Former state lawmaker Sean Faircloth held a Bangor-area seat in the Maine House of Representatives for Democrats by a landslide margin in a Tuesday special election.
Faircloth won 71.6 percent of votes to 28.3 percent for Republican Carolyn Fish, according to unofficial returns provided to Decision Desk HQ, the Bangor Daily News’ election results partner. The seat was last held by Democrat Joe Perry, who left it in December to become state treasurer.
The Democratic win restores the 76-seat House majority that the party had after Election Day. Republicans have 73 members alongside two left-leaning independents. Faircloth will give his party a slightly bigger buffer entering a fraught debate over Gov. Janet Mills’ two-year budget.
Faircloth’s win in the district spanning Veazie and parts of Bangor, Orono and Brewer was expected after Perry carried it by 29 percentage points in November. But Republicans saw Fish, a Bangor city councilor and real estate agent, as a solid recruit who raised nearly $19,000 in a difficult seat at an odd time of the year.
Faircloth briefly ran for governor in 2018 and for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District in 2002. He is known for founding the Maine Discovery Museum in Bangor and as the executive director of the Together Place Peer Run Recovery Center until 2023. He mentioned climate, women’s rights, economic development and affordable housing among his top issues.
“Sean has demonstrated common sense, compassion, and the ability to work with everybody to get things done,” House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, said in a statement.
