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AUGUSTA — A new poll shows a tight race for governor on the Democratic side and a significant lead by Republican Bobby Charles in the GOP primary as voters prepare to head to the polls Tuesday.
The SurveyUSA poll, conducted in partnership with the Bangor Daily News, gives Democrat Hannah Pingree a narrow lead in the primary for governor.
Pingree, a former House speaker, leads former Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Nirav Shah 52-48% after several rounds of ranked choice voting, the poll found.
Pingree and Shah are competing against former Senate President Troy Jackson, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and businessman Angus King III.
The results, which are based on a survey of 1,048 likely voters from May 28-June 3, carry a margin of error of 5.7 percentage points.
On the Republican side, Charles, a former federal official who runs a Washington DC lobbying firm, is predicted to reach the majority threshold after ranked choice voting counts are completed.
The poll shows him eventually hitting 51%, followed by Jonathan Bush at 31% and Ben Midgley at 19% after other candidates are eliminated in the ranked choice count.
In addition to Charles, Bush and Midgley, voters can choose Garrett Mason, David Jones, Owen McCarthy or Robert Wessels.
This is the first time ranked choice voting has been used in a governor’s race primary in Maine, adding a level of unpredictability.
“Ranked choice voting is delivering on its promise of more choice and more voice for Maine voters and can foster a more positive form of politics with cross-endorsements,” Meredith Sumpter, president and CEO of FairVote, said in a statement.
Those cross endorsements may play a big role in the Democratic primary, with Pingree, Jackson and Bellows urging their supporters to rank the three of them in a bid to topple Shah.
State election officials have said they anticipate no candidate in either party will pass the majority threshold on election night, which means full results likely won’t be available until the following week.
And looking forward, because of the Maine Constitution, ranked choice voting will not be used in the fall governor’s race.
The winners of the GOP and Democratic primaries will face independent Rick Bennett, a former Republican and current state senator, on Nov. 3.
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