AUGUSTA — While Maine’s general election is over for 2016, those recently elected to the next Legislature will now have to cast some votes of their own when they decide who will serve as the state’s attorney general, secretary of state and treasurer for the next two years.
Maine, unlike most states, allows the Legislature to elect those so-called “constitutional officers” during a joint convention of the Maine House of Representatives and the Maine Senate. That meeting will take place in December. The winning candidates must garner majority support from the state’s 186 lawmakers – 151 state representatives and 35 state senators.
The composition of the Legislature is near evenly split, with Republicans holding 92 seats to the Democrats’ 94. If Democrats stick together, they will be able to reinstall their party’s choice to these key government offices, which together oversee everything from the state’s checkbook to voting and driver’s licenses to the prosecution of felony crimes and defending state agencies against lawsuits.
All three incumbents – Attorney General Janet Mills, State Treasurer Terry Hayes and Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap – confirmed they would seek another two-year term.
The Legislature will also have to reappoint by vote the state auditor, which is considered a statutory post and not a constitutional office. Incumbent State Auditor Pola Buckley will also be seeking another two-year term, her office confirmed Tuesday.
Dunlap and Mills, both Democrats, have served multiple terms, but they are likely to see challengers emerge either from within the ranks of their own party or from Republicans. Outgoing state Rep. Robert Nutting, R-Oakland, said he had contemplated running for the secretary of state’s office but decided not to after he determined Democrats had enough votes to install their choice.
House Minority Leader Ken Fredette, R-Newport, said in a text message it was too early to say what might develop. “There are ongoing conversations,” Fredette texted.
On the Democratic side, outgoing state Rep. Adam Goode, D-Bangor, was expected to make a bid for the state treasurer’s office. Attempts to reach Goode for confirmation Tuesday were not immediately successful.
Hayes, the state treasurer, was a Democrat but left the party and became an unenrolled voter prior to being elected to the office. She won the post by ousting former State Treasurer Neria Douglass, a Democrat, with the support of Republicans in December 2014. Republicans nominated Hayes for the position and she was backed by a bipartisan coalition.
Also on the list of possible candidates for attorney general is former state Rep. Josh Tardy, R-Newport, according to several sources who spoke on background only. Tardy, a lobbyist and attorney who works for the Maine Republican Party, also served two terms as the House minority leader. Messages left for Tardy at his law firm and via email went unreturned on Tuesday.
On Friday, Democrats are expected to nominate their selection for speaker of the House and elect their caucus leaders.
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