In a recount held Nov. 15, state Rep. Anne Graham retained her House District 109 seat, representing the towns of Gray, Pownal and North Yarmouth.

Going into the recount, the North Yarmouth Democrat held a 42-vote lead over her Republican rival Susan Austin of Gray – 2,770 to 2,728. The recount, one of 14 conducted by the Secretary of State’s Office, gave Graham a slightly lower margin of victory: 2,768 to 2,734.

The 34 votes were enough to put Graham over the top, the first time the pediatric nurse practitioner has defeated Austin in three tries. Austin, from the Republican-dominated town of Gray, beat Graham handily in the two previous contests but was term-limited in 2010. That year, Graham beat Republican Gary Foster, also of Gray, one of the few Democrat wins in what was a Republican takeover of the Blaine House and the Legislature. Graham won by 36 votes, also in a recount.

Graham credits her 2012 victory – in which she won 43 percent of Austin’s hometown and easily carried North Yarmouth and Pownal – to a strong campaign and her constituent work during the past two years in the House.

“I think it was really a testament to the fact that I knocked on close to 3,000 doors and that I passed four bills in my first two years in the Legislature,” Graham said last Friday morning.

Graham’s first bill that was passed by the Legislature and Gov. Paul LePage was inspired by a 2009 accident in Naples when two commercial vehicles collided, killing a UPS driver who lived in Gray. The driver that caused the accident was taking methadone. Graham’s bill outlawed the use of methadone by operators of trucks weighing 10,000 pounds or more.

Graham also successfully sponsored a health care payment reform bill as well as another bill that provides property tax relief to people whose homes are destroyed by natural causes like fire and flood.

The House and Senate passed another of Graham’s bills that would have required high school students to learn how to perform CPR and use a defibrillator, but LePage vetoed the measure.

Austin, who won Gray convincingly, 1,876 votes to Graham’s 1,396, said she had some hesitation approving the recount due to costs, went ahead with it to provide closure to the 10-month campaign, especially for her campaign aides, family and friends.

“The team members and some community folks reminded me of the amount of support we had had for the race and out of respect for that and all of the hard work that people had put in, I thought to have appropriate closure to it, having a second look at those ballots would be on the reasonable side,” she said.

Graham says her goal in the next two years is to make sure the federal Affordable Care Act is fully and seamlessly implemented in Maine. She also wants to ease property tax burden by urging lawmakers to adhere to LD 1, which requires the state to fund 55 percent of the costs of education, a goal that has never been achieved.

After the recount, Graham praised Austin.

“Sue has worked so hard for the community, was in the Legislature for eight years and multiple other capacities in Gray,” Graham said. “So I really honor the work that she’s done and really respect her. She was at the recount yesterday and was very gracious and said congratulations to me.”

Anne ?Graham