FARMINGTON – House District 89 candidate Lance Harvell said he probably won’t ask for a recount despite losing narrowly to incumbent Democrat Janet Mills Tuesday.

Having won by more than 1 percent, Mills said Harvell is entitled to a recount. She won the election in Farmington and Industry by 65 votes.

Though voters in Industry elected Harvell, 277-235, Mills took the much larger town of Farmington, 2,062 to Harvell’s 1,955.

“We’re proud,” Harvell said Wednesday. “We took Janet Mills to the wall,” he said, adding that that is pretty tough to do with a Mills in Farmington, referring to the family’s prominence in the area.

Mills said Wednesday that the district has always been a Republican seat. About 40 percent of the voters there are undeclared, she pointed out.

She attributed the close race to Harvell’s hard campaigning on the University of Maine at Farmington campus.

“Students are unpredictable,” she said in a husky post-Election Day voice. “Lance worked very hard to get the message out on campus.”

She also cited Harvell’s targeted mailing to people with hunting licenses only days before the election.

“It was fair game after that,” she said with a chuckle.

Mills said she expects to continue her work in the State House to improve the state’s economy and work on the issue of health care costs.