PORTLAND, Maine — Portland's mayoral race was decided Wednesday in a ranked-choice runoff after none of the five candidates received more than 50 percent of the vote in the initial count.
Mark Dion has been elected mayor. Five rounds of ranked-choice tabulations got him to just over 51% of the vote (10,750 votes).
Andrew Zarro finished second at 48.5% of the vote (10,107 votes).
In the first round of voting Tuesday night, Dion led with 8,832 votes, followed by Zarro with 5,897 votes (26%), Ali with 4,876 (21%), Costa with 1,757, and Pugh with 902 votes.
Dion told NEWS CENTER Maine the first issue he plans to tackle is homelessness. He has said he supports continuing to clear encampments, as Portland has attempted to do with its Encampment Crisis Response Team.
When asked about ways to bring people into shelter, Dion told NEWS CENTER Maine in October this: "Taking mentally ill into custody. You have to triage but on multiple levels at once."
Dion said the issue of asylum seekers is not for Portland to handle, asking the state for help.
"We can't continue as Portland, and I can't keep asking property taxpayers to assume a responsibility that was never a municipal one to begin with," Dion said.
After finding out he won as mayor, Councilor Dion spoke to reporters by saying Portlanders were ready for a change.
"I think the public wants to see decisive action from the council," Dion said.
Councilor Zarro, who placed second in the race, said much of the priorities he wanted to tackle as mayor are also priorities for Dion.
"Mark and I are friends ... we have grown very close and I will be there to help him ... I believe it is our responsibility whether we are elected or not and we have a significant amount of work to do," Zarro said.
Mayor-elect Dion will be sworn in as Portland's mayor on Dec. 4 at 6 p.m. at Portland City Hall.
More on Mark Dion
- Democrat, 68
- Portland councilor (2020-present)
- Former state senator (2016-2018)
- Former state representative (2010-2016)
- Failed candidate for governor (2018)
- Former Cumberland County sheriff (1998-2016)
- Lawyer
- Bachelor’s degree in criminology
- Law degree from the University of Maine
- Issues: safety, affordability
- Website: dionforportland.com