Both sides settled in for a long night before a winner became clear, but LePage, who was front-runner throughout the campaign, remained confident. LePage trailed Cutler for much of the night, but the gap narrowed as votes from more than half of the precincts were counted.

“We’re going to take this,” LePage told supporters in Waterville. “You need to hang in there for another hour, and we’re going to go home victors.”

With votes counted from 56 percent of the state’s precincts, Cutler and LePage each had 36 percent. Democrat Libby Mitchell, with 20 percent, has conceded, saying, “It’s really a tough year for a Democrat, particularly for someone who’s been in office.”

Riding a wave of voter disenchantment with elected officials, LePage has led the field in poll numbers since his surprise primary win in June, while Mitchell worked to shore up her Democratic base. Cutler edged up in the polling numbers while seeking to parlay voters’ weariness with partisan politics into his gain.

Two other independents, Shawn Moody and Kevin Scott, filled out the list of contestants to succeed two-term Democratic Gov. John Baldacci.

LePage has stressed pocketbook issues during his campaign, pointing to a state government he claims is bloated and strangles too many businesses in red tape. While the Waterville mayor’s blunt and unvarnished speaking style has drawn attention and criticism, there were no signs it’s rattled a base that includes tea party forces.

Mitchell, the veteran legislator and current Senate president, spent much of the campaign playing defense as her rivals hammered away at a theme that state government under her leadership has become too costly for Maine taxpayers. For her part, Mitchell stressed job creation through a new business-friendly attitude in Augusta, and educational issues from kindergarten to college.

Cutler dodged verbal darts from both parties as he asked voters to reject the contest’s partisanship and support his plans to restructure government, create a state energy finance authority and merge the university and community college systems.

While Moody brought a message of less government intrusion in business to the debate, he never amassed the survey numbers or campaign funds to represent a real threat to win. Scott stayed in the low single digits from the start.