AUGUSTA — A week after Maine’s primary elections, some candidates are dropping out of races for state legislative seats.

Both major parties had listed candidates in nearly all 186 House and Senate districts before the June 12 primaries. But now some of the primary winners are dropping out, leaving it to local party committees to nominate replacement candidates for the fall elections.

In an Augusta House district, Andrew Worcester has withdrawn as the Republican nominee, leaving District 57 at least temporarily without any candidate from either party. Worcester had defeated Michael Hein in the June 12 primary. The local GOP committee plans to meet July 2 to choose a replacement candidate for Worcester, party officials said Monday.

District 57’s Democratic nominee, Rep. Maeghan Maloney, dropped out last week, saying she wanted to focus on a run for district attorney for Kennebec and Somerset counties. The local Democratic committee will meet July 11 to choose a replacement candidate.

Earlier this week three-term Republican Sen. Earle McCormick of West Gardiner, who was considered a strong contender for re-election, announced that he is dropping out of the race, saying it’s time to let somebody else represent the district.

Had he stayed in the race, McCormick would have faced Democratic primary winner David Bustin, of Hallowell, in November.

Meanwhile, Maine Democratic Chairman Ben Grant says the party’s incumbent candidate in Brunswick District 66, Rep. Alexander Cornell du Houx, should drop out of the race because legal issues involving the lawmaker have become a “distraction” in the campaign.

Du Houx’s former girlfriend, who is also a legislator, had filed a temporary protection order against him.

The order filed by Rep. Erin Herbig, D-Belfast, was dropped May 14 after the two lawmakers reached a private agreement.

Du Houx said Tuesday that Grant’s request “is a complete surprise to me. It is so unprofessional of him to make a public statement without ever talking directly to me about this incident.”

A number of candidates typically drop out of legislative races between the primaries and general election. This year’s legislative races are expected to be unusually competitive as Republicans try to hold on to House and Senate majorities they won in 2010 after decades of Democratic rule.

Primary winners who want to drop out have until a month after the primary election to withdraw; this year’s deadline is July 10.

The House has 77 Republicans, 72 Democrats, one unenrolled member and one vacancy, while the Senate has a 19-15 GOP majority with one unenrolled, or independent, member.