AUBURN — Edouard Plourde of Lewiston retained his District 1 seat on the Androscoggin County Commission on Tuesday in a special election to fill the final two years of a four-year term.
District 1 includes much of downtown Lewiston.
Plourde finished with 2,395 votes, while Republican challenger Bret Martel had 1,511.
Plourde, 70, was appointed to the seat last year following the resignation of Noel Madore. A former member of the Lewiston City Council, the Democrat has served on many boards, including the Rotary Club, Androscoggin Land Trust treasurer, Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport past board chairman and the University of Southern Maine Lewiston-Auburn College advisory board. He serves on the board of Museum L-A.
Seeking elected office for the first time, Martel, 39, is co-founder and director at The Kindness Collective of Maine, a privately funded, nonprofit organization that helps support domestic violence survivors, struggling veterans and the general homeless population in Lewiston.
In District 7, which includes Leeds, Livermore, Livermore Falls, Minot and Turner, Sally Christner, a Republican from Turner who is chairman of the county commission, appeared headed to a third term. With four of five towns reporting, Christner held a commanding 4,252 to 2,163 lead over Democrat Amanda Ricci of Livermore Falls.
Six of the seven seats on the commission were up for election Tuesday.
In District 3, which includes Greene, Durham and south and east Lewiston, Republican Brian Ames was running for reelection against Democrat William Coffin.
With Durham still not reporting its votes late Tuesday night, Ames appeared headed to a second term. He enjoyed a comfortable 1,432-680 cushion in Greene and avoided a huge blue wave of Democrat victories in Lewiston by edging Coffin, 1,607-1,473.
District 4, which includes Lisbon, Sabattus and Wales, Republican Garrett Mason, who was appointed to the seat less than a year ago, was facing Democrat Greg Bianconi. Mason swept all three towns to grab 62% of the vote with a 4,374-2,704 margin.
Independent John Michael was running for reelection against Democrat Andrew Lewis in District 5, which includes east and downtown Auburn and New Auburn. There were no results from Auburn late Tuesday night.
Democrat Roland Poirier of Lewiston ran unopposed for his District 2 seat.
Two other county officials were unopposed in their races: Eric Samson as sheriff and Michael Dubois as Judge of Probate.
A detailed map of the county districts: https://www.maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/2013/CountyCommissioner/and.pdf
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