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Battle Begins in Maine for Open State Senate Seat (District 19)
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| Contributor | Scott³ |
| Last Edited | Scott³ Jul 28, 2013 08:14am |
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| Category | News |
| Author | A.J. Higgins |
| News Date | Wednesday, July 24, 2013 02:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | "Democratic and Republican leaders are gearing up for a showdown in Sagadahoc County, where a three-way race is underway to fill an open state Senate seat. Former Democratic state Sen. Seth Goodall, of Richmond, resigned this month to accept a position with the Small Business Administration, and a special election has been scheduled for Aug. 27. Republicans are eager to improve their minority numbers in the Senate, but special elections tend to favor Democrats who have an aggressive get-out-the vote record. A.J. Higgins reports.
Encompassing all of Sagadahoc County, and one community in Lincoln County, Senate District 19 has a reputation for sending moderates to the Legislature. In fact, one former state senator from the region started off as a Republican and then changed parties to become a Democrat.
Later, former State Sen. Seth Goodall narrowly defeated incumbent Republican state Sen. Paula Benoit to win the district in 2008. Now that Goodall has resigned to take a job with the SBA, Benoit has re-emerged to run for the open seat. Incoming state GOP Chair Rick Bennett says the stakes are high for his party to try to increase its 15-seat minority in the Maine Senate.
"I do think that this is a Democratic seat, and it's the Democrat's to lose," Bennett says. "This will be competitive. There's a lot of energy on the Republican side. We will compete there actively."
Among Democrats, state Chair Ben Grant says there's a different perspective: The seat has, more often than not, been claimed by a Republican. Still, Grant acknowledges that Sagadahoc County voted for President Barack Obama in recent elections and its entire House delegation is currently Democratic." |
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