AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Several legislators survived primary challenges as the field of candidates became clearer for a big November showdown over which party will rule the State House.

The Biddeford-Saco area was among those closely watched by the Democrats, who will try to wrest control of the House and Senate from the Republicans in the fall elections.

Republicans also had their eyes on races in several districts, as they gird to protect the House and Senate control they won in 2010 after three decades of nearly uninterrupted Democratic domination.

State Democratic Party spokeswoman Lizzy Reinholt said Wednesday that the party will have candidates in all 186 House and Senate races this fall.

State GOP Chairman Charles Webster said Republicans are contesting all of the seats except one Senate seat in Biddeford, which is traditionally a heavily Democratic area. Both officials promised vigorous legislative campaigns.

“Having a competitive primary really makes the candidate stronger in the general election,” Reinholt said.

Republicans will try to liken Democratic State House candidates to the party’s U.S. Senate candidate, Cynthia Dill, who made her progressive credentials clear in her four-way primary race, Webster said.

In a Democratic Senate primary in Saco, state Rep. Linda Valentino defeated fellow four-term Rep. Donald Pilon for the right to face Republican Timothy Sevigny, who was unopposed in the Republican primary, in November.

In neighboring Biddeford, three Democratic House members — Reps. Alan Casavant, Paulette Beaudoin and Megan Rochelo — fended off challenges. Casavant, who also serves as Biddeford mayor, defeated Nancy Sullivan, a state senator who is leaving that office because of term limits. Beaudoin defeated Joanne Twomey, a former Biddeford mayor who also served in the Maine House.

In another Democratic Senate primary, David Bustin, of Hallowell, was expected to emerge as winner over Priscilla Jenkins, of Winthrop. A win would put Bustin, a former legislator who later served in Gov. Joseph Brennan’s administration, on the November ballot to face three-term Republican Sen. Earle McCormick, of West Gardiner.

A Republican state representative seeking a Senate seat, Les Fossel, of Alna, maintained a solid lead over Stuart Smith, of Edgecomb, according to incomplete, unofficial results. Fossel’s win pits him against a Democratic incumbent in November in a district that’s considered key to both parties.

The Maine House assistant majority leader, Rep. Andre Cushing III of Hampden, had a comfortable lead over James Emerson of Corinna in a state Senate Republican primary that got the attention of Gov. Paul LePage, who endorsed Cushing.

Republicans were also closely watching an eastern Maine Senate primary in which state Rep. David Burns, of Whiting, defeated Kathleen Caso, of Calais.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.