Challenged by Republican Lance Harvell, Democratic legislative incumbent Janet Mills of Farmington said she ran “in order to continue the difficult work of balancing the state budget, effecting tax reform, improving education funding and stimulating our economy so that younger generations will want to stay in Maine and contribute to our state.”

She said her record of support for small business, education, women’s issues, economic development, law enforcement and outdoor sports separated her from her opponent.

Harvell, also of Farmington, ran on a campaign of job creation saying the exodus of young people from the area “has left a greater tax burden on all who have remained and is turning western Maine into an area in which only the rich or out-of-staters can live.”

“The way to help society is to have more people working so that the tax burden falls on more shoulders, not less,” he said. “With more jobs there will be more money to help those in need,” he added.

Industry voters chose Harvell giving him 277 votes, 42 more than Mills. However Farmington voters clinched the election for Mills with 2,062 votes to Harvell’s 1,955. Mills won by a total of 65 votes.