A Lamoine lawyer has filed to run for Hancock County probate judge as a Democratic write-in candidate.
Brian Thomas, a former archeologist who became a lawyer in 2016, will challenge Matthew Foster, a former district attorney who lost re-election after he was caught lying about being investigated by the Maine attorney general’s office.
The pair are vying for a seat currently held by William B. Blaisdell IV, who recently turned himself into Hancock County jail on an arrest warrant after missing court for overdue child support payments to his ex-wife.
Blasidell, who faced multiple contempt of court orders in his contentious divorce, has been suspended from practicing law or presiding over the bench — but he is still listed as the probate judge on the county website.
Thomas, who says his law practice primarily handles land trust matters like land acquisitions and conservation easements, filed in late March to become an official Democratic write-in candidate for the June primary election. He will need at least 300 write-in votes to become the party’s nominee in the November general election.
Thomas has started coordinating with the Hancock County Democratic Committee, but the group was not involved in his decision to run, he said. The committee previously said they were unable to find a qualified candidate to run for the office.
The 13-year Lamoine resident decided to run for the probate seat after learning that no Democratic candidate was challenging Foster, he said.
“I really thought people should have a choice in this election,” Thomas said. “It’s not a big, high-profile position, it’s part-time, mostly private hearings, but I think it would be good to have a judge of probate that never shows up on the front page of the newspaper.”
Thomas provided paperwork to the Bangor Daily News to show he has been certified as an official write-in candidate by the secretary of state’s office.
Thomas, who was born in New Jersey but estimates he’s lived in 13 states since then, received his law degree from Georgia State University College of Law in 2013 after an over two decade career as an archeologist and consultant for academic and private institutions.
Between 2005 and 2013, Thomas served in the Georgia General Assembly as an elected state representative, before resigning his seat to move up to Maine.
The attorney has been practicing law for a decade now, though — because his firm specializes in land trust matters — he’s handled only a few probate matters, he said.
If he’s nominated by the Democratic party, Thomas will face Foster in the November general election.
Foster was investigated by the state Attorney General’s office in 2017 and 2018 for allegedly inappropriately touching a 13-year-old girl who was living with him at the time. The former top prosecutor, who served Hancock and Washington Counties before his 2022 loss to current District Attorney Robert Granger, has never been charged with a crime and has denied the allegations.
Although Thomas is running for the probate judge seat, he doesn’t think judges should be elected and supported the recent bill — which failed in late March — to overhaul the state’s probate system.
“I think electing judges is really not a good idea and having elections on a partisan ballot for the position of judges is really ridiculous from my perspective,” Thomas said. “I was very disappointed that the State Senate did not pass the proposal to turn those positions into appointed positions with real staff and real oversight. But we live with the system we have.”
