LEWISTON, Maine — Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline will go to a December runoff with former state Rep. Jon Connor after failing to win an outright majority in Tuesday’s election less than two weeks after a mass shooting in the city killed 18 people.
Sheline received 45.1 percent of votes to 37.9 percent for Connor, a Republican who served one term in Augusta before losing reelection in 2022. Former City Councilor Luke Jensen won 11.9 percent of votes, while Joshua James Pietrowicz, a Toyota leasing specialist who has volunteered with Androscoggin County Republicans, got 5.1 percent.
Sheline, an entrepreneur who won his first term in 2021, told the Sun Journal in October he viewed substance abuse along with homelessness as critical issues in Maine’s second-largest city with roughly 36,000 people.
He has been aligned with liberals but does not have a vote on most matters before the city council, which saw tension after four conservative members met at a bar in early October to discuss business in potential violation of open meeting rules.
Connor, an Air Force veteran, would be mostly aligned with those members. He told the local newspaper that his priorities included emphasizing public safety and easing rules on housing development.
The campaigning effectively stopped after the Oct. 25 shooting at a bowling alley and bar on opposite ends of the city. On Friday, Sheline welcomed President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden to Lewiston to meet with victims and families of those who were killed.
