Maine Governor
Tue, Nov 3 · Governor Janet T. Mills Democratic since Jan 2019 (not a candidate in 2026)
3 candidates on the printed ballot. Sorted by last name.
- Rick Bennett IndependentIndependent
- Robert B. Charles RepublicanRepublican
- Hannah M. Pingree DemocraticDemocratic
Average of 10 polls, Aug 28 to Oct 26, from VoteHub · how it’s calculatedNewest · CNN/SSRS, field dates Oct 20 to Oct 26, released Oct 29, 783 likely votersPolls updated Oct 31, 4:06 a.m. ET, from VoteHub
Pingree 48.9Charles 38.5Bennett 7.3
Polls over time
17 polls, through Election Day Nov 3The thick line is the 7-week average, not a forecast. How it’s calculated. All polls. Polls updated Oct 31, 4:06 a.m. ET, from VoteHub.
The polls in this chart (17)
4 polls released in the last 14 days · latest results range from 44 to 53% (D), 36 to 44% (R) and 6 to 11% (I) (newest 5 polls on the chart)
17 of the 18 polls for this race, each naming a candidate, plotted on the field end date.
| Pollster | Field dates | Released | Sample | Pingree | Charles | Bennett |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CNN/SSRS | Oct 20 to Oct 26 | Oct 29 | 783 likely voters | 53 | 39 | — |
| Marist University | Oct 22 to Oct 25 | Oct 27 | — | 44 | 44 | 6 |
| Echelon Insights | Oct 16 to Oct 23 | Oct 27 | 413 likely voters | 51 | 38 | 7 |
| Beacon Research/Shaw & Co. Research | Oct 16 to Oct 20 | Oct 23 | 1,514 likely voters | 49 | 39 | 9 |
| The Washington Post/George Mason University School of Policy and Government | Sep 30 to Oct 5 | Oct 9 | 800 likely voters | 49 | 36 | 11 |
| Marist University | Oct 1 to Oct 4 | Oct 6 | 1,505 registered voters | 52 | 40 | 6 |
| co/efficient | Sep 28 to Sep 30 | Oct 1 | 1,240 likely voters | 47 | 38 | 6 |
| Fabrizio, Lee & Associates/Impact Research | Sep 20 to Sep 22 | Oct 2 | 982 likely voters | 52 | 39 | 6 |
| The New York Times/Siena University | Sep 15 to Sep 22 | Sep 25 | 619 likely voters | 47 | 34 | 8 |
| University of New Hampshire | Sep 17 to Sep 21 | Oct 8 | 1,312 likely voters | 48 | 40 | 5 |
| University of Massachusetts Lowell Center for Public Opinion/YouGov | Aug 28 to Sep 14 | Sep 24 | 650 likely voters | 49 | 38 | — |
| YouGov | Sep 2 to Sep 8 | Sep 10 | 1,334 likely voters | 47 | 36 | 2 |
| Beacon Research/Shaw & Co. Research | Aug 6 to Aug 10 | Aug 13 | 1,000 registered voters | 49 | 38 | 9 |
| University of New Hampshire | Jul 15 to Jul 20 | Jul 22 | 1,178 likely voters | 49 | 35 | 6 |
| Beacon Research/Shaw & Co. Research | Jun 23 to Jun 27 | Jul 1 | 1,003 registered voters | 53 | 42 | — |
| The New York Times/Siena University | Jun 19 to Jun 26 | Jun 30 | 608 likely voters | 50 | 36 | 8 |
| The New York Times/Siena University | Jun 19 to Jun 26 | Jun 30 | 608 likely voters | 55 | 40 | — |
Polls left off the chart (1 of 18)
| Poll | Why it is not on the chart |
|---|---|
| The Public Sentiment InstituteJun 8 | Names fewer than two candidates on this ballot (lists Nirav Shah, Robert Charles) |
What changed in this race
Newest firstNEW POLLMaine Governor
Maine Governor: Hannah Pingree 53, Bobby Charles 39
CNN/SSRS, Oct 20 to Oct 26, 783 likely voters
NEW POLLMaine Governor
Maine Governor: Hannah Pingree 51, Bobby Charles 38
Echelon Insights, Oct 16 to Oct 23, 413 likely voters
More about this race
Candidates on the ballot
- Hannah M. PingreeDemocratic
- Robert B. CharlesRepublican
- Rick BennettIndependent
Source: maine.gov, dated Oct 28
Vote in Maine
Trouble voting? Election Protection hotline: 866-OUR-VOTE. A nonpartisan coalition of civil-rights and voting-rights groups, not a government service. 866ourvote.org
History (5 elections for this seat)
- Votes for listed candidates
- 676,819
- Election day
- November 8, 2022
Governor, Maine, 2022, every candidate Candidate Party Votes and share Share DemocraticJanet T. MillsWon(incumbent) Democratic 376,93455.7% RepublicanPaul R. Lepage Republican 287,30442.4% IndependentSam Hunkler Independent 12,5811.9% - Votes for listed candidates
- 630,667
- Election day
- November 6, 2018
Governor, Maine, 2018, every candidate Candidate Party Votes and share Share DemocraticJanet T. MillsWon Democratic 320,96250.9% RepublicanShawn H. Moody Republican 272,31143.2% IndependentTeresea M. Hayes Independent 37,2685.9% Scattered write-ins 1260.0% - Votes for listed candidates
- 611,148
- Election day
- November 4, 2014
Governor, Maine, 2014, every candidate Candidate Party Votes and share Share RepublicanPaul R. LepageWon(incumbent) Republican 294,51948.2% DemocraticMike Michaud Democratic 265,11443.4% IndependentEliot R. Cutler Independent 51,5158.4% - Votes for listed candidates
- 564,142
- Election day
- November 2, 2010
Governor, Maine, 2010, every candidate Candidate Party Votes and share Share RepublicanPaul R. LepageWon Republican 218,06538.7% IndependentEliot R. Cutler Independent 208,27036.9% DemocraticLibby Mitchell Democratic 103,38718.3% IndependentShawn H. Moody Independent 28,7565.1% IndependentKevin L. Scott Independent 5,6641.0% - Votes for listed candidates
- 550,865
- Election day
- November 7, 2006
Governor, Maine, 2006, every candidate Candidate Party Votes and share Share DemocraticJohn Elias BaldacciWon(incumbent) Democratic 209,92738.1% RepublicanChandler E. Woodcock Republican 166,42530.2% OtherBarbara E. Merrill Independent 118,71521.6% GreenPat Lamarche Grn-I 52,6909.6% OtherPhillip Morris Napier Tax Equity Rebell 3,1080.6%
2006 to 2022: Cha, Kuriwaki and Snyder, Candidates in American General Elections, version 3.1 (2006-2023 governor rows), retrieved Oct 28, 2026. Compiled by Cha, Kuriwaki and Snyder (Harvard Dataverse) from official returns; not an official source
Governor races before 2006 are not on file.
Data notes (17)
- Source priority per race: (1) a state election office's own certified results parsed in scripts/data/gov_results.py (NJ Division of Elections PDFs, Virginia Department of Elections, the Civera ElectionStats databases run by CT, VA, VT, CO, NY, NM and SC, the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, the NC State Board of Elections archive); (2) the open Cha/Kuriwaki/Snyder 'Candidates in American General Elections' file (Harvard Dataverse, CC0), which copies each state's statement of vote; (3) OpenElections county files and the 2020 Dataverse official-results tables, used only to add named candidates the Dataverse file omitted and to add the write-in count; (4) MEDSL precinct sums, used the same way and only when their Democratic and Republican totals agree with the Dataverse rows to 0.3 percent. Each race's source is listed in web/data/sources/gov-results.json.
- total is the sum of the candidate rows in the file, and pct is votes divided by that total, rounded to one decimal. Blank, void, over and under votes are never in total. Write-in votes are in total as a 'Write-ins' row (writein: true) wherever a source reports them: the official databases, OpenElections, and MEDSL precinct returns. The Dataverse file leaves write-ins out, so MEDSL's write-in sum is added when MEDSL's count for every named candidate equals the Dataverse count exactly (for example AK 2022, 784 write-ins, and AL 2022, 9,432, both matching the state's statement of vote). Each race's source ids are in the race's source and sourceAlso fields and in the gov-results-<st> entry of sources.json.
- 151 races not taken from a state's own results file have no write-in row. Either the state counted no write-ins, or the sources on file leave them out (MEDSL's precinct sums did not match every named candidate exactly, or MEDSL has no file for that year); where they were left out, total is short by the write-ins and pct can run slightly above the state's printed percentage: AK 2006, AK 2010, AK 2014, AL 2006, AL 2010, AL 2014, AL 2018, AR 2006, AR 2014, AR 2018, AR 2022, AZ 2002, AZ 2014, AZ 2022, CA 2014, CA 2018, CA 2022, DE 2008, DE 2012, DE 2016, DE 2020, DE 2024, GA 2014, GA 2018, HI 2006, HI 2010, HI 2014, HI 2018, HI 2022, IA 2006, IA 2010, IA 2014, ID 1998, ID 2006, ID 2010, ID 2022, IL 2010, IL 2014, IL 2018, IN 2004, IN 2008, IN 2012, IN 2016, IN 2020, KS 2006, KS 2010, KS 2014, KS 2018, KS 2022, KY 2007, KY 2011, KY 2015, KY 2019, LA 2007, LA 2011, LA 2015, LA 2019, LA 2023, MD 2006, MD 2014, MD 2022, ME 2006, ME 2010, ME 2014, ME 2022, MI 2006, MI 2010, MI 2014, MI 2022, MN 2006, MN 2010, MN 2014, MO 2020, MS 2007, MS 2011, MS 2015, MS 2019, MS 2023, MT 2000, MT 2004, MT 2008, MT 2012, MT 2016, MT 2020, MT 2024, ND 2008, NE 2006, NE 2010, NE 2014, NE 2018, NE 2022, NH 2008, NH 2010, NH 2012, NH 2014, NH 2024, NM 2010, NV 2006, NV 2010, NV 2014, NV 2018, NV 2022, OH 2014, OH 2018, OK 2006, OK 2010, OK 2014, OK 2018, OK 2022, OR 2006, OR 2010, OR 2014, OR 2018, OR 2022, PA 2002, PA 2006, PA 2010, PA 2014, PA 2018, PA 2022, RI 2006, RI 2010, RI 2014, SC 2006, SD 2006, SD 2010, SD 2014, SD 2018, SD 2022, TX 2014, TX 2018, TX 2022, UT 2008, UT 2010, UT 2012, UT 2020, WA 2008, WA 2012, WA 2016, WI 2006, WI 2010, WI 2014, WI 2018, WV 2008, WV 2011, WV 2012, WV 2016, WV 2020, WV 2024, WY 2002, WY 2006.
- party is D, R, I, L, G, O or N from the party label in the source; party_label keeps the source's wording. The Dataverse file prints short labels (Lbt, Grn, Const, DFL, NPA); those are expanded to Libertarian, Green, Constitution, Democratic-Farmer-Labor and No Party Affiliation. Fusion candidates (NY, CT, SC, and the Democratic-Progressive line in VT) are one candidate with all of their ballot lines added together.
- Names: the Dataverse file stores 'LAST, FIRST MIDDLE (NICKNAME), SUFFIX'; the display name uses the nickname when there is one (Josh Shapiro, Bob Riley) and otherwise the given names. All-caps source names were title-cased by rule and can be wrong for internal capitals (DiGiulio, DeWine). Official lists that print only surnames (NJ 1997; MA tickets from 2010 on) take the full name from the Dataverse row of the same race where the surname and party match, otherwise stay surname-only.
- incumbent is true or false only for races built from the Dataverse file (it carries an incumbency code; code 3, a governor who succeeded to the office, is treated as incumbent). It is null for official-source races and for candidates added from OpenElections or MEDSL.
- Louisiana uses an open primary with a runoff. One race per election is stored: the round that decided it (the October primary when someone won more than 50 percent, otherwise the November runoff, marked runoff:true). Exact dates for those rounds come from the Dataverse/official files where present and are set in the script otherwise (LA_DATES); check them before showing a date.
- Recall elections (Wisconsin June 2012, California September 2021) are not included. Only regular and special general elections for the office are stored; primaries and runoff primaries are not.
- scripts/data/federal_results.py, if it is re-run, rewrites every web/data/results/governor/{ST}.json to []. Run scripts/data/gov_results.py after it, or remove build_governor() from that script.
- ME: No governor general-election result in this file for 4 of 9 expected election years between 1990 and 2025: 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002. No open or official bulk source was found and parsed for them yet; they are gaps, not zeroes.
- 2006: built from the Dataverse candidates file only; no second source agreed with it at candidate level, so a minor-party candidate who is missing from that file would be missing here too
- 2010: built from the Dataverse candidates file only; no second source agreed with it at candidate level, so a minor-party candidate who is missing from that file would be missing here too
- 2014: built from the Dataverse candidates file only; no second source agreed with it at candidate level, so a minor-party candidate who is missing from that file would be missing here too
- 2022: built from the Dataverse candidates file only; no second source agreed with it at candidate level, so a minor-party candidate who is missing from that file would be missing here too (MEDSL precinct sums disagreed on D 376934 vs 375332, so they were not used)
- Candidate name is the sitting governor's officials-file spelling for 16 rows (the race's winner, same state, race within the governor's tenure, same surname and a compatible first name). Text encoding and casing are repaired by scripts/data/names.py.
- Governor races earlier than the first year listed are not loaded yet for 50 states (AK from 2006; AL from 2006; AR from 2002; AZ from 2002; CA from 2002; CO from 1990; CT from 1990; DE from 2008; FL from 1990; GA from 2002; HI from 2006; IA from 2002; ID from 1994; IL from 2006; IN from 2004; KS from 2006; KY from 2007; LA from 2007; MA from 1990; MD from 2006; ME from 2006; MI from 2006; MN from 2006; MO from 2008; MS from 2007; MT from 2000; NC from 1992; ND from 2008; NE from 2006; NH from 2006; NJ from 1993; NM from 2002; NV from 2006; NY from 1994; OH from 2002; OK from 2006; OR from 2006; PA from 2002; RI from 2006; SC from 2006; SD from 2006; TN from 2002; TX from 1994; UT from 2008; VA from 1993; VT from 1990; WA from 2008; WI from 2006; WV from 2000; WY from 2002). The sources on file start later; nothing was filled in from memory. Each governor page says so under History.
- 1 duplicate candidate rows merged: a 0-vote placeholder row beside the real row is dropped. governor/CO 2022 Paul Noël Fiorino
Download and cite
Cite this page
Election Wrld. (2026). Governor of Maine. https://www.electionwrld.com/me/governor. Retrieved October 31, 2026.
Sources
Sources: Wikidata SPARQL (governor position holders, party) (CC0-1.0), retrieved Oct 28, 2026, compiled by the Wikidata community (not an official source; to be cross-checked against official governor pages) from official returns, not an official source; 3 U.S.C. 1, 2 U.S.C. 1 and 7: Election Day, first Tuesday after the first Monday in November (US government work, public domain), retrieved Oct 28, 2026; Cha, Kuriwaki and Snyder, Candidates in American General Elections, version 3.1 (2006-2023 governor rows) (CC0 1.0), retrieved Oct 28, 2026, compiled by Cha, Kuriwaki and Snyder (Harvard Dataverse) from official returns, not an official source; Cha, Kuriwaki and Snyder, Candidates in American General Elections, version 4.1 (2024 governor rows) (CC0 1.0), retrieved Oct 28, 2026, compiled by Cha, Kuriwaki and Snyder (Harvard Dataverse) from official returns, not an official source; OpenElections state results repositories (github.com/openelections/openelections-data-<st>) (No license is stated in the OpenElections repositories. OpenElections says its data is free for anyone to use. Written permission requested (docs/PERMISSION-REQUESTS.md). No CC0 claim.), retrieved Oct 28, 2026, compiled by OpenElections volunteers from official returns, not an official source.
DataState data (JSON)Sources: Cha, Kuriwaki and Snyder, Candidates in American General Elections, version 3.1 (2006-2023 governor rows), VoteHub polls (CC BY 4.0), DIME (ODC-BY), Photo creditsData as of Oct 30, 2026 (candidate list Oct 28, 2026)