BOWDOIN

In a tight race, Bowdoin resident Guy Lebida, who had been endorsed by Gov. Paul LePage, beat out incumbent Sen. Linda Baker of Topsham in the Republican primary race for Senate District 23.

Baker was nearing the end of her first term. She lost to Lebida by 40 votes — 1,074 to 1,034 — according to the preliminary tabulation.

Now he faces Democrat Eloise Vitelli of Arrowsic for the seat in November.

In 2013, Vitelli was elected into the Maine Senate in a special election, replacing former Sen. Seth Goodall of Richmond, a fellow Democrat. She was defeated in a three-way race against Linda Baker, R-Topsham, and Alice Knapp, G-Richmond, in 2014.

Lebida said he won the race because of door knocking. He estimates he went to 3,500 to 4,000 homes over three months and has been knocking on doors eight to 10 hours a day. He has met a lot of people and was surprised more people didn’t go out to vote Tuesday. He visited the polls at every town in his district.

The race against Baker was a fight, he said. Running against Vitelli will be just as much of a challenge.

“I’m up for it,” he said. “I’m looking forward to meeting people, listening to them, telling my views, principles and answering their questions. I can find common ground with anyone. The country has become so divisive and it doesn’t need to be that way. We just need to listen to each other and be civil to one another and we can work this out.”

If he becomes a senator, Lebida says people will elect him because of what he stands for and promises he will work for the whole state, not just his district.

“We can lower energy costs together and get rid of a lot of these burdensome regulations,” he said.

He also called for transparency, honesty and integrity.

“Let the people see what’s going on,” he said.

Lebida said he knocked on doors at homes of people who didn’t vote in previous primaries. He said he shared with them what was going on, “and I believe I got 20, 30 votes today just by doing that.”

He said he was outspent at least 9 to 1 and didn’t have as much help as his foe. He anticipates more of a team effort moving forward with the primary win.

Lebida added that he feels he would have won by a larger margin than 40 votes if Baker hadn’t recently received the NRA endorsement, which Lebida argued she didn’t deserve. He said her voting record also contributed to her loss.

“I wouldn’t have even had to do this if she had just voted right,” he said. “I’d rather support a conservative candidate. It doesn’t have to be me running for this office. I’m not in it for an ego trip or doing it just for me. I’m doing it for the people of Maine and for my grandchildren. And I think everyone who talked to me knows that.”

He said he is running as a traditional candidate and will not take welfare from the state so is looking for people to donate to his campaign, which they can do by visiting his website or Facebook page.

Lebida had been endorsed by LePage, who during the party’s convention in April, appeared to be looking to shore up his conservative base.

“Let me tell you, some are in our party and we need to weed them out,” LePage said, according to several published reports. “Some of them are not good people.”

dmoore@timesrecord.com