Democrat Matt Dunlap conceded Thursday to Republican Paul LePage in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District race, hours after the secretary of state’s office said the contest would proceed to a ranked-choice tabulation.
The office reported LePage had 170,263 votes, just under 50%, while Dunlap had 164,845, about 48%. Dunlap said in a statement that “we do not currently believe that ranked choice voting will change the results of this race.” The seat is currently represented by outgoing Rep. Jared Golden, according to The Hill. The ranked-choice process was announced because neither leading candidate had reached 50% of the vote.