Hannah Pingree up big in Maine governor’s race, final NYT/Press Herald/Siena poll shows
Maine candidates for governor, from left, are Republican Bobby Charles, Democrat Hannah Pingree and independent Rick Bennett. (Press Herald file photos)
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Hannah Pingree maintained a double-digit lead in the Maine governor’s race, the final New York Times/Portland Press Herald/Siena poll showed, a strong showing just days before Election Day.
Pingree, a 50-year-old Democrat from North Haven and the daughter of U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, faces Republican Bobby Charles and independent Rick Bennett on the ballot this Tuesday in the race to succeed Gov. Janet Mills. If Democrats hold the governor’s office, it would be the first time since 1959 that Maine voters elected successive executives from the same party.
The poll of 714 likely voters, surveyed by the Siena Research Institute between Oct. 27 and Nov. 1, showed Pingree with the support of 49% of respondents. Charles polled at 37%, and Bennett pulled 8%. The governor’s race will not be subject to a ranked-choice runoff.
Charles, a 66-year-old lawyer from Leeds, has sat in a distant second place throughout the campaign after winning a bruising Republican primary this summer. Each of the previous two Times/Press Herald/Siena polls has shown Charles with the support of 36% of voters.
Bennett, 63, a state senator and former Maine Republican Party chair, has struggled to gain traction, sitting at 8% in each of the two prior polls.
Relatively few voters remained undecided, the poll showed, with 6% refusing to answer or saying they didn’t know whom they’d choose.
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From September: Hannah Pingree continues to hold a big lead in new poll of Maine governor’s race
The campaign has largely focused on affordability, with heating oil prices at record highs due to the Iran war and housing prices continuing to rise due to a lack of supply.
Pingree, the race’s front-runner since she won her primary this summer, has mostly avoided major slip-ups. She’s sought to connect Charles to his party’s leader, President Donald Trump, who remains deeply unpopular in Maine.
Pingree has solidified her base of support among Democrats, and is also supported by 51% of unenrolled voters — 26 percentage points more than Charles, and 35 more than Bennett. About 10% of those who said they plan to vote for Republican Sen. Susan Collins also said they plan to vote for Pingree.
Charles, meanwhile, has hoped to tie Pingree to Mills, the outgoing governor he blames for high energy prices, low hospital reimbursement rates, alleged MaineCare fraud and more. He often uses the term “Mills-Pingree administration” to slam the past eight years of Democratic trifecta governance in Augusta.
While Republicans were slow to coalesce behind Charles after their expensive, bruising primary, he has solidified his support among Maine GOP voters in the past month and a half, according to the Times/Press Herald/Siena poll. In September, Charles only had the support of 73% of Republicans; he now has the support of 86%.
Bennett remains a distant third place. Fewer unenrolled voters are supporting Bennett — who has openly criticized the two-party system — than Charles.
With slim paths to victory for both Charles and Bennett, Pingree appears poised to keep the Blaine House in Democratic hands, while the party fights to maintain its tight Maine Legislature majorities.
In addition to leading in most major polls — one Marist poll from last month showed Pingree and Charles tied — Pingree has also enjoyed a comfortable fundraising advantage and has raked in about $5 million during her campaign.
The New York Times/Portland Press Herald/Siena poll of Maine voters was funded with support from the Maine Trust for Local News.
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Tagged: bobby charles, election 2026, governor's race 2026, hannah pingree, Registration, Times-Press Herald-Siena poll
Ethan reports on cost of living for the Portland Press Herald. Before he joined in mid-2026, he covered local news in Augusta and surrounding areas and ran a weekly newsletter for the Kennebec Journal. More by Ethan Horton
