Incumbent State Sen. Bill Diamond defeated his Republican challenger Lani Kelly by a 2-to-1 margin in District 12, which covers the towns of Windham, Standish, Raymond, Casco, Frye Island and Hollis.
In Windham, Diamond won by a margin of 4,402 to 2,128. In Raymond, he won 1,318 to 729 votes. In Casco, Diamond won 981 to 602 votes. In Standish, Diamond won 2,180 to 1,365. In Hollis, Diamond won 1,071 votes to 664.
Frye Island, which has 112 voters, had not filed its election returns as of press time.
Diamond said he was “humbled and pleased” with the results, which, he added, was the greatest margin by which he has ever won.
Diamond attributes his victory to issues he pursued in the last legislative session, including Tina’s Law and Jessica’s Law. Tina’s Law enforced tougher sentences on drivers with suspended licenses. Jessica’s Law, which passed in a weaker form, enforced tougher penalties on sex offenders.
Diamond, a Democrat, got an overwhelming majority of voter support in Windham, the majority of whom voted for the Republican gubernatorial candidate, Chandler Woodcock, and the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.
“People in Windham don’t vote party line, they vote for the person and they’ve demonstrated that time and time again,” Diamond said.
This will be Diamond’s second straight term and fourth overall in the Maine Senate.
Diamond said he will focus on Maine’s sex offender laws, as well as work to bring meaningful tax reform.
He wants to work to “harden the penalties” in Tina’s Law and bring commercial and commuter rail to the Lakes Region.
“I feel that could be a tremendous asset to the entire region,” Diamond said.
Diamond’s opponent, Lani Kelly, said she was surprised by the race results, and she is ready to get to the “next race.”
I’m going to wake up tomorrow and see what lands on my plate,” Kelly said.
Kelly said she put a lot of energy into the District 12 race because “I think we need to have Diamond out for a number of reasons.”
Kelly said she met a lot of “hurting Mainers” and hopes her campaign and election issues such as the Taxpayer Bill of Rights “lit a fire under the people.”
If she could have changed a part of her campaign strategy, she said she would have “utilized volunteers better than I did. I would activate more people. There were plenty of good people who would have liked for me to tell them how they could work for me. I should have done that more. So that was a good learning experience.”
Kelly said she will be back.
“Anything I do will definitely be political,” Kelly said. “It’s in my blood. There’s too much going on in my state and there’s plenty to do here.”
Kelly said she will continue to be in the public eye on Standish radio station 97.1 FM WJZF. She hosts a talk show that deals with politics and social issues.
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