A special election for Maine House District 94 representing Lewiston could be on the horizon, and three candidates known to local voters are already vying for the seat.

The Lewiston City Council will vote Tuesday to request a special election for the seat, which longtime Rep. Kristen Cloutier, D-Lewiston, vacated Oct. 31 to take a job as chief of staff to Maine Senate President Mattie Daughtry.

Cloutier was in the middle of her fourth term in the Legislature, and her departure narrows the Democratic majority in the Maine House to just a single seat, with Democrats holding 74 seats to Republicans’ 73. Three representatives are unenrolled.

The council’s request for a special election would go to the governor, and according to Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, the governor can then issue a proclamation declaring a vacancy and special election. A date for the election would then be determined.

Mayor Carl Sheline said Friday that he “fully supports” the request for a special election.

“Lewiston is the second largest city in Maine and we need representation for the remainder of this term,” he said.

Since Cloutier’s resignation announcement, three Lewiston residents likely already familiar to voters have made known their intentions to run in the special election.

City councilor Scott Harriman, School Committee member Janet Beaudoin and former School Committee member Kiernan Majerus-Collins have all said they intend to run.

Both Harriman and Majerus-Collins said they had already planned to run for the District 94 seat next year due to Cloutier being up against term limits.

Harriman, who was just elected to a third term on the City Council, received Cloutier’s endorsement last week.

“There is no one more qualified, and no one I trust more to fill this opening with integrity, empathy and a true desire to serve his constituents,” Cloutier said.

Harriman said Friday that his neighbors “deserve someone who will work hard and keeps them front and center every day.”

“As I’ve shown time and again on the City Council and School Committee, I will push for what’s right even when it’s difficult,” he said.

Majerus-Collins, who has also held leadership positions in the state Democratic Party, announced his candidacy in early October, before Cloutier resigned. A post on social media Oct. 8 listed several endorsements, including state Rep. Mana Abdi, D-Lewiston, in House District 95.

“At this precarious moment in history, it has never been more important to have people in state government who will stand up for the rule of law and fight for progressive values,” he said in the announcement.

Majerus-Collins said Friday that he was running to “fight Donald Trump’s authoritarian attacks on immigrants, tackle climate change, and lower the cost of housing.”

Beaudoin, who was just reelected to the School Committee, also ran for the District 94 seat in 2022. She said Friday that she’s running because she continues to hear from residents “who feel unheard and unrepresented.”

“Our community is dealing with serious challenges, from the drug epidemic to youth violence to the strain on families and local services, and people want a representative who is actually focused on addressing those issues, not on symbolic distractions,” she said.

In a social media post Nov. 7, Beaudoin said those distractions have included discussing “tampons in boys’ bathrooms and climate debates.”

While Beaudoin and Majerus-Collins did not serve on the School Committee at the same time, there is political history between them. In 2020, Beaudoin circulated a petition calling for Majerus-Collins to resign from the committee after he proposed capping the number of school resource officers in the district.

Beaudoin was appointed to a vacant School Committee seat in 2021, and has since been reelected three times.

Since both Harriman and Majerus-Collins are registered Democrats, a local party caucus will likely determine which candidate appears on the special election ballot.