AUGUSTA – Eliot Cutler of Cape Elizabeth submitted more than 4,000 voters’ signatures to the state Friday to become the first independent candidate for governor to qualify for the November ballot.

Cutler, a lawyer who worked for former Sen. Edmund Muskie and former President Jimmy Carter, easily beat the June 1 deadline to turn in his signatures. He will face the Democratic and Republican nominees on Nov. 2.

A spokeswoman for the Secretary of State’s Office confirmed that Cutler has enough valid signatures to make the ballot.

Eight other unenrolled candidates have expressed interest in running for governor by signing up with the state ethics commission.

Kevin Scott of Andover said this week that he is well on his way to getting the number of signatures needed.

Others are: Daniel Albert, Samme Bailey, Christopher Cambron, Beverly Cooper-Pete, Augustus Edgerton, J. Martin Vachon and John Whitcomb.

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Mainers have elected two independent governors. Jim Longley of Lewiston served 1975-79, and Angus King served two terms, from 1995 to 2003.

Cutler’s campaign treasurer, Robert C.S. Monks, is an investor in and a board member of MaineToday Media, which publishes The Portland Press Herald, the Maine Sunday Telegram, the Kennebec Journal and the Morning Sentinel, the weekly Coastal Journal in Bath and their respective Web sites.

 

MaineToday Media State House Reporter Susan Cover can be contacted at 620-7015 or at:

scover@centralmaine.com

 


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