Sen. King declares victory in crowded race, ahead of AP call
U.S. Sen. Angus King declared victory Wednesday at Flight Deck Brewing in his hometown of Brunswick, Maine. (Photo by Eesha Pendharkar/ Maine Morning Star)
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
Independent U.S. Sen. Angus King declared victory Wednesday, pre-empting an official call by The Associated Press, in a crowded race that appeared poised to deliver a third term for the former Maine governor.
Speaking at Flight Deck Brewing in his hometown of Brunswick, King declared, "I won this election."
"So, I'm feeling very positive about this, I've already heard that this morning from a number of my colleagues, including some Republican colleagues, who are looking forward to working together to try and move forward with a positive agenda for the country," he said.
At the time of the speech, King led with 52.1% of the vote, 83% of which was counted. Republican Demi Kouzounas, the former head of the Maine GOP, received 34%, Democrat David Costello gained 10.6% while independent Jason Cherry trailed with 2.5% of the vote.
The Associated Press had not officially called the ranked-choice race, which would go into a run-off if King ultimately received less than 50% of the vote. However, The Bangor Daily News and Decision Desk HQ both called it in the independent's favor, despite results from several towns not yet counted.
Costello said he sent King a note congratulating him on his victory.
"I certainly think he will continue to represent Maine in a very thoughtful manner," Costello told Maine Morning Star.
Though Costello came in third, he said he was satisfied with the outcome because he exceeded expectations from early polling, especially given the fact that he spent less than $30,000 dollars on a race, which drew millions of dollars in political donations, against a well-established candidate like King.
The other two challengers did not respond to requests for comment by the time this story published.
King retains his U.S. Senate seat despite Republicans gaining a majority in the chamber after flipping several key seats in Ohio , West Virginia and Montana .
During his address Wednesday, King said he wasn't ready to discuss control of Congress, as the balance of the U.S. House of Representatives is still up in the air.
"I know that the Republican candidates who were running and were elected yesterday were hearing the same things I was hearing: housing, cost of living, border, all of those issues are issues that we're going to be addressing in the new Congress," he said.
"I believe now more than ever, it's going to be important to be able to work together."
He added that people may be upset or supportive of President-elect Donald Trump's election, "but the reality is, now we go forward. People have made their decisions."
Though King is an independent, he mostly votes in line with the Democratic Party. When King launched his reelection campaign in May, he said one reason he was running again was because he believed "we're losing the middle in the Senate."
