Democrat scores upset victory in Maine special election.
An upset win for a Democrat in a state Senate contest in midcoast Maine is being declared a sign of things to come. Privately, Democrats had acknowledged that Chris Johnson's bid for the District 20 seat, largely in Lincoln County, was against the odds as it had been held by Republicans for nearly a decade. On top of that, Johnson faced a popular incumbent GOP House member in Dana Dow, who had held the Senate seat before. Johnson's victory now has Democrats pronouncing that the win is a harbinger of things to come in November. But Republicans say they expect to retain their majority this fall.
Democratic leaders from the Maine Senate were sporting ear-to-ear grins at a State House press conference that some thought would never have been called.
"We are are here today to congratulate and welcome senator-elect Chris Johnson from Lincoln County," said Ben Grant, state chairman of the Maine Democratic Party to cheers.
Johnson had won the District 20 seat that was vacated by Republican state Sen. David Trahan, who last year took a job as executive director of the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine. Republicans were confident that they had a lock on the seat, a longtime GOP stronghold. After all, they had state Rep. Dana Dow of Waldoboro, a moderate Republican who once held the Senate seat before running for the House in 2010.
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Johnson's win means that Assistant Senate Majority Leader Debra Plowman of Hampden has seen her five-seat majority in the Senate drop to a four-seat margin. "We're the people that are going to get hit hard, obviously, because we're making some really hard choices that are not very popular with the special interests," Plowman says.
