Republican Mike McClellan will be returning to serve a second term representing Raymond, Frye Island and parts of Standish and Poland in the Maine House.

McClellan defeated Democrat challenger Jim Stephenson 53 percent to 47 percent in a rematch of the 2010 race.

McClellan, a fiscal and social conservative, had been hammered in local letters to the editor in the run-up to the election. On Wednesday, he said he was glad to be headed back to Augusta.

“God has a great plan and I’m yet again humbled that He is including me in it in this fashion,” the Raymond resident and former executive director of the Greater Bridgton Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce said. “I think there was a lot of negativity but I think it was a small amount of people and there was real anger so I feel bad for that and hope those people can find some peace as we go forward.”

McClellan was surprised to do so well in Raymond with the Presidential race swinging to Barack Obama.

“President Obama won Raymond pretty handily, and yet my numbers went up. I try to be really positive. As I said, I have my faith and my core values. I believe in them and they’re not going to change. It’s who I am and I think Raymond and the four communities honored that. And I’m very appreciative of that,” McClellan said.

Stephenson said he wasn’t able to campaign as much as he did in 2010 but campaign surrogates, frustrated with Gov. Paul LePage, helped spread the word.

“I didn’t have the time to get out and do the leg work personally, but I know there were a lot of people in the district that were passionately disturbed about the direction of the administration and Rep. McClellan’s support for the administration that resulted in a lot of letters to the editor,” he said. “I worked to foster the discussions so people became aware of his record but in the final analysis Mike won again and certainly I respect that and wish him the best.”

Stephenson isn’t ruling out another run, perhaps in 2014.

“I’ve lost twice in a row, and I would hope we could find a better candidate that might do better, but I’m not going to rule out the possibility of running again if the conditions look right,” he said.

Mike ?McClellan