Political parties have until Nov. 29 to nominate candidates to run in the special election for District 27 of the Maine House of Representatives. The special election will be held on Jan. 11. Republicans have nominated Marine Corps veteran Tim Thorsen, and Democrats have picked former state Sen. Jim Boyle to run for the seat. The unaffiliated candidate filing deadline will also pass on Nov. 29.
The winner of the special election will serve until December 2022. The seat became vacant after Kyle Bailey (D) resigned on Oct. 15 to pursue another job opportunity. He was elected to the state House in 2020 with 59% of the vote.
Democrats currently have an 80-65 majority in the Maine House with five third-party members and one vacancy. Maine has a Democratic state government trifecta. A trifecta exists when one political party simultaneously holds the governor’s office and majorities in both state legislative chambers.
As of November, 10 state legislative special elections have been scheduled to take place in 2022. Between 2011 and 2020, an average of 75 special elections took place each year. Maine held 15 state legislative special elections from 2011 to 2020.
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