AUGUSTA, Maine — House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham kept his job on Friday despite a crowded leadership fight and a testy closed-door debate among Republicans.
It followed the best election since 2010 for House Republicans, who won 72 seats in the 151-member chamber on Tuesday. Yet Democrats won at least 76 seats to keep narrow control of the legislative and executive branches for the final two years of Gov. Janet Mills’ tenure.
That Republican improvement was not enough to avoid a leadership fight. Faulkingham’s main challenger was Rep. Mike Soboleski, R-Phillips, who ran unsuccessfully in this year’s 2nd Congressional District primary and operates a political committee that is funded by megadonor Thomas Klingenstein.
Faulkingham, a lobsterman from Winter Harbor, won the race on the first ballot against Soboleski and other candidates who were nominated from the floor during a private meeting in Augusta on Friday morning, according to a member who spoke on condition of anonymity to outline closed-door talks.
The member said outgoing Assistant House Minority Leader Amy Arata, R-New Gloucester, withdrew from the race against Faulkingham to endorse him and sharply criticize Soboleski. She ran to keep her No. 2 job but was defeated by Rep. Katrina Smith, R-Palermo.
Soboleski declined to comment on the debate, but he said that he was “very happy” that Smith won the No. 2 job and that she and Faulkingham would be a great team for Republicans.
“I’m just going to say my caucus wanted to go in a different direction,” Arata said Friday.
It was the second set of leaders to be finalized for the four legislative caucuses after Election Day. Senate Democrats nominated No. 3 member Mattie Daughtry of Brunswick to lead the chamber on Thursday, while House Democrats and Senate Republicans are expected to finalize their choices by next week.
The party nominating races happen behind closed doors, but the two chambers must formally vote in December to select the next House speaker and Senate president. Democrats have the votes to control the process as well as elect the next crop of constitutional officers.
BDN writer Billy Kobin contributed to this report.
