AUGUSTA (AP) – Partisan vote watchers settled in for a long night Tuesday with State House control widely believed to be too close to call.

In the statewide voting for Maine’s 35-seat Senate and 151-seat House of Representatives, this year’s story line was familiar. Democrats were defending their dicey dominance in both chambers and Republicans were seeking a role reversal.

“It’s looking very positive for the Democrats in the House,” said Rep. Hannah Pingree, D-North Haven. “It looks like nationally and in Maine it’s a good year for the Democrats.”

Assistant Senate Minority Leader Carol Weston, R-Montville, also professed optimism but said analyzing the tallies from around the state would likely last into Wednesday morning.

“I would be surprised if we weren’t,” she said. “There are a lot of really close races and it’s going to take some time for us to sort it out.”

Similar contests were playing out across the country.

The National Conference of State Legislatures noted that 83 percent of state legislative seats around the nation will be filled this year with all but four states – Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia – holding legislative elections.

A midyear count had 20 legislatures entirely in GOP hands, 19 including Maine in Democratic control and 10 split (Nebraska is nonpartisan).

In more than 20 states, the midyear count showed, one or both chambers could see power change hands with a shift of just five or fewer seats.

Heading into Election Day, margins in the Maine Senate and House of Representatives were tight.

Democrats held a 74-73 House edge over Republicans. The chamber also had one Green party member and three independents.

In the state Senate, the numerical divide was narrow, too – Democrats had a 19-16 majority over Republicans.

Democratic dominance in the Maine House over three decades dates to 1974 – a reminder that politics is sometimes more than local.

That year, President Nixon’s Watergate woes fueled many Democratic gains. Breaking a GOP stranglehold that had been eased only briefly by the 1964 Johnson-Goldwater presidential blowout, Democrats claimed control of the Maine House by 91-59 – with one independent.

The stunning reversal in the House has held virtually ever since, though sometimes like now only by a thread. Still, the state Senate stayed Republican that year and would for nearly another decade before Democrats staked their claim there.

Twelve years ago, as congressional Republicans swept to power, legislative voting in Maine favored Republicans as well.

Those 1994 elections gave the Maine GOP control of the 35-seat Senate – 18-16-1 – for the first time since 1982 and dramatically reduced the Democratic majority in the House from 91 to 77.

National winds of change in 1974 and 1994 coincided with the elections of independent governors in Maine – James Longley Sr. and Angus King.

Maine Republicans have held the Senate outright for only one two-year period since the 1982 elections, although in 2000, statewide voting left the Senate split 17-17, with one independent.

This year, 39 House incumbents were not seeking re-election, including 19 who were ineligible due to term limits.

Twenty-one of those not running were Republicans, 17 were Democrats and one was an independent.

Seven of those not seeking to return to the House are running for the Senate.

On the Senate side, only one incumbent – Republican leader Paul Davis of Sangerville – was losing his seat due to term limits.

But six others – Democratic leader Michael Brennan of Portland, deputy leader Kenneth Gagnon of Waterville and Scott Cowger of Hallowell, and Republicans Chandler Woodcock of Farmington, who was the GOP gubernatorial candidate, Mary Black Andrews of York and Dean Clukey of Houlton – chose voluntarily not to seek re-election.

AP-ES-11-07-06 2227EST