash’s 2,043. Ash carried Belfast with a vote of 1,535 to 1,433. Crosby Giles won Belmont by a vote of 223 top 154 and took Northport by a vote of 409 to 354.

In the Weddell-Lindell race, Weddell bested Lindell by a vote of 1,525 to 1,237. Lindell managed to top the ticket in the two candidates’ home base of Frankfort by a vote of 202 to 190, but came up short in the district’s other five towns, which Weddell carried comfortably.