# Hannah Pingree **Hannah Pingree** is a Maine Democrat who won the open race for governor on November 3, 2026, defeating Republican Robert "Bobby" Charles and independent Rick Bennett. She will succeed Democratic Gov. [[Janet Mills]], who was barred by term limits from running again. Pingree is a former Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives and spent six years running Mills's policy office, the Governor's Office of Policy Innovation and the Future. She is the daughter of U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Democrat who represents Maine's 1st Congressional District. Her win keeps the governor's office in Democratic hands. > [!success] Election result > The [[Associated Press]] projected that Pingree won Maine's governor's race, and Portland radio station WGAN projected her win on election night, November 3, 2026. MultiState's tally of the AP count showed Pingree with about 55 percent of the vote, Charles about 37 percent and Bennett about 8 percent. Vote totals are unofficial until Maine certifies the result. Live coverage: [[2026 Midterms Live - Election Results War Room]]. ## Background - **North Haven.** She lives on the island town of North Haven (Office of Gov. Janet Mills, Mainebiz). Her mother is U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree (MultiState, Bangor Daily News, Mainebiz). - **Education.** She has a political science degree from Brown University (Office of Gov. Janet Mills, Ballotpedia). - **Maine House.** She represented a Maine House district from 2002 to 2010 (Ballotpedia, Wikipedia) and was Speaker of the House from 2008 to 2010 (Office of Gov. Janet Mills, Bangor Daily News). The Mills administration's 2019 announcement also lists her as a former House majority leader and chair of the Health and Human Services Committee. The Bangor Daily News reported that she was the second woman ever elected Speaker in Maine. - **Business and community work.** According to the governor's office, she managed her family's small businesses, including a farm, a restaurant and an inn, ran rural housing, energy-efficiency and eldercare projects for a local nonprofit coalition, and chaired her local school board. - **Mills administration.** Mills appointed her in January 2019 to lead the state Office of Policy Management and turn it into the new Office of Policy Innovation and the Future (Office of Gov. Janet Mills, WABI). The Bangor Daily News reported that she led the office's work on offshore wind, long-term energy planning and housing affordability, and that she left in May 2025; Maine Public also reported that she worked in the administration until 2025. ## The 2026 campaign - **Launch.** She entered the race on June 10, 2025, saying she was running "to bring Maine people together to do the hard things that none of us can do by ourselves" (Bangor Daily News). - **Mills endorsement.** Mills endorsed her on May 19, 2026, before the primary (WABI, Maine Public). - **Primary.** The Democratic primary on June 9, 2026 drew five candidates: Pingree, former Maine CDC director Nirav Shah, former state Senate President [[Troy Jackson]], Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and Angus King III, son of U.S. Sen. [[Angus King]] (Maine Public, Wikipedia). Shah led the first count, and no one won a majority, so the race went to a [[Ranked-Choice Voting]] tally. Pingree won the final round with about 56 percent to Shah's 44 percent when results were announced on June 19 (Ballotpedia, Wikipedia, Maine Public). Maine Public reported that Jackson, Bellows and Senate nominee [[Graham Platner]] endorsed her afterward. - **Opponents.** The Republican nominee, Bobby Charles, is an attorney (Maine Public, Mainebiz); Maine Public described him as an attorney and lobbyist and reported that he beat seven challengers in the Republican primary. Rick Bennett, a longtime Republican, left the party in 2025 and ran as an independent (MultiState, Maine Public). MultiState noted that rulings by Maine's highest court keep ranked-choice voting out of general elections for governor, so the top vote-getter wins. - **Message.** Maine Public reported that she centered her campaign on housing, health care and opposition to President [[Donald Trump]]'s policies. MultiState summarized her platform as doubling the homestead property-tax exemption to $50,000, spending $100 million a year on housing, and backing a public health insurance option, and reported that she tied rising energy prices to Charles's support for Trump's tariffs and the [[Iran War 2026]]. - **Debates.** In the October 8, 2026 debate in Bangor, Maine Public reported, she accused Charles of wanting to open a detention center like Florida's [[Alligator Alcatraz]] in Maine and of inviting [[ICE]] agents to polling places, while Charles blamed her for fraud and cost overruns in MaineCare, the state's Medicaid program, during her time in the Mills administration. - **Money.** MultiState reported that Pingree raised more than $4.2 million, against $1.8 million for Charles and $923,000 for Bennett. ## Connections - [[Janet Mills]] — the term-limited governor she succeeds, who appointed her to run the state policy office and endorsed her - [[Troy Jackson]] — primary rival who endorsed her after the ranked-choice count - [[Graham Platner]] — Maine's Democratic U.S. Senate nominee, who endorsed her - [[Ranked-Choice Voting]] — the counting method that decided her primary - [[2026 Governor Races Hub]] — every governor's race on the 2026 ballot - [[2026 Midterms Live - Election Results War Room]] — election-night coverage ## Sources - [Associated Press — Maine governor race call](https://apnews.com/live/midterm-election-2026#000001a1-a4d1-d4c2-aded-ffd3a4e10000) - [WGAN — WGAN projects Democrat Hannah Pingree to win Maine gubernatorial race](https://wgan.com/news/074470-wgan-projects-democrat-hannah-pingree-to-win-maine-gubernatorial-race/) - [MultiState — 2026 governor races: Maine](https://www.multistate.us/elections/governor-race/maine-2026) - [Office of Gov. Janet Mills — Governor Mills appoints former House Speaker Pingree to lead Office of Policy Management](https://www.maine.gov/governor/mills/news/governor-mills-appoints-former-house-speaker-pingree-lead-office-policy-management-2019-01-17) - [Bangor Daily News — Hannah Pingree enters Maine gubernatorial race](https://bangordailynews.com/2025/06/10/politics/elections/hannah-pingree-enters-maine-gubernatorial-race-2025-joam40zk0w/) - [WABI — Gov. Mills endorses Hannah Pingree for governor](https://www.wabi.tv/2026/05/19/gov-mills-endorses-hannah-pingree-governor/) - [Maine Public — Bobby Charles, Hannah Pingree win nominations in Maine race for governor](https://www.mainepublic.org/politics/2026-06-19/bobby-charles-hannah-pingree-win-nominations-in-maine-race-for-governor) - [Mainebiz — Hannah Pingree clinches Democratic governor race in ranked-choice runoff](https://mainebiz.biz/article/hannah-pingree-clinches-democratic-governor-race-in-ranked-choice-runoff/) - [Ballotpedia — Hannah Pingree](https://ballotpedia.org/Hannah_Pingree) - [Wikipedia — 2026 Maine gubernatorial election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Maine_gubernatorial_election) - [Maine Public via GBH — Maine's 2nd gubernatorial debate is over. Here's some takeaways](https://www.wgbh.org/news/politics/2026-10-09/maines-2nd-gubernatorial-debate-is-over-heres-some-takeaways)