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Former Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) will face off this fall against state auditor Matthew Dunlap (D) in the open race for what’s seen as a prime House pickup opportunity for the GOP in the midterms, according to Decision Desk HQ.
Rep. Jared Golden’s (D-Maine) decision not to seek reelection created an opening for the GOP in the Pine Tree State’s 2nd Congressional District, which went for President Trump in the last presidential cycle. Trump won the district’s one Electoral College vote, even as the rest of the state went blue.
Cook Political Report rates Golden’s seat as “likely Republican” this time around, and it could be a critical pickup for Republicans in their fight to maintain control of the House.
LePage, who was uncontested in the primary, picked up the GOP nod on Tuesday with the help of a Trump endorsement.
Dunlap won the state’s Democratic primary by a slim margin, beating state lawmaker Joe Baldacci, who was considered the more moderate candidate, by fewer than 5 percentage points.
The state auditor thanked his supporters in a social media post shared early Friday morning.
“Today’s results tell us that people want real change and a better future,” Dunlap wrote. “I thank the other Democratic candidates for mounting exceptional campaigns and raising important issues across the state.”
The Democratic contest was on track to be more complicated, with polling ahead of the primary signaling that Maine’s ranked-choice voting system would come into play.
In Maine’s primary system, if no candidate wins a majority of first-choice votes outright, the lowest-ranked candidates are eliminated as the race slips into additional rounds of tallying.
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