The Republican primary for governor in Maine will be decided by a runoff under the state’s ranked-choice voting system, The Associated Press said on Tuesday.
Bobby Charles, who served in the State Department under former President George W. Bush, has a sizable lead over the rest of the field early Wednesday, but remained well short of the 50 percent needed to win outright. Jonathan Bush, a cousin of the same President Bush, and Benjamin Midgley, a businessman and former president of Planet Fitness, were splitting much of the remaining vote, although several other candidates are also in the race.
Maine is one of only two states to use ranked-choice voting. The system involves successive rounds of counting, eliminating last-place candidates and awarding their votes to a voter’s next choice instead, until one candidate receives more than 50 percent. Election officials will confirm the winner in the next week or two.
The Democratic primary for governor is also headed to a ranked-choice runoff.
Mr. Charles, a conservative in the mold of President Trump, campaigned on pledges to stop illegal drugs from coming into Maine and aggressively cut taxes and state spending. Last month, he released a plan to “prevent the Islamification of Maine.”
He addressed voters with a blunt-spoken style, frequently mentioning his Christian faith, and has vowed that if elected, he will hire an independent prosecutor to investigate the administration of Gov. Janet Mills, a term-limited Democrat whom he has accused of fraud and corruption.
Mr. Charles was consistently the front-runner in a crowded field that, in addition to Mr. Bush and Mr. Midgley, includes Owen McCarthy, a health care entrepreneur and son of a logger from rural northern Maine; Garrett Mason, a former State Senate majority leader; David Jones, a real estate broker, and Robert Wessels, a small business owner.
In Maine, a politically divided state that trends more liberal in its more populous south and more conservative in its rural north, Republicans have gained some ground in recent years. In 2024, President Trump won the Second Congressional District, which encompasses most of the state.
Still, Democrats have held a trifecta in state government since Ms. Mills was first elected in 2019.
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