LEWISTON — A pair of Republican candidates from Lewiston running for the Maine House of Representatives have dropped out of their races, in one instance leaving the incumbent Democrat unopposed.

James Sorcek and Brian Wood officially have withdrawn their names from the ballot, according to records maintained by the Clerk of the House in Augusta.

Sorcek was challenging state Rep. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, in the House District 59 race. Rotundo will be unopposed in her bid for a fourth term. She has previously served four terms in the state Senate and currently serves as the House Chairwoman of the Legislature’s budget-writing Appropriations Committee.

Wood was in a three-way race for the open House District 61 seat that is being vacated by state Rep. Mike Carey, D-Lewiston, who is termed out of the House. 

Now competing for the seat will be Democrat Heidi Brooks and independent Mark Cayer. Cayer is Lewiston City Council president.

Statewide, Republicans have seen eight of their candidates for House seats drop out while Democrats have lost three candidates, including Lisa Ward in Lisbon Falls, who was challenging Republican state Rep. Dale Crafts of Lisbon in the race for the House District 56 seat.

In August, the Maine Democratic Party called attention to a handful of State House races where they said Republicans had employed questionable recruiting tactics to get GOP candidates on the ballot.

Sorcek, Democrats noted, moved into House District 59 just days before he was nominated to run against Rotundo. Sorcek listed his new address as 135 Hogan Road, the same address used by former state representative, former city councilor and Androscoggin County GOP Chairman Stavros Mendros. Mendros said Sorcek had moved in and was renting a room from him. Sorcek also serves as the GOP’s city chairman for Lewiston.

Also dropping out of State House races were two other GOP candidates Democrats said were either pressured to run or were not residents of the districts for which they had been nominated.

Daphne Warren of Saco has withdrawn from the House District 14 race, leaving state Rep. Barry Hobbins, D-Saco, unopposed.

The GOP’s Ben Bryant has also withdrawn from House District 97 seat in Belfast, after it was determined he was not a resident of the district.  That state Rep. Erin Herbig, D-Belfast, to face Green Party challenger Paige Brown.

At least one relatively high-profile Republican, Ashley Ryan, has also withdrawn her candidacy for Portland’s House District 39 seat.  State Rep. Diane Russell, D-Portland, will now face Green Party challenger Lauren Besanko.

Ryan has been a prominent leader in the GOP’s Gen 207 efforts, a young Republican organization. She is also the Maine GOP’s national committeewoman.

In late July, state Rep. Ken Fredette, R-Newport, held a press conference in Augusta announcing the GOP had fielded 150 candidates for the 151 State House races. Fredette, the House Republican leader, predicted at the time, “I think this is an election cycle that should be very favorable to Republicans.”

At present, Maine Democrats maintain a 31-seat advantage in the House and also have 66 incumbents seeking re-election compared to the Republican’s 29.

But Republicans also have nine candidates who face no opponent in November compared to the Democrats’ six.

Maine Democratic Party Chairman Ben Grant said the declining number of Republican candidates tells him there’s “a lack of enthusiasm” among Republicans.

“Over 40 percent of incumbent Republicans aren’t running for re-election,” Grant said. “I think it’s because it’s been a tough four years, and (Gov.) LePage is a tough guy to work with no matter what party you are in, and I think they see him flailing, and they are fleeing a sinking ship right now; that’s what I read into it.”

Meanwhile David Sorensen, a spokesman for the Maine GOP, said Grant and Democrats were “playing inside baseball” by keeping track of which candidates had dropped out and which have stayed in “because they don’t have the issues on their side.” 

“Mainers are with us on welfare reform, on fiscal responsibility, paying off debt, on regulatory reform, on bringing jobs back to Maine,” Sorensen said. “This is just a roundabout attempt to make Republicans look bad and attack LePage, but it’s really just inconsequential.”

sthistle@sunjournal.com 

Editor’s note: This story was updated, Sept. 9 at 10:30 a.m. to correct information regarding House District 61. The information was incorrectly reported by the Sun Journal.