AUGUSTA, Maine — The 132nd Legislature met Wednesday in Augusta to swear in members and elect the Democratic-nominated constitutional officers, a largely ceremonial day that followed drama surrounding how Republicans selected their attorney general nominee.
The swearing-in process ahead of legislative business beginning in January came a day after the final recount of a Nov. 5 election race concluded. Democrats, who have controlled the State House and governor’s office since 2018, saw their majorities narrow to a 76-73 advantage in the House, with two independents, and to a 20-15 edge in the Senate.
The Legislature voted Wednesday for Attorney General Aaron Frey to continue in the role he has held since 2018, after Democrats nominated him by secret ballot Tuesday over challenger Maeghan Maloney, the district attorney for Kennebec and Somerset counties. Rep. Joe Perry, D-Bangor, will become the Maine state treasurer after beating House Majority Leader Mo Terry, D-Gorham. Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and Maine State Auditor Matt Dunlap did not face Democratic challengers for the positions they have held since 2021.
Each chamber has new Democratic leadership after House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, and Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, were termed out. Members elected former House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, to once again hold the gavel in the lower chamber and elected Assistant Senate Majority Leader Mattie Daughtry, D-Brunswick, to lead the upper chamber.
House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor, and Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart, R-Presque Isle, will continue in their leadership roles.
Republicans nominated former Maine Attorney General Bill Schneider, who served from 2011 to 2013, to compete for Frey’s position but did not have the numbers to elect him. The closed-door nomination process featured some drama after the Maine Republican Party initially said in a Nov. 26 news release that Bobby Charles, a Wayne native who served as assistant secretary of state for international narcotics and law enforcement affairs under former President George W. Bush, would be the party’s attorney general pick.
But several Republican lawmakers said the party overstepped by publishing that news release last month. Maine Republican Party Executive Director Jason Savage did not respond Wednesday to a request for comment.
Charles, who is mulling a run for governor in 2026, said during a Wednesday morning interview on WVOM he did not know what happened behind the scenes, adding it was “above my pay grade” and he had “a feeling it has to do with personalities or something.”
“I was told people were shocked,” Charles said. “But you know what, it’s really not my call.”
Faulkingham said Schneider, a Durham resident and Army veteran who previously was a state lawmaker, assistant U.S. attorney and district court judge, was “the better candidate here.”
“They both have a good resume, but Bobby’s is in D.C. and Schneider’s is here in Maine,” Faulkingham said by text message Wednesday.
Bellows beat the Republican nominee for secretary of state, Sawin Millett, a longtime lawmaker and former state commissioner from Waterford who earlier this year finished his final term in the Legislature that he was first elected to in 1968.
Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, noted 36 members are “brand new” to the Legislature while speaking to incoming legislators Tuesday evening during a banquet and reception at the Augusta Civic Center. The Legislature has members ranging in age from 25 to 79.
Mills mentioned a range of issues the Legislature will likely tackle ahead of a statutory end date of June 18, 2025, such as housing, rising property taxes and health care. Mills reiterated she plans on proposing a state budget in the coming weeks “that is lean and that maintains, to the greatest extent possible, commitments the Legislature has already made.”
“As you consider my budget proposal and other legislation before you,” Mills said, “I urge you to keep the long-term fiscal stability of our state as a high priority.”
