York County Republican Committee Chairman Jim Deyermond will be the new state party chairman after ousting one-term leader Joel Stetkis in a narrow Saturday vote.
It marked the second-straight party election in which the Maine Republican Party’s state committee has changed leaders. The move came after Republicans had a solid 2024 election cycle but fell just short of beating Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Golden in the conservative-leaning 2nd District and remained in the minority in both legislative chambers.
The party’s Saturday leadership elections in Augusta featured four candidates and required two rounds of voting. Stetkis had a narrow lead in the first round but was beaten 42-37 by Deyermond after the two other candidates were eliminated.
Republicans were still electing a vice chair and other party offices on Saturday afternoon. Deyermond, a former Massachusetts State Police sergeant who now lives in Sanford, was expected to issue a statement on the vote by the end of the day.
Stetkis won the job in 2023 by ousting three-term chair Demi Kouzounas. During that race, he criticized the party for a “top-down” approach that focused on candidates like former Gov. Paul LePage, who lost to Gov. Janet Mills the year before, to the detriment of legislative candidates. This leadership election played out far less publicly than that one.
The Maine Democratic Party is also set to change leaders, with chair Bev Uhlenhake of Brewer announcing this week that she was stepping down after one term for personal and professional reasons. Portland City Councilor April Fournier and Leeds lawyer Charles Dingman are running to replace her in leadership elections scheduled for Jan. 26.
