BATH — With unofficial vote tallies still missing from Bath, Bowdoin and Dresden, District 23 Sen. Eloise Vitelli, D-Arrowsic, was still well on her way to winning reelection over challenger Richard Donaldson, a Georgetown selectman.
Vitelli led her opponent 7,596 to 5,573 early Wednesday morning.
If those results hold, this will be Vitelli’s first successful reelection campaign, even though she’s served in the state legislature twice previously. In 2013, she won a special election against Republican Paula Benoit, serving one year in the state senate before the regular election in 2014.
Her legislative plans were put on hold when Republican Linda Baker defeated her reelection campaign in a three-way race, with Green Independent candidate Alice Knapp taking 11.4 percent and Baker taking 45.3 percent.
Two years later, Vitelli went up against Republican Guy Lebida in the 2016 general election, coming away with 52.9 percent of the vote, compared to Lebida’s 47.1 percent.
Lebida attempted to win a spot in the Maine Legislature again this year, challenging incumbent Rep. Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham.
Donaldson’s campaign ran into trouble over the summer when old social media posts emerged online. Many of the posts included jokes featuring crude Mexican stereotypes, and the punchline of one post insinuated that members of a certain group of military personnel are gay. All of the posts, which state Democrats have called offensive and racist, were published on Donaldson’s private Facebook account in 2015 and 2016.
The Georgetown selectman, who retired as a lieutenant commander after 30 years in the Navy, admitted that the posts could be insensitive, but denied that they were racist or homophobic. He went on to say that they were a byproduct of the sense of humor he developed in the military and were simply good-natured ribbing between friends. The Maine Democratic Party purchased attack ads against Donaldson featuring the posts in the fall.
Heading back to the legislature for two more years, Vitelli said she plans to continue working on job training initiatives and health care, among other things.
“I think the issues that are facing Midcoast Mainers are very close to what the issues are that are facing our state as a whole,” Vitelli told The Times Record in an interview last month. “What I hear most from people I’m talking to is concern about health care.”
Vitelli was not immediately available for comment Tuesday night.
District 23 includes Arrowsic, Bath, Bowdoin, Bowdoinham, Dresden, Georgetown, Phippsburg, Richmond, Topsham, West Bath, Woolwich and the unorganized township of Perkins.
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