AUGUSTA — Democrats said Wednesday that voters showed they are tired of Republican rule in Augusta by electing Christopher Johnson to represent a Republican-leaning Senate district in Lincoln County.

Johnson, a Democrat from Somerville, got 54 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s special election to defeat Rep. Dana Dow, R-Waldoboro, and take the Senate District 20 seat that Republicans had held for nearly 10 years.

Republican David Trahan of Waldoboro held the seat until Dec. 31, when he stepped down to become executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine.

During a news conference Wednesday at the State House, Maine Democratic Party Chairman Ben Grant said, “Last night’s upset victory sent a loud and clear message to Augusta and the people of Maine. … The Republican majority is out of touch with Maine people.”

Dow, a well-known local business owner and a moderate Republican, said Democrats won because they ran against Gov. Paul LePage.

“I think there was a referendum on the second floor,” he said, referring to the governor’s office. “It was pure politics.”

Senate District 20 covers 19 towns in Lincoln County, two in Knox County and the Kennebec County town of Windsor. Turnout for Tuesday’s election was low, with about 6,270 votes cast. A total of 19,530 votes were cast in the district in the general election of 2010.

The low turnout was a factor in Johnson’s win, said Maine Republican Party Chairman Charlie Webster. He said he believes that Johnson worked hard and it paid off, but that the outcome in no way shows a shift in the electorate.

“That doesn’t change the fact that the next election will be about the welfare state,” Webster said. “If they want a welfare state, they will vote Democratic. If they want help for their families, they will vote Republican.”

Republican groups supporting Dow spent more than $26,000 on the race, while Democrats spent about $6,200, according to campaign finance reports. Grant said Johnson’s win, despite being outspent 4-to-1, is another indication of voters’ frustration.

Republicans remain in control of the Senate, now with a slightly smaller majority of 19-15-1.

Jim Melcher, a political science professor at the University of Maine at Farmington, called the win interesting, particularly in light of Dow’s name recognition in the district.

But, he said, “Saying from one election that voters are voting to repudiate Augusta is a bit of a stretch.”

Unofficial results released by Democrats, and updated by the Kennebec Journal, show Johnson with a 466-vote margin of victory, 3,368 to 2,902. Johnson is expected to take his Senate seat today.

Dow, a former state senator who runs Dow Furniture in Waldoboro and Augusta, was widely seen as the favorite to win the seat that Trahan vacated.

He addressed the House chamber Wednesday, thanking his supporters and reiterating his intention to continue to serve in the House.

Johnson, 55, is a director of information technology for DeskNet, a technology company based in Portland and Jersey City, N.J., and is a former employee of Central Maine Power Co. When he first ran for the Senate seat, in 2010, he finished a distant second to Trahan in a three-way race.

Johnson represents Somerville on the board of directors for Sheepscot Valley Regional School Unit 12, and served on the Lincoln County Regional Planning Committee. He has been the moderator of Somerville’s annual town meeting for many years.

“What I heard from constituents, while knocking on thousands of doors this winter, was the Legislature needs to focus once again on the real problems most important to Maine people,” Johnson said. “Getting people back to work, and creating jobs that keep our kids in Maine.”

He said voters also told him it’s important to take care of senior citizens and the poor without “pitting one group of Mainers against another.”

MaineToday Media State House Writer Susan M. Cover can be contacted at 620-7015 or at:

scover@mainetoday.com

 

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