AUGUSTA — With less than three weeks to go until the primary, Dr. Nirav Shah leads Democrats in the governor’s race primary, while on the Republican side, Bobby Charles is ahead of the pack.
In the five-way race among Democrats, Shah was the first choice for 29% of those polled, followed by Angus King III at 24%, Troy Jackson at 12%, Shenna Bellows at 10% and Hannah Pingree at 9%, according to the Pan Atlantic Research Omnibus Poll.
On the GOP side, Charles is the first choice for 36%, followed by Jonathan Bush at 20%, Garrett Mason at 13%, Owen McCarthy at 4%, David Jones at 3%, Ben Midgley at 2% and Robert Wessels at 1%.
Lauren LePage, spokeswoman for Midgley’s campaign, questioned the poll, saying the firm has ties to a former Democratic Party chairwoman.
In a statement, LePage, daughter for former Republican Gov. Paul LePage, said the firm is trying to “pick the Republican nominee for Governor. We are not buying it.”
The Bush team pitched the poll as an indication that he is making up ground and said that most of his paid advertising will come in the final weeks of the campaign.
The pollsters note that because Maine uses ranked choice voting in the gubernatorial primaries, voters’ second-choice preferences could determine the winner. That means Mainers probably won’t know on election night who won either primary.
Another important caveat is that the poll represents a relatively small sample size and has a margin of error higher than 3.7%.
Among Democrats, 16% said they are undecided and among Republicans, that figure is 22%, the poll shows.
Maine ballots are crowded with candidates this year because the governorship is open for the first time in eight years. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills is in her second term and is prevented by term limits from running again.
Although the primary is June 9, early voting has begun in city and town halls across the state.
Shortly after the poll was released, Shah’s campaign manager said the Pan Atlantic poll backs up what they are seeing in internal polls.
“Nirav is leading this field because he’s the candidate who can defeat MAGA Republicans this November and deliver real results for Maine,” Kayla vanWieringen said in a statement.