AUGUSTA, Maine — Democrat Craig Hickman has won the special election to fill the Maine state Senate seat left vacant when Shenna Bellows became secretary of state.
Unofficial party figures showed Hickman, a farmer from Winthrop, won the Senate District 14 race with about 63% of the vote, defeating Republican William Guerrette, a small business owner from Pittston.
Senate District 14 includes Chelsea, Farmingdale, Gardiner, Hallowell, Manchester, Monmouth, Pittston, Randolph, Readfield, West Gardiner, and Winthrop.
"Representative Craig Hickman is a model Mainer, a force for good," said Jackson in a statement Tuesday night. "he stepped up for this district when no one else would, worked hard and honestly to talk with voters, and has won the trust of the public."
Hickman was sworn in Wednesday as the first Black man to serve in both chambers of the Legislature.
Maine Senate President Troy Jackson applauded Hickman's win.
The election did not go without controversy.
The Maine Ethics Commission met Monday morning to consider a complaint by two Gardiner residents about Guerrette's electronic signs.
The complaint alleges four electronic signs used by Guerrette of Pittston as part of his campaign for the Senate District 14 seat did not include information about who paid for them.
After deliberating for more than two hours, the Ethics Commission found a violation made by the candidate. The four signs in question did not say whether they were authorized by the candidate, nor who made them or financed them. The motion on whether or not a violation was made met a four to one vote, with Commissioner William Schneider as the single opposing vote.
The Ethics Commission did not find the violation met the threshold of receiving a penalty.
Control of the 35-member Senate didn’t hinge upon the outcome of the race. Going into the election, Democrats held 21 seats to 13 for the GOP.
