Hannah Pingree, the Democratic nominee for governor of Maine, has a wide lead over Bobby Charles, the Republican nominee, as the race to the general election begins after a crowded primary season, according to a New York Times/Portland Press Herald/Siena poll.
Ms. Pingree, a former speaker of the Maine House of Representatives, leads Mr. Charles, an attorney and lobbyist, by 13 percentage points among likely voters, according to the poll, the first publicly available look at the candidates’ general election prospects.
The race for the seat, which Gov. Janet T. Mills is forced to vacate because of term limits, will help decide whether Democrats continue to maintain unified control of Maine’s state government.
A majority of voters view Ms. Mills unfavorably, and just 15 percent of them rate the state’s economy as “excellent” or “good.” Yet with President Trump’s job approval at just 38 percent in Maine, a state that Kamala Harris won by nearly seven percentage points, the race is expected to be favorable to the Democratic candidate.
Ms. Pingree, 49, prevailed in a five-way primary after campaigning as a progressive who could bridge intraparty divides. She pointed out that she was the only candidate to receive support from both Graham Platner, the populist progressive Democratic nominee for Senate, and Ms. Mills, who challenged Mr. Platner in the Senate primary but was forced to suspend her campaign after falling behind in polling and fundraising.
The Pingree name has been a familiar one in Maine politics for more than three decades. Ms. Pingree’s mother, Chellie Pingree, has represented Maine’s First Congressional District covering the southern part of the state since 2009 and was active in state politics long before that, including a run for Senate.
Mr. Charles, 65, is new to electoral politics, though he served a stint in the State Department under President George W. Bush. His combative style and social media presence throughout the campaign have drawn comparisons to President Trump, and he topped a crowded Republican field that included a member of the Bush family.
Both candidates for governor won their primaries in ranked-choice runoffs after no one earned more than 50 percent of the vote. Ms. Pingree was one of three progressive candidates who cross-endorsed in an attempt to defeat the front-runner, Nirav Shah, who led in the first round of voting but lost out after voters’ second, third and fourth choices were taken into account.
Ms. Pingree’s lead in the governor’s race is substantially larger than that of Mr. Platner, who leads by two percentage points in the race to unseat Senator Susan Collins, the Republican incumbent. In addition to a wide lead among women, Ms. Pingree also leads among voters over the age of 65, an essential group in the nation’s oldest state. Mr. Platner currently trails among that demographic. Ms. Pingree is also doing better than Mr. Platner among voters without a college degree.
The race also features an independent candidate: Rick Bennett, a longtime state senator and former Republican who the poll found is receiving support from 8 percent of likely voters. Mr. Bennett left the Republican Party last year and has cast himself as a centrist alternative to both parties. He has been targeted by both candidates in recent weeks as a potential spoiler, though the poll found that he was taking a bit more support from Ms. Pingree: In a two-way contest with Mr. Charles, her margin widens slightly to 16 percentage points.
Maine is considered reliably Democratic in presidential elections but has a long history of supporting Republican or independent candidates for other statewide offices. Senator Angus King is one of two independents currently serving in the chamber, and an independent candidate came within two percentage points of winning the governor’s office in 2010. The winner that year was a Republican, Paul R. LePage, who went on to be re-elected to a second term before the seat turned over to Ms. Mills.
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