WINDHAM – Gary Plummer’s impending retirement from the Maine Senate has left the Republican field wide open in the District 26 senate race in Novemeber.

In a series of interviews, Republican officials at the town, county and state level declined to name any potential replacements in the race against Bill Diamond, a Democrat who has served six years in the House, a total of 12 years in the Senate (including the previous eight years before Plummer took office) and eight years as secretary of state. After serving a maximum of four consecutive terms in the Maine House of Representatives, Plummer was elected to the Senate in 2012, for a two-year term.

Republican officials acknowledged that Diamond would be a formidable opponent in November. According to a Public Policy Polling survey of 469 voters commissioned in late September by Diamond’s political action committee, Diamond was found to hold a 14-point lead over Plummer.

In a Feb. 7 op-ed in a Windham newspaper, Plummer announced that he would retire from his senate seat due to family reasons, an increase in counter-productive partisanship, and the fact that he was no longer having fun serving, among other reasons. Plummer also wrote that he would be required to campaign seven days a week in order to defeat Diamond.

Phyllis Hall, chairwoman of the Windham Republican Town Committee, said that she had been unable to recruit any replacements for Plummer so far.

“It is up in the air right now,” Hall said.

Eric Lusk, chairman of the Cumberland County Republican Committee, said that he was in touch with several potential candidates who were stuck on the fence.

“As of this moment, I know there are a few people who are sticking their toes in the water, and I would love to be able to give you something more substantive if I thought it was going to pressure them into saying yes, especially because this is a wooing, courting game,” Lusk said. “But at this point I better say nothing.”

Patrick Corey, a Windham Republican who led a successful anti-sewer campaign in 2012, said that he plans to challenge Jane Pringle, a House Democrat who represents District 111 (most of Windham), not Diamond.

“Everybody’s wondering who is going to run in Gary’s seat,” Corey said.

Tom Tyler, the Republican state representative for District 110, which covers parts of Windham and Gray, said there was “no way” he would challenge Diamond for the District 26 Senate seat. (District 26, due to redistricting, encompasses many of the towns of the former District 12, which covered most of the southern Lakes Region. The redrawn district covers Casco, Raymond, Frye Island, Gray, Windham, Standish and Baldwin.)

“I think they already know that I have no interest,” Tyler said. “I know they were talking to one person, and I believe he said yes and then said no. At this point I don’t know of anyone.”

Jim Cyr, a spokesman for the Senate Republican Office, declined to comment.

Lusk said that it would likely be difficult to defeat Diamond.

“Bill’s certainly got a very good track record of running for office in Windham, and he’s had that senate seat before,” Lusk said. “Nobody’s thinking Bill would be a pushover.”

“You’re always going to have some formidable opponents,” Lusk added. “Bill certainly is more formidable than most.”

When asked if there was a perception that Diamond was a shoo-in, Hall said no.

“Not necessarily,” she said. “Bill Diamond has had his turn, and it’s probably someone else’s.”

Plummer said that he had passed a list of several potential candidates to Mike Thibodeau, a Republican senator. Plummer declined to disclose the names on the list.

“I know the minority leader, the Republican leader in the Senate has been in touch with people,” Plummer said. “I gave him three or four names of people to contact, and I know he is in the process of doing that. I am confident that there will be a good solid candidate come along, and certainly run hard.”

Lusk said that there was confusion among Republicans about why exactly Plummer was no longer running for the District 26 seat.

“I think there’s some surprise that Gary dropped out,” Lusk said. “I think it’s the old, ‘Gee, why the change of heart?’ ”

Plummer offered a variety of reasons for his decision not to run, including the desire to spend more time with his elderly mother. Plummer’s daughter, Sara Elliot, told him that she would rather he not run this time.

“My daughter has always supported me,” Plummer said. “She’d never said to me before, ‘But I would really be happier if you didn’t run.’ I think she sees that I’m not as fulfilled as I’ve been in the past. I’m not as happy when I come home and talk about things. I usually try to be pretty upbeat, but it’s been difficult to maintain that positive attitude in recent months.”

Plummer said that the legislative process has become increasingly vacuous and politicized over the past year.

“We seem to be constantly battling and very little agreement on bills,” Plummer said. “It’s become much more partisan. I think this all started during the first half of the session last year. But as we get closer to election it seems like the majority of the time we’re spending trying to embarrass the other side to speak, and this is not confined to Democrats.”

He also emphasized that politics has become more vitriolic in his district, as well. Plummer said that an unknown individual placed a hostile note on his 2010 Mustang.

“I got a note on my vehicle parked in the Home Depot lot saying, ‘Jeez, you’re not very bright. People are out there with no jobs, and you’re riding around in a fancy car,’” Plummer said.

Plummer also said that running against Diamond would raise his campaign efforts “to another notch.”

“Bill and I have depended on a lot of the same people over the years,” Plummer said.

“When I was running for the House and Bill was running for the Senate, you saw more signs for Bill Diamond and Gary Plummer on the same lawns. A lot of people supported Bill and supported me, and I’ve talked to some of them in my decision-making who said, ‘I really want to support both of you.’ Somewhere along the line they’re going to have to make a decision, and I’m not sure their decision would be one that I like.”

These factors, and others, Plummer said, culminated in a late-night revelation in which he realized that he did not actually want to run again.

“One night I was lying awake,” Plummer said. “I was thinking, ‘Is this what I want to do? Is this as much fun as this used to be?’ ”

Still, Plummer said that Diamond was not guaranteed victory.

“I would not say Bill is a shoo-in,” he said. “If someone steps forward who has not held elected office, or not had their name out in the public before, something they’re going to have to work on is getting their name out there. But the advantage a new person will have is not having a record.”

Plummer did not completely rule out a possible return down the road.

“I am retiring from the Legislature,” Plummer said. “But who knows what two, three years down the road will bring.”

Diamond commended Plummer’s years of public service, and said that he respected Plummer’s decision. Diamond, a former columnist at the Lakes Region Weekly, said he did not yet know who would challenge him.

“In terms of the opponent,” Diamond said, “we’ll just have to wait and see who it is.”

Bill DiamondGary Plummer