After serving in the position for more than 11 years, Hancock County Sheriff Scott Kane did not file paperwork by Monday’s deadline to run in the Republican primary to keep his job.
Two candidates with ties to the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department have filed to run in June’s primaries for the county’s top elected law enforcement official: Democrat Dakota Dupuis, a current lieutenant, and Republican Corey Bagley, a former chief deputy whose departure heightened years-long tension between Kane and commissioner William Clark.
Kane, who has held the position since 2015, did not file papers to run in the primary by the 5 p.m. Monday deadline.
Kane did not respond to inquiries Monday from the Bangor Daily News.
Kane and Clark, who preceded Kane as sheriff from 1980 through 2014, have a record of clashing at county commissioner meetings.
A little over a year ago, one of Kane and Clark’s recurring disagreements boiled over when the sheriff criticized Clark on Facebook for opposing the department’s request to fill one of its two budgeted K-9 positions.
The post publicized an ongoing rift between the current and former sheriffs.
After Bagley left his chief deputy position in 2023, Clark accused Kane of forcing Bagley out to re-hire his brother, Patrick Kane, who retired from the chief deputy position in October 2022.
Kane denied the allegation and said Bagley — who later became an Ellsworth police detective — had voluntarily retired. Kane’s brother declined the chief deputy position after commissioners, under Clark’s direction, offered him part-time wages without benefits.
Kane’s disagreements haven’t only been with Clark. Last year, the sheriff ordered an investigation into a Democratic lawmaker accused of illegally campaigning at a polling place.
A prosecutor later dismissed the charge against Rep. Nina Milliken, D-Blue Hill.
Milliken called for Kane’s resignation in 2021 when he temporarily barred Healthy Acadia from offering addiction services to jail inmates after the Ellsworth nonprofit issued a statement in support of Black Lives Matter, which Kane called a “terrorist group.”
Bagley filed in January 2025 to run for his former boss’ position. His campaign has so far raised about $4,600, according to the Maine Ethics Commission.
His opponent filed to run as a Democrat in November 2025. Dupuis, who has so far raised just over $4,300 in campaign donations, rose to lieutenant in February 2024, after Bagley’s departure triggered a string of promotions within the department.
Monday’s filing deadline was only to run in primary elections in June as a candidate for nominations by either the Democratic or Republican parties. Candidates running as independents — without an official party nomination — have until June 1 to submit paperwork to the state to get their names on the November ballot.
