AUGUSTA — Maine’s two incumbent U.S. representatives, Chellie Pingree and Mike Michaud, breezed to new terms on Tuesday as they defeated state Senate leaders who sought to recapture for Republicans House seats long held by Democrats.

Pingree had 66 percent of the vote with 57 percent of the precincts in southern Maine’s 1st Congressional District counted, easily defeating Jon Courtney. In the 2nd District, Michaud had 60 percent of the votes in his race against Republican Kevin Raye with votes in 42 percent of the districts counted.

Pingree said she was “gratified the voters would give me an opportunity to serve again,” adding, “There’s a tremendous amount of work to be done in Congress.”

Tops on her list is a bill to help the country’s farms, but the biggest challenge is the deficit.

Courtney congratulated Pingree for her win in a cleanly run race and expressed hope newly elected House members can work together to solve the nation’s problems, Courtney’s spokesman Keith Herrick said.

Michaud said he was not surprised at his margin over Raye after receiving positive reactions as he traveled through the district in recent weeks. He also said he spoke with Angus King, the independent who won Maine’s U.S. Senate race, after beating Raye.

“I wished him good luck and said I look forward to working with him on the issues that are important to Maine,” said Michaud, who as a legislator worked with King for eight years while King was governor. “We didn’t always agree, but we were able to sit down and work out our differences.”

Raye, asked if he was surprised by Michaud’s margin of victory, pointed to Democratic wins all over the country and said he’s “surprised the country would embrace such a significant shift to the left.”

Raye also said he hoped Michaud “would take a less partisan posture” in his next term and give more consideration to small business issues.

The two incumbents went into the election with the edge of name recognition, which incumbency rewards. Campaigns for Pingree and Michaud were also better financed.

Voters in the liberal-leaning 1st District habitually go with Democratic representatives, having elected only one Republican — James Longley Jr. in 1994 — since 1986. The campaign between Pingree and Courtney was relatively low key, with Pingree riding on her progressive credentials and Courtney highlighting regulatory reform and other job creation issues he worked on in the Legislature.

Pingree is married to wealthy financier S. Donald Sussman, majority owner of the Maine Today Media newspapers in the state.

Voters in the sprawling 2nd District, which covers all except a southern coastal swath of Maine, awarded Michaud, of East Millinocket, with a sixth term.

Raye, of Perry, is owner of a Down East mustard company and current president of the Maine Senate. He also faced Michaud a decade ago.

Michaud, a former paper mill worker, stressed his efforts to help veterans and to protect Maine’s manufacturing jobs from unfair international competition.

Raye, as a small business owner, stressed his support for pro-business issues and trumpeted his endorsements by business organizations, while tagging Michaud as someone who’s lost touch with constituents.

The 2nd District seat has been occupied by Democrats since 1994 but previously was held by Republican Olympia Snowe for 16 years before she was elected to the Senate.

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