PORTLAND — State Rep. Jon Hinck, D-Portland, won a straw poll that was taken after a U.S. Senate candidates’ forum hosted Sunday evening by the Maine League of Young Voters.
Hinck topped three other Democrats — state Sen. Cynthia Dill, former Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap and building contractor Ben Pollard — who are running for the seat now held by Republican Olympia Snowe, who isn’t seeking re-election.
The league invited the six Republican candidates in the June 12 primary, but they either declined or didn’t respond, said Nicola Wells, state director of the league. Former Gov. Angus King, who is running as an independent, wasn’t invited because he’s not facing a challenger in the primary.
“We are disappointed that no Republicans came,” Wells said. “We really wanted to expose our membership to the diversity of viewpoints on both sides of the aisle. We are very much committed to being a nonpartisan group.”
League members solicited ballots from 34 people who attended the hour-long forum at the Lucid Stage on Baxter Boulevard. Audience members were asked to rank the candidates in order of preference.
Hinck came in first, followed by Dunlap, Dill and Pollard, respectively. “Overall, I was pretty impressed with all of them,” said Ben Lake, 27, a regional planner who lives in Portland. “I could see supporting any one of these candidates.”
Lake said Hinck was his first choice because he liked his reasoned responses, but he also liked Pollard’s tendency to “resist conformity.”
The Republican candidates are former state Sen. Rick Bennett, businessman Scott D’Amboise, state Sen. Debra Plowman, state Treasurer Bruce Poliquin, Attorney General William Schneider and Secretary of State Charlie Summers.
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