FREEPORT — Sara Gideon prevailed Tuesday in a three-way Democratic Party primary, earning the right to bear her party’s standard in the contest to represent House District 106.

Gideon will face Republican Benjamin M. Martin, who ran unopposed in the primary, in the general election set for Nov. 6. The winner will succeed Rep. David Webster, a Democrat who has represented the district for eight years but who is precluded from seeking re-election by Maine’s legislative term limits law.

Gideon, Freeport’s District 2 town councilor, earned 53 percent of the overall vote — 584 votes — Tuesday against candidates Melanie Sachs and Patrick Norton. 

Sachs gave Gideon the closest competition, garnering nearly 43 percent — 470 votes — from Democratic primary voters in the district that encompasses Freeport and part of Pownal. Norton received around 4 percent, or 46 votes, of Tuesday’s primary vote.

Sachs matched Gideon among Pownal voters, both taking home 19 each, but Gideon topped Sachs by more than 100 votes in Freeport, where voter turnout was just more than 25 percent.

In an email to The Times Record, Sachs said her participation in the primary represented “a tremendous honor to have the opportunity to connect with the residents of Freeport and Pownal” and she wished Gideon well in the upcoming general election. 

In a Facebook post late Tuesday, Gideon thanked her supporters during the campaign and those who attended an election party Tuesday at the Mediterranean Grill after the polls closed at 8 p.m.

dfishell@timesrecord.com