Maine's 2nd District Race Heads to Ranked-Choice Tabulation
The Secretary of State said no candidate cleared the 50% threshold needed to win the seat outright.
The race for Maine's 2nd Congressional District will go to a ranked-choice tabulation because no candidate reached 50% of the vote, the Maine Secretary of State's office announced, NEWS CENTER Maine reported in a video posted November 5, 2026.
Under Maine's ranked-choice voting law, a candidate must win a majority of votes to be declared the winner outright in federal races. When no one clears that mark in the first count, election officials run additional rounds of tabulation using voters' ranked preferences until a candidate has a majority.
The 2nd District covers the northern and eastern portion of the state, the geographically larger of Maine's two U.S. House districts. The Secretary of State's office administers the tabulation and reports the results.
Maine voters approved ranked-choice voting in 2016, and the state has used it in congressional races since 2018.
Video: NEWS CENTER Maine via YouTube.
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