Maine governor primaries move to ranked-choice tallying after no-majority projections

Both Democratic and Republican gubernatorial primaries in Maine are headed to ranked-choice tallies, with no candidate projected to win a majority in either race. In the Democratic field, Nirav Shah leads first-choice votes but is below 50%, while Hannah Pingree is close behind; Bernie Sanders endorsed Troy Jackson. Three Democrats—Jackson, Pingree, and Shenna Bellows—cross-endorsed one another and urged supporters to rank each other atop their ballots to consolidate against Shah. On the Republican side, Bobby Charles leads the initial tally amid a field that includes Jonathan Bush, David Jones, Garrett Mason, and Ben Midgley. Maine’s ranked-choice system reallocates votes from lower-ranked candidates until a winner emerges, and the governorship is open due to term limits on Janet Mills.