MEMO: State of the Maine Gubernatorial Race

To: Interested Parties

From: Chris Sloan, DGA Political Director

Date: November 2, 2026

State of the Maine Gubernatorial Race

Introduction

Hannah Pingree has run a campaign that is laser-focused on the issues Mainers care about – lowering the costs of health care and housing – and that is why she is in a commanding position to win this week. In stark contrast, Republican nominee Bobby Charles has spent the past few months mired in campaign crisis after campaign crisis, and his anti-choice, MAGA record has proved to be radioactive with Maine voters.

Hannah Pingree Has the Momentum In This Race

Hannah Pingree has had a clear message throughout this campaign. She’s running for governor to bring down health care and housing costs and to stand up to Donald Trump’s attacks on Maine. That message is clearly resonating with Mainers – across the political spectrum. In the past two months, Pingree has picked up key endorsements from a coalition of Maine Republicans and independents. She has become the only statewide Democrat to earn the support of U.S. Senator Angus King and the Maine Professional Fire Fighters union. Those endorsements have also been buoyed by strong fundraising that has ensured that she has the resources to get her popular affordability message out to voters. Indeed, for much of this campaign, she has been the only candidate on the airwaves talking to voters about her positive agenda.

Bobby Charles Continues to Double Down on Extremism and MAGA Agenda

Bobby Charles’ general election has been a disaster. After a brutal MAGA primary and rough summer, Bobby Charles’ campaign has been marred by further stumbles and new revelations about his extreme record and years of working in Washington DC. In the past month, multiple reports have come out about Charles’ decades as a DC insider, where he worked for years for the very special interests he now denounces. Charles earned the endorsement of JD Vance – whose administration is deeply unpopular in Maine. He lost the endorsement of his own sister Anita, who cited his anti-choice record, years of lobbying in DC, and divisive, anti-public education campaign as the reason she is supporting Hannah Pingree – not her brother. In the past few weeks, he has been fined over $22,000 by the Maine Ethics Commission for violating campaign law.

Hannah Pingree Has the Popular Vision Mainers Want

Amidst a highly volatile US Senate race and highly competitive downballot races, Hannah Pingree has consistently led in the governor’s race because she has a popular vision of how to lower costs, move Maine forward and secure it for the next generation. She will head into the Blaine House next year because Mainers know that she is the right leader for this moment.