Maine voters will be making history on Tuesday, June 12, as the state's primary election will mark the first time that ranked‑choice voting has been used in a statewide election in the United States. Ranked-choice voting will be used in the races for the offices of U.S. Senate, governor, U.S. Congress, State Senate and Maine House of Representatives in those contests that have three or more candidates. Those races include the Democratic and Republican nominations for governor -- with a total of 11 candidates -- and the Democratic nomination in the 2nd Congressional District, which has three candidates. In these races, voters will have an opportunity to vote for their first‑choice candidate and to rank the remaining candidates in order of preference.
     In the U.S. Senate contest, Republican Eric Brakey of Auburn and Democrat Zak Ringelstein of Yarmouth will be running against independent U.S. Senator Angus King. Republican candidate Max Linn of Bar Harbor is listed on the ballot but has been disqualified after Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap determined his nomination petition contained fraudulent signatures, including those of dead people.

Profiles of candidates in contested races follow.
2ND CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES
     Three Democratic candidates -- Jared Golden, Craig Olson and Lucas St. Clair -- are seeking to challenge Republican Congressman Bruce Poliquin in Maine's 2nd Congressional District. Democrat Jonathan Fulford of Monroe has withdrawn from the race, although his name will be listed on the ballot.

Jared Golden
     Jared Golden of Lewiston serves in the Maine House of Representatives and served in the U.S. Marine Corps.
     Golden supports economic development with: infrastructure investment in rural Maine; common‑sense regulation and trade agreements; growing renewable energy while also addressing climate change; investing in research and development; supporting traditional Maine sectors such as agriculture, the fisheries and the forest products industry; prioritizing federal policies that protect working and middle class families such as Social Security, Medicare, unions and affordable healthcare. He supports moving towards universal healthcare modeled as a Medicare‑for‑all program and supports a woman's right to make her own healthcare decisions. He supports the mandated Medicare expansion and would work to lower prescription drug costs.
     In the educational arena Golden supports: a universal service program in exchange for a two‑year educational benefit; universal Pre‑K; and better teacher pay. To address the substance abuse epidemic, Golden would support the Medicare expansion mandate; increase prevention programs; expand treatment programs, including in correctional facilities; and ensure that law enforcement prioritize the arrest and prosecution of dealers and traffickers over users.

Craig Olson
     Craig Olson of Islesboro runs the Islesboro Transfer Station and owns a rare book business with his wife.
     Olson supports: moving to a universal healthcare model; building educational collaborations to meet existing and developing needs, such as in renewable energy; IT infrastructure to all of Maine; growing traditional resources into new models of business; and protecting the environment by maintaining a sustainable balance between use and preservation.

Lucas St. Clair
     Lucas St. Clair of Hampden is a small business man, conservationist and guide. St. Clair would support economic development by: expanding IT infrastructure to all of Maine; supporting clean energy jobs; raising the federal minimum wage; creating a national investment bank that backs small businesses with greater access to loans; supporting the Healthy Families Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act; strengthening collective bargaining rights and opposing new barriers to unionization; defending the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; and innovating in Maine's traditional industries.
     He supports: the mandate to expand Medicare; the goal of universal healthcare for all; and a woman's right to make her own healthcare decisions. He believes that climate change is one of the most important issues facing the world and the country.
     In education, St. Clair supports: school construction and modernization; universal Pre‑K; fully funded school breakfast, lunch and after-school programs; free two‑year community college for anyone with the grades to get in; and strengthening vocational education.
     To fight the opioid epidemic, he supports: expansion of evidence‑based treatment programs; creation of support networks for impacted families and children; the Interdict Act; and improving
     U.S. Customs and Border Protection's efforts to keep narcotics from entering the country.

2ND CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE
Bruce Poliquin
     Bruce Poliquin of Oakland serves as the 2nd Congressional District congressman. In economic development Poliquin states his record of supporting: a law to remove a deed restriction in eastern Maine in order to promote economic development; funds for U.S. Navy destroyers for Bath Iron Works; opposition to the Trans Pacific Partnership; federal government reimbursements issued, on time, to hospitals; expedited natural gas permitting; the Small Business Capital Formation Enhancement Act; the limit of red tape on community banks and credit unions to expedite lending; and Maine blueberries by utilizing existing federal programs to protect jobs in the industry.
     As a national model for healthcare reform, he supports the concept of invisible risk pools created by the Maine Legislature that guaranteed coverage for pre‑existing conditions while holding costs down.
     To address the opioid epidemic, Poliquin has supported funding for drug courts, the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, the Anti‑Heroin Task Force, and opioid prescription overdose prevention. He co‑sponsored the Cradle Act to provide care to addicted newborns and co‑sponsored the Stop Abuse Act, an approach to the heroin epidemic including best practice approaches for law enforcement and treatment. He has met with local law enforcement in Maine to learn about what can be done to support their efforts to thwart the addictive drug trade.

DEMOCRATIC GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATES
     Seven Democratic candidates -- Adam Cote, Donna Dion, Mark Dion, Mark Eves, Janet Mills, Diane Russell and Elizabeth Sweet -- are running to replace Paul LePage as Maine governor.
Adam Cote
     Adam Cote of Sanford spent over 20 years in the Maine Army National Guard and has 16 years of experience as a clean energy entrepreneur.
     The top priority for the state, Cote believes, is growing Maine's economy and job base. He states, "Our fundamental challenge as a state is that -- at the moment -- we have a shrinking, aging population plus a terrible economic growth rate when compared to our region and the country." To meet the challenge, Cote would champion renewable energy leadership; build the state's infrastructure for economic competitiveness; create targeted job growth strategies in partnership with key sectors and opportunities; and develop a "leave no one behind" approach to education and lifelong learning.

Donna Dion
     Donna Dion of Biddeford has 45 years of professional financial experience in the nonprofit and for‑profit world, with six years as mayor and chair of school board for Biddeford.
     Dion's platform stresses respect, with the need to listen and to be transparent. She would support: funding K‑12 at the mandated 55% level that has not been met by the legislature for some time; workforce training collaborations with sustainable wages and career tracks; affordable healthcare options for families and individuals, the elderly and the business community.

Mark Dion
     Senator Mark Dion of Portland has served in the Maine Senate since 2010 and was with the Portland Police Department for 21 years.
     Dion supports: fully funding K‑12 education at the 55% mandate; free tuition at the community college system; expanded apprentice programs; and stronger support of the university system's agricultural and logging industry research. He would support: environmental and conservation regulations to protect Maine's groundwater and prepare for climate change; and programs to assist homeowners and small businesses with energy saving measures for buildings and develop localized green energy supply and distribution networks.
     He would divide the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) into three branches: public health, human services, families and children. He would support full implementation of the voter mandated Medicare expansion and the move to a "single‑price" market under a Maine Health Commission, modeled on the Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC), that would review hospital and medical services spending and fee structures. In addition he outlines numerous proposals for transportation infrastructure, tribal relations, gun safety, labor and the fisheries.

Mark Eves
     Mark Eves of North Berwick served for eight years in the House of Representatives, including as House speaker, and is a trained family therapist. Eves supports job and business creation with: a statewide assessment of needs; departments of labor and education support of educational, vocational and training collaborations; free community college and university system tuition. The education side would continue the theme with support of: funding K‑12 at the 55% mandate; fixing the looming teacher shortage with a starting salary increase; creating a universal Pre‑K program; and supporting vocational training.
     Protecting the environment can be a job creator, Eves believes, with strong green energy development, which would also combat climate change. In addition he supports: local farms; sustainable transportation; weatherization and rebuilding of the aging housing stock.
     Eves supports a single‑payer healthcare system and the Medicaid expansion voter mandate. To address the substance abuse epidemic, Eves would implement a comprehensive plan using a number of different models and programs that have found success in Maine and in other parts of the country. To combat gun violence, Eves supports: the ban of military‑style assault weapons and high-capacity magazine clips and bump stocks; requiring a background check on every gun sale; doing more to keep guns out of the hands of the dangerously mentally ill and domestic batterers; and keeping guns out of schools.

Janet Mills
     Janet Mills of Farmington is Maine attorney general and has been a district attorney and a state legislator. Mills supports economic development through: infrastructure development, including IT access; supporting education with the 55% mandate; investing in research and development; and assessing built and natural resources for development. In addition she would support: the voter mandate for Medicaid expansion; protecting the state's water and air; protecting the free and open Internet; women's rights; ending hunger through the use of federal programs currently underutilized and growing local farms; and implementing ranked‑choice voting.
     Mills would tackle the drug epidemic by using a number of different programs and strategies that have found success in the state, the country and other nations. To combat gun violence she would support: regulations on military‑style assault weapons, including a ban on high-capacity magazines; prohibit devices designed to turn semi‑automatic firearms into fully‑automatic machine guns, including bump stocks; and a "red flag" law to keep firearms out of the hands of dangerous individuals who have temporary restraining orders against them.

Diane Russell
     Diane Russell of Portland is a former state representative.
     Russell does not have information available on her candidate's website about her positions, but she states: "There is one thing hardworking Mainers know: the system is broken and is leaving many Maine families behind to the benefit of too few. Throughout my life I have been on the side of restoring power to everyday folks like my neighbors and my family. Over the years, I've learned that we can't change the system by being complicit. We change it by standing up and fighting back. As governor, I'll spend every day fighting to unrig the system and make Maine a place where everyone gets a fair shot."

Elizabeth Sweet
     Elizabeth "Betsy" Sweet of Hallowell is the founder of the consulting business Moose Ridge Associates and the coaching and counseling business SweetSpirit.
     Sweet's top priorities for Maine are: universal health coverage and expansion of Medicare; economic development through fully funded regional development authorities, expanded IT access; green business development, including industrialized hemp; and a $15 minimum wage. For education, she supports providing two years of free tuition for college in exchange for two years of public service, a Pre‑K program for every child, expanded vocational training and better teacher starting pay. She would support signing Maine to the U.S. Climate Alliance. In addition her top priorities are: to treat the drug epidemic as a health issue not a criminal issue through healthcare support; to protect women's and civil rights; to combat gun violence with a ban on the sale of assault weapons, bump stocks and high‑capacity ammunition clips, and she supports background checks for all gun sales in Maine. She supports tribal sovereignty and the welcoming of immigrants and would work on a system to recognize and accredit experience and degrees earned in other countries in order to utilize valuable skills.

REPUBLICAN GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATES
     Four Republicans -- Kenneth Fredette, Garrett Mason, Mary Mayhew and Shawn Moody -- are running for governor.

Kenneth Fredette
     Kenneth "Ken" Fredette of Newport serves in the Maine House of Representatives as the minority leader and is a lawyer in private practice.
     Fredette does not include a platform of positions on his candidate's website. His website states: "Representative Fredette is no stranger to political campaigns. A lifelong Republican, he worked as a staffer for presidential candidate Bob Dole, Governor Jock McKernan's reelection campaign and the Hon. Rick Bennett's congressional race. As the House Republican leader, he has recruited hundreds of Republican House candidates from every corner of Maine."
     In addition the website says: "Rep. Fredette's four terms serving the people of House District 100 will be remembered for paying off Maine's hospital debt, enacting real welfare reform, funding career training programs, implementing three historic income tax cuts, pension and regulatory reform, and most recently holding the line against new tax increases during the 2017‑2019 biennial state budget negotiations."

Garrett Mason
     Garrett Mason of Lisbon serves as a state senator and works for his family's excavation business.
     Mason supports in this order: the goal of eliminating the personal income tax; charter schools and the expansion of vocational education; restricting the effects of "fringe groups and outside interests" on the citizen initiative process. Mason states that he has a "NRA+ rating" and will support the right to bear arms "without hesitation." As governor he would protect the right to life from "inception to natural death."

Mary Mayhew
     Mary Mayhew of China was the commissioner of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services under Governor LePage. Mayhew states that she would support tax cuts for the state that are similar to the Trump tax cuts and would support the elimination of the personal income tax and "burdensome" regulations and right to work policies. She would support: road and port infrastructure; energy sources based on lowest cost; reforming the citizen initiative process; building a border wall; the right to life; the right to bear arms; enforcing immigration laws; and school choice, including charter schools; and the expansion of vocational training. She does not support the voter-mandated Medicaid expansion or the legalization of marijuana for medical or recreational purposes.
     The drug epidemic would be met with a three‑tiered approach of educating children about drugs, providing treatment for individuals "who truly want to get clean," and increasing in the number of drug enforcement agents to "lock up" dealers.

Shawn Moody
     Shawn Moody of Gorham is a businessman who founded Moody's Collision Centers. Moody supports: economic development through streamlined regulation and permitting and business recruitment and retention; lowering the personal income tax and incentivizing regionalization of local municipal services; allowing for the purchase of health insurance across state lines; limiting TANF to a lifetime cap amount; and random drug tests for welfare recipients. In addition he would support efforts to reform the citizen initiative process and to fully uphold the right to bear arms, along with active shooter training for schools and businesses.
     In education Moody supports: coordination of programs with assessment of regional needs; performance‑based pay increases for teachers; and removing the proficiency‑based education program. The drug epidemic would be met with increased resources for law enforcement; drug education programs in the schools; support for peer‑to‑peer recovery efforts; and development of stronger borders, including the northern border. Moody supports immigration laws and would prohibit sanctuary cities in Maine. Moody supports pro‑life legislation.

MAINE SENATE DISTRICT 6
     Republican Marianne Moore of Calais and Democrat Christina Therrien of Machias are running for the Maine Senate District 6 seat that is currently held by Joyce Maker of Calais. They are unopposed in the primary election.

MAINE HOUSE DISTRICTS
     Candidates for all of the Washington County seats in the Maine House of Representatives are running unopposed in the primary, except for a two-way race for the Republican nomination in District 141.
     For Maine House District 138, Democratic Rep. Robert Alley of Beals is being challenged by Republican Linda Gray of Harrington.
     In House District 139, Republican Rep. William Tuell of East Machias will be facing Democratic candidate Lisa Hanscom of Roque Bluffs.
     For District 140, Democratic Rep. Anne Perry of Calais will be facing Republican Arthur Carter of Charlotte.
     In District 141, Roger Ek of Lee is running against Kathy Javner of Chester for the Republican nomination for the seat that is currently held by Republican Rep. Beth Turner of Burlington, who is not seeking reelection. The Democratic candidate is Donald Green of Berry Township.