Seventy-one state legislative districts up for election this year in Maine are open, meaning no incumbents filed to run. That equals 38% of the 186 districts in the Maine State Legislature.
Since no incumbents are present, newcomers to the legislature are guaranteed to win open districts. This is the most guaranteed newcomers to the Maine State Legislature since 2014.
Maine is one of 15 states with term limits for state legislators. In both the Senate and House, legislators can serve four two-year terms for a total of eight years. This year, 46 legislators are term-limited: 10 in the Senate and 36 in the House. The remaining 25 open districts were caused by legislators leaving office for another reason.
Overall, 384 major party candidates filed: 183 Democrats and 201 Republicans. That equals 2.1 candidates per district, the same as in 2020 and 2018.
There are 33 contested primaries—12 Democratic primaries and 21 for Republicans. For Democrats, this is down from 25 in 2020, a 52% decrease. For Republicans, the number increased 133% from nine in 2020 to 21 in 2022.
The filing deadline for candidates running for state legislative office in Maine this year was March 15. Candidates filed to run for all of the state’s 151 House districts and 35 Senate districts.
Maine has been a Democratic trifecta since Democrats won control of the governorship and Senate in 2018. Democrats currently hold a 21-13 majority in the Senate and an 80-64 majority in the House.
Maine’s primaries are scheduled for June 14, the seventh statewide primary date of the 2022 state legislative election cycle.
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