Senator Angus King expects to win re-election, but the final outcome is still unclear

Senator Angus King walks to the polls at Brunswick Junior High School with his daughter Molly on Tuesday morning. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

U.S. Sen. Angus King was expected to easily win a third term on Tuesday, although the results were not yet known and the final outcome was still unclear.

The 80-year-old was governor of Maine twice from 1995 to 2003 and before that was a lawyer and founder of an energy saving company.

Speaking to reporters before the vote early Tuesday in his hometown of Brunswick, King said: “This is the castle of democracy. “This is where we can make decisions, this is where we the people actually have the power.”

King said he had mixed emotions about seeing his name on the ballot for what was probably the last time. He has said this would be his last campaign.

“Yeah, because it's something I've been doing off and on for quite a while, and it's kind of a bittersweet moment,” he said. “But I still have six years left if I’m successful today, so don’t send me into retirement too early.”

King, an independent, told the Press Herald that one reason he is running for a third term is because the Senate is represented by the loss of moderates, with U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, ousting independent Kyrsten Sinema Arizona and Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia are not seeking re-election.

“I don’t want the Senate to become the House of Representatives and become completely partisan,” he said. “We need to have people in the middle who are willing to talk to each other.”

Senator Angus King greets Meghan Kissling outside the polls at Brunswick Junior High School in Brunswick on Tuesday morning. Kissling handed out flyers about an upcoming community meeting with a comprehensive plan. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

King meets with Democrats and has supported Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, and has been outspoken against former President Donald Trump, a Republican, over divisive comments. As Trump called the Jan. 6, 2021 riots a day of “love and peace” as pro-Trump rioters broke into the U.S. Capitol to overturn the 2020 election, King said Trump was “undermining” the American one Democracy.

“I was there and I know what happened,” King told the Press Herald in October. “It wasn’t peaceful or loving. It was violent.”

King's Republican challenger, Demi Kouzounas, 68, of Saco, is a former dentist and previously served as chairwoman of the Maine Republican Party.

“Today the American dream is slipping away,” Kouzounas said during an October debate with King and Democratic candidate David Costello. Kouzounas criticized King for high inflation, high housing costs and the border crisis. “Senator. King has been in politics for almost two decades and it’s not getting any better.”

Costello was considered a long-term candidate, polling in single digits despite being the Democratic nominee.

“I think Washington is broken,” Costello said during the October debate. “And we need to do a lot more than change who we vote for every two to six years.”

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