BRUNSWICK

Brunswick Democrats will gather July 14 to select a replacement candidate for incumbent Rep. Alex Cornell du Houx, who dropped out of the House District 66 race last week.

Andy Cashman, chairman of the Brunswick Democratic Town Committee, said Thursday that registered Democrats in House District 66 who are part of a 34-member committee will decide who will take Cornell du Houx’s place as the Democratic Party’s representative on the Nov. 6 ballot.

The July 14 meeting, in the Morrell Meeting Room at Curtis Memorial Library, is open to the public. Nominations will be accepted from those who attend, but only members of the party committee will cast votes on a replacement candidate. Voting at the meeting will be by paper ballot, Cashman said.

In an email sent Thursday to The Times Record, Mattea Daughtry announced her intent to seek the nomination.

Cashman said Thursday that the meeting was scheduled after he received official confirmation from the Secretary of State’s Office that Cornell du Houx had dropped out of the race.

In a commentary published in today’s edition of The Times Record, Cornell du Houx said that the decision was partly a career move — he will begin active duty with the Navy Reserve in January — but that it also derived, in part, from controversy that erupted when Rep. Erin Herbig, a Belfast Democrat, filed a request for a temporary protection from abuse order against him.

Herbig’s hand-written request for a temporary protection order detailed alleged invasions of privacy and behavior that made her feel unsafe. Cornell du Houx’s family shot back with letters to statewide and local newspapers and with the release of psychological evaluations from a Belfast psychologist who concluded that Cornell du Houx is in good mental health.

The weekend before the matter was set to go to trial to determine whether to make the temporary protection order permanent, Cornell du Houx and Herbig reached a settlement agreement, the details of which were not made public.

The settlement ended the court action, and state police stopped their investigation.

But political trials remained on the horizon.

In an interview with the Portland Press Herald days after the June 12 primary, Maine Democratic Party chairman Ben Grant called the issue a “distraction” and urged Cornell du Houx to step aside.

In his commentary, Cornell du Houx called those comments “unprofessional” and said that they would make his campaign for re-election more difficult.

The Brunswick Democrats will meet in Curtis Memorial Library’s Morrell Meeting Room at 3 p.m. on Saturday, July 14, to decide which name will appear on the Democratic House 66 ticket in November.

The Green Independent Party will hold a caucus in the Morrell Meeting Room at 11 a.m. Sunday to replace David Frans as its candidate. Fred Horch, the party’s candidate in 2010, made public his interest in the position.

Republican John Bouchard, the only remaining candidate who submitted nomination papers by the March 15 deadline to qualify for the June 12 primary ballot, will represent the GOP in the House District 66 contest.

dfishell@timesrecord.com