Maine Republican Party Chairman Rick Bennett told the Bangor Daily News on Thursday that he’s leaving his post when his term ends Jan. 28. Vice Chairwoman Demi Kouzounas said she’ll be running to replace him.
Just about any way you look at it, Bennett’s tenure has been a good period for Republicans.
He took over in 2013, just after Republicans lost both chambers of the Maine Legislature. But in 2014, Maine re-elected Gov. Paul LePage and made U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin the first Republican to win the 2nd District in 20 years.
And in 2016, Republican President-elect Donald Trump won one of Maine’s four electors by beating Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2nd District after her party swept every presidential election here since 1992. Poliquin was re-elected. Republicans held their majority in the Maine Senate and gained seats in the House of Representatives.
“I’ve done, really, what I set out to do, which is to build a professional infrastructure in the Maine GOP that worked 24/7 in the on-year and the off year,” Bennett said.
Bennett of Oxford said being the party’s chairman was never a job he particularly sought and that LePage “twisted my arm a bit” to stay on as chairman for another term in 2015.
He said he’ll stay involved in politics, but what shape that will take is uncertain: He has been mentioned as a potential gubernatorial candidate in 2018, and this move is well-timed for such a run.
Bennett, whose last campaign was an unsuccessful U.S. Senate primary run in 2012, said Republicans have “a good array of possibilities on our side” and “if I think I could contribute in a unique way, I’ll certainly pursue that.”
Kouzounas, a dentist from Saco, isn’t a neophyte, but she’s also not the politico that Bennett is. She lost a bid for the Maine House of Representatives in 2012 and has been president of the Maine Dental Association.
Though the boss will change, Kouzounas promised a “continuation” of Bennett’s work at the party, saying focal points will be “a positive platform, working with the governor and hopefully helping prosper the folks in Maine.”
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