State Legislature Special Election Megathread v3

[Kevinstat]

Maine House Distrct 52 (City of Bath) Special Election Results:

Sean C. Paulhus (D-Bath) 968 (66.48%)
Kenneth D. Sener (R-Bath) 488 (33.52%)

I got those numbers from a post by the losing candidate's campaign Facebook account on that campaign's Facebook page.  Apparently there are 7,029 registered voters in Bath which puts turnout (by that measure) at 20.71%.

[Kevinstat]

Maine House Distrct 52 (City of Bath) Special Election Results:

Sean C. Paulhus (D-Bath) 968 (66.48%)
Kenneth D. Sener (R-Bath) 488 (33.52%)

I got those numbers from a post by the losing candidate's campaign Facebook account on that campaign's Facebook page.  Apparently there are 7,029 registered voters in Bath which puts turnout (by that measure) at 20.71%.

How does that compare to the district’s past voting?

First of all, I see that the result (in terms of who won and it being a Dem hold had already been announced on this thread, but I guess I was the first to post numbers.  I've heard that Jennifer DeChant (the Democrat who vacated the seat) got over 70% in 2018.  The seat's been held by Democrats since 2002.  It was a Republican seat for a think quite a while before that (held by one Republican who served from the late 70s to 1994 and then another who served from '94 to 2002.  Both moved on to the Senate, and the second one became a Democrat like a month after beeing reeelected in 2004.  He was unseated in 2006 but another Democrat won the seat two years later.  That Senate seat had long been Republican like the House seat.

I haven't looked recently at the results for the House seat (which was missing some of Bath before the 2013 redistricting) from 2002 on, but I think it's safe to say it's a very Democatic district nowadays.

[Kevinstat]

Maine House Distrct 52 (City of Bath) Special Election Results:

Sean C. Paulhus (D-Bath) 968 (66.48%)
Kenneth D. Sener (R-Bath) 488 (33.52%)

I got those numbers from a post by the losing candidate's campaign Facebook account on that campaign's Facebook page.  Apparently there are 7,029 registered voters in Bath which puts turnout (by that measure) at 20.71%.

How does that compare to the district’s past voting?

Okay, here are the results from 2014 on (since the district grew to become all of Bath):

2014: DeChant (D-inc) 2,435 (65.95%), Daniels (R) 1,257 (34.05%)
2016: DeChant (D-inc) 3,021 (64.45%), Weidner (R) 1,666 (35.55%)
2018: DeChant (D-inc) 2,959 (71.61%), Weidner (R) (same guy) 1,173 (28.39%)
2019 (unofficial): Paulhus (D) 968 (66.48%), Sener (R) 488 (33.52%)

[Kevinstat]

Maine House Distrct 52 (City of Bath) Special Election Results:

Sean C. Paulhus (D-Bath) 968 (66.48%)
Kenneth D. Sener (R-Bath) 488 (33.52%)

I got those numbers from a post by the losing candidate's campaign Facebook account on that campaign's Facebook page.  Apparently there are 7,029 registered voters in Bath which puts turnout (by that measure) at 20.71%.

How does that compare to the district’s past voting?

Okay, here are the results from 2014 on (since the district grew to become all of Bath):

2014: DeChant (D-inc) 2,435 (65.95%), Daniels (R) 1,257 (34.05%)
2016: DeChant (D-inc) 3,021 (64.45%), Weidner (R) 1,666 (35.55%)
2018: DeChant (D-inc) 2,959 (71.61%), Weidner (R) (same guy) 1,173 (28.39%)
2019 (unofficial): Paulhus (D) 968 (66.48%), Sener (R) 488 (33.52%)

Okay, I guess there was some category of votes (there had to have been more than 10 absentee votes) amounting to 10 votes not counted.  The results are now:

Sean C. Paulhus (D-Bath) 975 (66.51%)
Kenneth D. Sener (R-Bath) 491 (33.49%)

[Kevinstat]

Maine State Rep. Dale Denno (D-45) has resigned to seek treatment for cancer. Special likely coming in June. Denno won his second term in November by 30 points and 1,700 votes (a lot in tiny Maine House districts).

Very sad, I hope he gets better soon

Unfortunately, he passed away yesterday.

[Kevinstat]

https://mobile.twitter.com/electionwatchus/status/1138604260415983616

"All I know is he's won, per the local party. Maine doesn't post SOS results, but ideally I'll find numbers within the next hour" ( https://twitter.com/electionwatchus/status/1138604721185394688 )

Perhaps it was this tweet from House Majority Leader Matt Moonen: https://twitter.com/mattmoonen/status/1138603403712651264 .

I think he did that with at least one of the earlier special elections this year.  I wish people would just wait until the actual numbers came in, but of course if the victory is underwhelming the party would want the victory to be the "breaking news."

[Kevinstat]

According to the Portland Press Herald, Moriarty (D) carried Cumberland (like 82% of the district based on 2010 census figures) 1,221 votes (61.73%) to 757 (38.27%). They don't have results from the Gray portion of the district (most of Gray is in another district), but while the Gray portion does seem to be a bit more Republican it's clear Moriarty has won, most likely north of 60%.

www.pressherald.com/2019/06/11/local-election-results-for-southern-maine/

[Kevinstat]

According to the Portland Press Herald, Moriarty (D) carried Cumberland (like 82% of the district based on 2010 census figures) 1,221 votes (61.73%) to 757 (38.27%). They don't have results from the Gray portion of the district (most of Gray is in another district), but while the Gray portion does seem to be a bit more Republican it's clear Moriarty has won, most likely north of 60%.

www.pressherald.com/2019/06/11/local-election-results-for-southern-maine/

portion of Gray in the district (unofficial, of course everything's unofficial until the losing candidate indicates that he will not request a recount, although that may have already happened): Moriarty (D) 68 (59.13%), Hughes (R) 47 (40.87%).

Overall: Moriarty (D) 1289 (61.59%), Hughes (R) 804 (38.41%).

[Kevinstat]

There will (almost certainly) be a special election next year in Maine House District 35 (Westbrook north of the Presumpscot River) to replace Ann Peoples (D), who died yesterday at age 72.  She had apparently been ill for some time.

Under the Maine Constitution, which is very strict about filling vacancies in the State Senate, a vacancy in the Maine House of Representatives "may" be filled by special election but doesn't actually have to be filled before the end of the term.  Either the Maine Constitution or state statutes (I believe the latter) require municipal officers in a city or town in the district to pass an order asking the Governor to declare the vacancy and order a special election before one can be held (for State Representative).  I know in 2012 a Republican State Representative accused and I believe eventually convicted of pocketing Clean Election cash delayed resigining until early in that year, and no special election was held.  But for a vacancy occurring before the end of the year, it may be unheard of for a special election not to take place.  It might not be until March 3, when the state has its Presidential Primaries (that would save Westbrook from having to hold a separate election, plus would be rather convenient for Democrats who might have more incentive to turn out), but with polls being open throughout the state anyway on that date I assume the election will be held then if not earlier (my guess is it will be on that date).

[Kevinstat]

There will (almost certainly) be a special election next year in Maine House District 35 (Westbrook north of the Presumpscot River) to replace Ann Peoples (D), who died yesterday at age 72.  She had apparently been ill for some time.

Under the Maine Constitution, which is very strict about filling vacancies in the State Senate, a vacancy in the Maine House of Representatives "may" be filled by special election but doesn't actually have to be filled before the end of the term.  Either the Maine Constitution or state statutes (I believe the latter) require municipal officers in a city or town in the district to pass an order asking the Governor to declare the vacancy and order a special election before one can be held (for State Representative).  I know in 2012 a Republican State Representative accused and I believe eventually convicted of pocketing Clean Election cash delayed resigining until early in that year, and no special election was held.  But for a vacancy occurring before the end of the year, it may be unheard of for a special election not to take place.  It might not be until March 3, when the state has its Presidential Primaries (that would save Westbrook from having to hold a separate election, plus would be rather convenient for Democrats who might have more incentive to turn out), but with polls being open throughout the state anyway on that date I assume the election will be held then if not earlier (my guess is it will be on that date).

It's starting to look like there will not be a special election in Maine's House District 35 (and in Maine's House District 128, whose incumbent Arthur "Archie" Verow died December 19, 2019) after all.  Rep. Peoples's funeral wasn't held until December 14, over a month after her passing, and by that time enough day-to-day stuff might have gone on in Westbrook that the "okay, now we need to request that the Governor declare a special election to fill the vacancy" never occurred to municipal officers in the city.  Rep. Verow's funeral was on December 30.  Neither special election has been called yet, and there may not be enough time for them to be held on March 3 when Maine holds its presidential primaries (both major parties, although President Trump is the only candidate on the Republican ballot) and a special referendum election on blocking Maine's "no complete vaccination, no public school, no exceptions" policy passed on a mostly party-line vote in the Legislature last year.

Municipal officials (like municipal clerks) were already grumbling a bit about the extra expense and hassle of a third election next year (in addition to the June 9 primary election for congressional, state and county offices and the November 3 General Election), so municipal officers (elected officials) in Westbrook and Brewer won't likely give the Governor authorization to call a special election if they think that might result in their having yet another election to provide for.  The statutory adjournment date for this year's regular session of the Maine Legislature is April 15 (the third Wednesday in April), so unless there was an anticipated special session in the summer or fall it doesn't look like a special election would be called for June 9.  So the two seats (and any others that become vacant during the remainder of this term) will likely remain unfilled until the 130th Maine Legislature is sworn in on I believe December 2 of this year (the first Wednesday in December).

[Kevinstat]

There will (almost certainly) be a special election next year in Maine House District 35 (Westbrook north of the Presumpscot River) to replace Ann Peoples (D), who died yesterday at age 72.  She had apparently been ill for some time.

Under the Maine Constitution, which is very strict about filling vacancies in the State Senate, a vacancy in the Maine House of Representatives "may" be filled by special election but doesn't actually have to be filled before the end of the term.  Either the Maine Constitution or state statutes (I believe the latter) require municipal officers in a city or town in the district to pass an order asking the Governor to declare the vacancy and order a special election before one can be held (for State Representative).  I know in 2012 a Republican State Representative accused and I believe eventually convicted of pocketing Clean Election cash delayed resigining until early in that year, and no special election was held.  But for a vacancy occurring before the end of the year, it may be unheard of for a special election not to take place.  It might not be until March 3, when the state has its Presidential Primaries (that would save Westbrook from having to hold a separate election, plus would be rather convenient for Democrats who might have more incentive to turn out), but with polls being open throughout the state anyway on that date I assume the election will be held then if not earlier (my guess is it will be on that date).

It's starting to look like there will not be a special election in Maine's House District 35 (and in Maine's House District 128, whose incumbent Arthur "Archie" Verow died December 19, 2019) after all.  Rep. Peoples's funeral wasn't held until December 14, over a month after her passing, and by that time enough day-to-day stuff might have gone on in Westbrook that the "okay, now we need to request that the Governor declare a special election to fill the vacancy" never occurred to municipal officers in the city.  Rep. Verow's funeral was on December 30.  Neither special election has been called yet, and there may not be enough time for them to be held on March 3 when Maine holds its presidential primaries (both major parties, although President Trump is the only candidate on the Republican ballot) and a special referendum election on blocking Maine's "no complete vaccination, no public school, no exceptions" policy passed on a mostly party-line vote in the Legislature last year.

Municipal officials (like municipal clerks) were already grumbling a bit about the extra expense and hassle of a third election next year (in addition to the June 9 primary election for congressional, state and county offices and the November 3 General Election), so municipal officers (elected officials) in Westbrook and Brewer won't likely give the Governor authorization to call a special election if they think that might result in their having yet another election to provide for.  The statutory adjournment date for this year's regular session of the Maine Legislature is April 15 (the third Wednesday in April), so unless there was an anticipated special session in the summer or fall it doesn't look like a special election would be called for June 9.  So the two seats (and any others that become vacant during the remainder of this term) will likely remain unfilled until the 130th Maine Legislature is sworn in on I believe December 2 of this year (the first Wednesday in December).

Special election set to fill House District 128 seat

Deadline for filing "caucus" (municipal committee) paperwork (Democrats, Republicans and Green( Independent)s) / nominating petitions (everyone else):  5 p.m. on Thursday, January 23, 2020.
Write-in candidate deadline:  5 p.m. on Tuesday, January 28, 2020.
Election date: Tuesday, March 3, 2020 (to coincide with Maine's Presidential Primaries and a referendum on whether or not to block the law passed last year eliminating all excemptions (philisophical and religious) to Maine's vaccination requirement for attending public schools)

[Kevinstat]

There will (almost certainly) be a special election next year in Maine House District 35 (Westbrook north of the Presumpscot River) to replace Ann Peoples (D), who died yesterday at age 72.  She had apparently been ill for some time.

Under the Maine Constitution, which is very strict about filling vacancies in the State Senate, a vacancy in the Maine House of Representatives "may" be filled by special election but doesn't actually have to be filled before the end of the term.  Either the Maine Constitution or state statutes (I believe the latter) require municipal officers in a city or town in the district to pass an order asking the Governor to declare the vacancy and order a special election before one can be held (for State Representative).  I know in 2012 a Republican State Representative accused and I believe eventually convicted of pocketing Clean Election cash delayed resigining until early in that year, and no special election was held.  But for a vacancy occurring before the end of the year, it may be unheard of for a special election not to take place.  It might not be until March 3, when the state has its Presidential Primaries (that would save Westbrook from having to hold a separate election, plus would be rather convenient for Democrats who might have more incentive to turn out), but with polls being open throughout the state anyway on that date I assume the election will be held then if not earlier (my guess is it will be on that date).

It's starting to look like there will not be a special election in Maine's House District 35 (and in Maine's House District 128, whose incumbent Arthur "Archie" Verow died December 19, 2019) after all.  Rep. Peoples's funeral wasn't held until December 14, over a month after her passing, and by that time enough day-to-day stuff might have gone on in Westbrook that the "okay, now we need to request that the Governor declare a special election to fill the vacancy" never occurred to municipal officers in the city.  Rep. Verow's funeral was on December 30.  Neither special election has been called yet, and there may not be enough time for them to be held on March 3 when Maine holds its presidential primaries (both major parties, although President Trump is the only candidate on the Republican ballot) and a special referendum election on blocking Maine's "no complete vaccination, no public school, no exceptions" policy passed on a mostly party-line vote in the Legislature last year.

Municipal officials (like municipal clerks) were already grumbling a bit about the extra expense and hassle of a third election next year (in addition to the June 9 primary election for congressional, state and county offices and the November 3 General Election), so municipal officers (elected officials) in Westbrook and Brewer won't likely give the Governor authorization to call a special election if they think that might result in their having yet another election to provide for.  The statutory adjournment date for this year's regular session of the Maine Legislature is April 15 (the third Wednesday in April), so unless there was an anticipated special session in the summer or fall it doesn't look like a special election would be called for June 9.  So the two seats (and any others that become vacant during the remainder of this term) will likely remain unfilled until the 130th Maine Legislature is sworn in on I believe December 2 of this year (the first Wednesday in December).

Special election set to fill House District 128 seat

Deadline for filing "caucus" (municipal committee) paperwork (Democrats, Republicans and Green( Independent)s) / nominating petitions (everyone else):  5 p.m. on Thursday, January 23, 2020.
Write-in candidate deadline:  5 p.m. on Tuesday, January 28, 2020.
Election date: Tuesday, March 3, 2020 (to coincide with Maine's Presidential Primaries and a referendum on whether or not to block the law passed last year eliminating all excemptions (philisophical and religious) to Maine's vaccination requirement for attending public schools)

Meanwhile in House District 35, whose incumbent died over a month before the incumbent in House District 128 (and her funeral also happened first), no special election has been announced yet, and whoever drafted today's press release announcing the special election in House District 128 seemed to be trying to preemptively answer any questions as to why a special election was being held where the incumbent died later but not where the incumbent died earlier.  I don't recall ever seeing a paragraph like the following one in a press release announcing a special election (I checked and no equivalent paragraph was there for the announcements of the three state house special elections held last year):

"Per State election law, vacancies in House seats are not filled automatically; the municipal officers of the affected municipality must inform the governor if there is a need to fill the vacancy before the next general election. The governor shall then issue a proclamation and order a special election. The municipal officers of the City of Brewer so informed Gov. Janet Mills on January 3, 2020 and Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap signed the vacancy proclamation announcing the special election on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020."

[Kevinstat]

Special election set to fill House District 128 seat

Deadline for filing "caucus" (municipal committee) paperwork (Democrats, Republicans and Green( Independent)s) / nominating petitions (everyone else):  5 p.m. on Thursday, January 23, 2020.
Write-in candidate deadline:  5 p.m. on Tuesday, January 28, 2020.
Election date: Tuesday, March 3, 2020 (to coincide with Maine's Presidential Primaries and a referendum on whether or not to block the law passed last year eliminating all excemptions (philisophical and religious) to Maine's vaccination requirement for attending public schools)

Candidates who will be on the ballot:

Garrel R. Craig (R) - former State Rep. (served Dec. 2016 to Dec. 2018; unseated the guy who just died in 2016 only to be unseated himself in a 2018 rematch, although 2018 was a very Democratic year)
Kevin J. M. O'Connell (D) - former Mayor of Brewer

No idea if any write-in candidates declared by this past Tuesday's write-in candidate deadline.

[Kevinstat]

Special election set to fill House District 128 seat

Deadline for filing "caucus" (municipal committee) paperwork (Democrats, Republicans and Green( Independent)s) / nominating petitions (everyone else):  5 p.m. on Thursday, January 23, 2020.
Write-in candidate deadline:  5 p.m. on Tuesday, January 28, 2020.
Election date: Tuesday, March 3, 2020 (to coincide with Maine's Presidential Primaries and a referendum on whether or not to block the law passed last year eliminating all excemptions (philisophical and religious) to Maine's vaccination requirement for attending public schools)

Candidates who will be on the ballot:

Garrel R. Craig (R) - former State Rep. (served Dec. 2016 to Dec. 2018; unseated the guy who just died in 2016 only to be unseated himself in a 2018 rematch, although 2018 was a very Democratic year)
Kevin J. M. O'Connell (D) - former Mayor of Brewer

No idea if any write-in candidates declared by this past Tuesday's write-in candidate deadline.

I just found out that no write-in candidates filed the necessary declaration of write-in candidacy by the January 28 deadline.  Not that anyone likely cares, but I usually like to include that information when I'm posting who the candidates are in a special election.  There will still be a write-in box (there always is on "people elections" in Maine), but any write-in votes will be counted as blank ballots.

[Kevinstat]

The special election was triggered by Senator Pat Fallon becoming the Republican nominee for TX-4 when John Ratcliffe became Director of National Intelligence. Fallon has been elected with 75% of the vote. Texas permits special elections to be triggered in anticipation of a vacancy (Fallon resigned effective with start of the new term - such a resignation has to be unconditional, but Fallon was assured of election). The timing of the special election permitted it to be resolved before the legislature meets next spring.

I suggested such a "deferred resignation" or "voluntary commutation" of a term (but a non-rescindable one) when the Augusta City Council was conducting a review of the City Charter in early 2018.  It's quite common to have a City Councilor get elected Mayor in the middle of their Council term or for a regular Board of Education member to get elected Board of Education Chair in the middle of their Board term.  Sometimes they're unopposed in the latter case (I think an open seat for Mayor will almost always result in a contested race).

The City Attorney raised concerns about the idea, like what if someone changed their mind?  (I might have omitted the non-rescindable part, which seemed obvious to me, but I had mentioned how there's a risk one could be out of office if they lost the race they were running for after voluntarily commuting their term to prevent a potential vacancy that would otherwise occur if they won.)  A City councilor beat me to the punch and said, "Make it irrevocable," but the City Attorney still had concerns about it and at the end everyone agreed that there wasn't really a problem with the occasional vacancies that come up.

Then there were three Council vacancies for 2+ months in 2019 when three City Councilors had to resign as they were moving out of the city.  And two of them held seats that were up anyway and Augusta doesn't do the New York/Texas thing about having special elections for a ~2 month term in November so two of those vacancies were from July or August through the end of the year (the third, which interestingly enough they did allow her to remain on the Council until a time (late August) that normally would have been too late to have a special election after with the various petitioning and ballot preparation requirements (I don't know if municipal elections are required to accommodate UOCAVA voters, but they might be), sort of following my "deferred resignation" idea, but somewhat haphazardly, ... that third vacancy was filled in a November election so that guy, a former Councilor who was unopposed, took office at the City Council meeting following the election).

[Kevinstat]

2nd-term Republican lawmaker will resign his seat next month

Fecteau represents Maine House District 86, part of Augusta.  The other side of the Kennebec River from where I live is in that district.

There will almost certainly be a special election this year for the seat, on (odd-year) "Election Day" (November 2) or earlier.  Probably November 2, although as there will be a fall special session to tackle redistricting at least (who knows what other big issues might come up), I wouldn't 100% rule out it being called earlier.  There was a special State House election in like September 2011 with the justification being a special session to tackle redistricting, but that was when LePage was Governor.  For State House vacancies (unlike State Senate vacancies) the Governor can't act to fill a vacancy until the municipal officers make some proclamation or whatnot informing the Governor of the need to fill a vacancy.  A State Rep. from Westbrook died on November 12, 2019, and a State Rep. from Brewer died on December 19, 2019, but a special election ended up being held in early 2020 in Brewer (on March 3, the date of Maine's Presidential Primary) but not in Westbrook (where the seat went unfilled until the person elected for the new term in November 3, 2020 took office at the beginning of that term on December 2, 2020).  A paragraph (3rd paragraph after the headline) was added to the public notice of the Brewer special election by Secretary of State's Office that seemed to me like classic CYA.  Having watched past City Council discussion regarding vacancies (although these were for municipal positions, City Council or School Board), I imagine the Augusta City Council won't proclaim a vacancy if they're not sure it will be on November 3, sparing the city the cost of a special standalone election.  They may delay their "proclamation" until it wouldn't make any sense to schedule the election before November 2 (like the earliest possible Tuesday to hold it was only being 2 or 3 weeks prior).  I'm an officer (Treasurer) of the Augusta Democratic Committee (I'm not quite sure what the actual name is, like if and where "City" or "Municipal" is in there), so I'll be involved in helping the Democratic nominee in the special election, whenever it is.

This district (or its main predecessor, the one entirely on the west side of Augusta and including the northwest corner of the city) was represented by a Democrat from the 1978 election (before 1978, most of Augusta (or all of it before 1974) was in a multi-member State House district) to the 1994 election, when the Democrat elected in 1978 was unseated (the district had gained some people and lost a smaller number of people (the equivalent of three blocks, largely non-residential), but the bigger factor was probably the Republican wave that year).  That Republican termed out in 2002 and was replaced by a Democrat who was reelected in a slightly expanded district in 2004.  Democrats held open seats in 2006 and 2010 (a Democrat was unopposed in 2008 after the Republicans nominated a guy who had done some major trolling in the past that came to light after they nominated him to fill a post-primary hole, and then basically told their own candidate to withdraw so Democrats couldn't campaign on this candidate's past), but when Rep. Maeghan Maloney gave up her seat in 2012 to run successfully for Kennebec-Somerset DA, Republican Matt Pouliot, who was a post-primary replacement, defeated 2006-2010 Rep. Patsy Crockett, who herself was a post-primary replacement but it's not the same when you're a recent incumbent.  Pouliot was reelected 2 to 1 in the somewhat altered district in 2014 even though I'd heard the changes to the district made it more Democratic, and was unopposed in 2016.  Justin Fecteau (R), the current Rep. who is resigning as of the end of July 4 (eccentric much?), while seemingly a "some dude" in 2018, defeated an At-Large city councilor by a 2.13% that year and was reelected by 13.63% in 2020 (both two-way races, and both not counting blanks).

The Democratic city councilor (although local elections are officially nonpartisan in most municipalities in Maine and really seem to function that way in many of them, including Augusta) who narrowly lost in 2018 now lives in Saco.  There are a number of possible Democratic candidates I can think of, from the recent losers in that district to the guy who served from 1978 to 1994 who's kind of an "elder statesman" now, to Maine's first openly lesbian State Senator (from a neighboring district) who later moved to Augusta and served a term on the City Council.  One person I thought of as a promising candidate is apparently a "hard No."  On the Republican side, Councilor Heather Pouliot, wife of Sen. (former Rep.) Matt Pouliot, seems like a likely candidate and could probably clear the field in her party if she ran.  If she didn't run, there's a former city councilor (two different stints serving partial terms following vacancies) who would be formidable.  But serving in the Maine Legislature is very different from being on the City Council (only part-time pay with full-time daytime work during much of the sessions, although the benefits are decent), so a lot of the people I'm thinking of might not be able to afford to run.

[Kevinstat]

Results from a saftley democratic AD-18 california district.
https://twitter.com/rpyers/status/1410074044662091779

Does anyone know the party affiliation of the various candidates?  Was there an R (or Independent, Green, or Peace & Freedom, etc.) candidate in there?

[Kevinstat]

Maine House District 86 special election

Democrat LaRochelle elected to fill Augusta-area House seat previously held by Republican

Given that House District 86 (which will gain some territory to become House District 59 for next year's primary and general elections) is entirely in the city of Augusta, the use of "area" in the headline is curious.

[Kevinstat]

(Now former) Maine State Representative Clinton Collamore (D-House District 45) was indicted on January 24 for aggravated forgery and other charges stemming from his 2022 campaign (you can get public funding if you get enough people to give $5 contributions to the Maine Clean Election Fund "in honor of" your campaign (my own terminology there)), immediately called by State House Speaker of his own party to resign (and yes, some friendly media reporters may have asked the Speaker's office for a comment and put her call for Collamore to resign at the head of the story), and finally did so on February 16 when he was arraigned.

Special elections State Representative in Maine can't happen until municipal officials in a municipality in the district send a communication to the Governor asking for one, and apparently such notice didn't reach the Governor (or at least that news didn't reach the Secretary of State's Office) until Friday (I had gotten impatient and emailed them on Thursday; I don't live in that district but am always interested in special elections in Maine).  No press release about a special election was released on Friday, but I imagine there will be one tomorrow.

As for when the election will be held, it may depend on when towns in that district have elections already scheduled.  With the various requirements (including people overseas being able to cast UOCAVA ballots), the earliest the election could probably be held is in June.  The second Tuesday in June, which would be June 13 this year. is a common election day in Maine (that's when the congressional (both chambers), state and county office primaries are held in even years).  But I wouldn't completely rule out the election being scheduled for November 7, which will be a statewide election with multiple referendum questions.

[Kevinstat]

(Now former) Maine State Representative Clinton Collamore (D-House District 45) was indicted on January 24 for aggravated forgery and other charges stemming from his 2022 campaign (you can get public funding if you get enough people to give $5 contributions to the Maine Clean Election Fund "in honor of" your campaign (my own terminology there)), immediately called by State House Speaker of his own party to resign (and yes, some friendly media reporters may have asked the Speaker's office for a comment and put her call for Collamore to resign at the head of the story), and finally did so on February 16 when he was arraigned.

Special elections State Representative in Maine can't happen until municipal officials in a municipality in the district send a communication to the Governor asking for one, and apparently such notice didn't reach the Governor (or at least that news didn't reach the Secretary of State's Office) until Friday (I had gotten impatient and emailed them on Thursday; I don't live in that district but am always interested in special elections in Maine).  No press release about a special election was released on Friday, but I imagine there will be one tomorrow.

As for when the election will be held, it may depend on when towns in that district have elections already scheduled.  With the various requirements (including people overseas being able to cast UOCAVA ballots), the earliest the election could probably be held is in June.  The second Tuesday in June, which would be June 13 this year. is a common election day in Maine (that's when the congressional (both chambers), state and county office primaries are held in even years).  But I wouldn't completely rule out the election being scheduled for November 7, which will be a statewide election with multiple referendum questions.

2 ex-lawmakers may face off in June for swing Maine House district along coast

The election is on June 13.  The caucus paperwork (for candidates of qualified parties) / filing (for Unenrolled ("Independent") candidates) deadline is March 31.  Presumably the write-in deadline is a week later, since it usually is for special elections.  But I've never seen a write-in declare for a special Legislative election.

[Kevinstat]

Bath Rep. Sean Paulhus resigns to take register of probate appointment

The special election hasn't been called yet (the Maine Constitution requires an "immediate election" to fill State Senate vacancies but merely says that State House vacancies "may be filled by a new election", and Maine statute requires municipal officers (Board of Selectmen, City Council, etc.) in an affected municipality (so, the Bath City Council in this case, since the district is simply the City of Bath) to notify the Governor of the need to fill the vacancy), but will almost certainly be held on November 7.

Pretty safe D seat nowadays.  The guy who resigned himself won a special election in 2019, 975 votes (66.5%) to 491 (33.5%).  (Maine State Representatives only represent 9,022 people on average based on 2020 census figures, and when you couple that with an irregular election (I'm not sure if there was anything on the Bath municipal ballot) you can get low figures like these.)

[Kevinstat]

Bath Rep. Sean Paulhus resigns to take register of probate appointment

The special election hasn't been called yet (the Maine Constitution requires an "immediate election" to fill State Senate vacancies but merely says that State House vacancies "may be filled by a new election", and Maine statute requires municipal officers (Board of Selectmen, City Council, etc.) in an affected municipality (so, the Bath City Council in this case, since the district is simply the City of Bath) to notify the Governor of the need to fill the vacancy), but will almost certainly be held on November 7.

Pretty safe D seat nowadays.  The guy who resigned himself won a special election in 2019, 975 votes (66.5%) to 491 (33.5%).  (Maine State Representatives only represent 9,022 people on average based on 2020 census figures, and when you couple that with an irregular election (I'm not sure if there was anything on the Bath municipal ballot) you can get low figures like these.)

Special election set to fill House District 50 seat

Committee nominating paperwork (for party candidates) / nominating petitions with at least 50 valid signatures (for non-party candidates) due: 5:00 p.m. on Friday, September 1, 2023

Write-in candidate declaration deadline: 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 6, 2023 (I've never seen a write-in candidate declare for a special election in the period when there have been such deadlines; until 2007 the deadline for a write-in candidate to declare was either non-existent (pre-1999) or was 3 days after the election; when you're only dealing with 1/151 of the state (population-wise as of the last census and so, very roughly, voter-wise), your chances of getting an eccentric individual to declare as a write-in diminish).

Election date: Tuesday, November 7, 2023

[Kevinstat]

https://twitter.com/ECaliberSeven/status/1694138207116390666?t=OzJfq38DttjrbVw7Y...

NH special election,  for a very blue seat. The special which could tie/flip the chamber, depending on how one tabulates the Independents, is next month.

That ME HD45 special election with the 2.5% D "overperformance" from the 2020 Presidential election was actually an R flip from 2022.  Of course, the D who resigned did so pretty much in disgrace, after falsifications in getting public "Clean Election" funding (without which the Republican nominee would likely have won this seat in 2022) were exposed (although ultimately the falsifications weren't as bad as had been thought and the felony charges were dropped; and yes, I know how plea deals work and it doesn't necessarily mean the guy didn't do the worse stuff but in this case the judge noted how the case was different from other violations of the Maine Clean Election Act that had resulted in heavier sentences).

[Kevinstat]

Bath Rep. Sean Paulhus resigns to take register of probate appointment

The special election hasn't been called yet (the Maine Constitution requires an "immediate election" to fill State Senate vacancies but merely says that State House vacancies "may be filled by a new election", and Maine statute requires municipal officers (Board of Selectmen, City Council, etc.) in an affected municipality (so, the Bath City Council in this case, since the district is simply the City of Bath) to notify the Governor of the need to fill the vacancy), but will almost certainly be held on November 7.

Pretty safe D seat nowadays.  The guy who resigned himself won a special election in 2019, 975 votes (66.5%) to 491 (33.5%).  (Maine State Representatives only represent 9,022 people on average based on 2020 census figures, and when you couple that with an irregular election (I'm not sure if there was anything on the Bath municipal ballot) you can get low figures like these.)

Special election set to fill House District 50 seat

Committee nominating paperwork (for party candidates) / nominating petitions with at least 50 valid signatures (for non-party candidates) due: 5:00 p.m. on Friday, September 1, 2023

Write-in candidate declaration deadline: 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 6, 2023 (I've never seen a write-in candidate declare for a special election in the period when there have been such deadlines; until 2007 the deadline for a write-in candidate to declare was either non-existent (pre-1999) or was 3 days after the election; when you're only dealing with 1/151 of the state (population-wise as of the last census and so, very roughly, voter-wise), your chances of getting an eccentric individual to declare as a write-in diminish).

Election date: Tuesday, November 7, 2023

Democrat running unopposed in Bath special election for Maine House seat

The deadline for write-in candidates to declare for the seat (so votes cast for them will be counted in the official results and not treated as blanks) was last Wednesday.  I don't know if anyone declared by the deadline.  It usually doesn't happen in State House special elections in Maine (only ~1/151 of the  potential vanity candidates in the state would live in the district), but in a situation where there's only one candidate on the ballot, it might be more likely.  Still, being the only candidate on the ballot would be a huge advantage, and it's a pretty safe Democratic seat nowadays anyway (which is perhaps why the Republicans didn't bother to field a candidate; maybe they feel this way they can keep some "momentum" from their pickup win in the Maine House District 45 special election in June).

[Kevinstat]

Maine State Representative Lois Galgay Reckitt (D-South Portland) died on October 30.  No special election has been called yet (the South Portland City Council would have to send a letter to the Governor asking her to call a special election, which will probably happen since there's over a year left on her term and the special election could coincide with Maine's Presidential Primary on March 5 (while such a date might benefit Republicans the seat is rock-solid D nowadays; it's on the northeast end of South Portland while it's the western end that used to sometimes elect Republicans into the mid-2000s (decade)).  Also, terms beginning on or after the third Wednesday in June of the odd year (so in the last ~73% of a term considering that terms start on the first Wednesday in December after the election) no longer count as terms for term-limits purposes under a law change enacted this year, so there's no reason why a prospective successor (and Rep. Reckitt or Galgay Reckitt (not sure if it was a dual but non-hyphenated last name or if she just liked to have her middle (and maiden) name shown on documents and such) would have been term-limited next year so people may already have been planning to run) wouldn't want to get into office sooner.