AUGUSTA — One of the first orders of business for the incoming Legislature when it convenes Wednesday will be to select the state’s constitutional officers: the attorney general, the secretary of state and the state treasurer.
The legislature’s two major party caucuses split in their picks for attorney general and state treasurer on Tuesday, setting up competitive one-day races that will be decided by a joint session of the Legislature that is divided between 90 Republicans, 94 Democrats and two independents.
Republicans selected former state Rep. Josh Tardy, a former House minority leader and lawyer who has served the Maine Republican Party, for the attorney general’s post. Democrats stuck with incumbent Maine Attorney General Janet Mills, a Farmington Democrat who also has served in the Maine House. Mills, often a foil to Republican Gov. Paul LePage, is serving her second consecutive two-year term and has one other two-year term as attorney general under her belt.
Both Mills and Tardy will make their case before the joint convention Wednesday and lawmakers will then cast their ballots. Unlike most states where constitutional officers are selected by voters statewide at the polls, Maine’s constitution calls for the Legislature to elect the state’s top officials for law enforcement, elections and finance.
Democrats and Republicans also split Tuesday in their choices over who should be the next state treasurer, with Republicans sticking with incumbent Terry Hayes, a former Democrat turned independent from Buckfield. Hayes also served four terms in the Maine House. Democrats selected outgoing state Rep. Adam Goode of Bangor for the post. Goode most recently served as the House chair of the Legislature’s Taxation Committee. He served the maximum of four consecutive terms in the House before reaching term limits in 2016.
Democrats again nominated Matt Dunlap, an Old Town Democrat, for secretary of state, while Republicans are offering no opposing candidate. Dunlap has served five terms as Secretary of State. He too, is a former state lawmaker having served four terms in the Maine House.
The votes for the constitutional officers will occur after lawmakers have been sworn into office and have selected their respective chamber leaders in the state Senate and House of Representatives. Incumbent Senate President Mike Thibodeau, R-Winterport, is expected to be reelected to that post in the Republican-controlled Senate, while Rep. Sara Gideon, D-Freeport, is expected to be elected speaker of the House, replacing outgoing Rep. Mark Eves, D-North Berwick, who is leaving the Legislature because of term limits.
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