By Tony Zeli
Here are the Portland election results for city council, school board, and municipal ballot questions. Democrats won a clean sweep of the city’s state legistlative districts including both state senate seats that cover Portland.
City Council
Sarah Michniewicz defeats Robert Todd Morse for the open District 1 city council seat that represents Munjoy Hill and the East End.
Wes Pelletier wins District 2 after a ranked choice runoff between the five candidates vying for the open seat. Pelletier will now represent Portland’s West End, Parkside, St. John – Valley Street, and Oakdale/USM neighborhoods. Read more about the D2 race here.
Ben Grant wins the at-large city council seat (one of three seats on the council representing the entire city). Grant won the first round and through a ranked choice runoff that went five rounds managed to hold-off Jess Falero with a final vote of 54%-46%. Other candidates in the race were Grayson Lookner, Brandon Mazer, and Jake Viola.
School Board
Maya Lena wins the at-large race, the only competitve school board race. Lena defeated John Rousseau in the first round with 55% of the vote.
Questions A & B
Question A passes. It asked Portland voters to change the city’s emergency wage provisions so that an emergency declaration from the city council (rather than the State of Maine) would trigger the required 1.5x minimum wage increase during emergencies. The questions won at all but one voting precinct, 2-2, where Parkside voted against the change.
Question B to amend Portland’s short-term rental unit registration requirements won handily in all Portland’s voting districts. Read more about Portland’s municipal ballot questions here.
Also, an interesting note, Portland voters landed on the opposite side of the new state flag vote. While the state voted against changing the flag, Portlanders voted in favor with about 2/3rds favoring the pine tree and star design.
