Independent candidate for governor Alan Caron ends campaign, endorses Janet Mills

[jpak]

Source: Portland Press Herald

Independent gubernatorial candidate Alan Caron withdrew from the governor’s race Monday and urged his followers to vote for the Democratic candidate, Attorney General Janet Mills.

His decision fulfills a campaign trail promise to get out of the race in mid-October if he couldn’t win.

“I’m not a person who quits things easily,” Caron said at a Portland press conference. “Today I’m writing the final lines in this chapter of my life.”

He was then joined at the podium by Mills, whom he described as “the only one who can bring us forward.”

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Read more: https://www.pressherald.com/2018/10/29/amid-speculation-independent-candidate-for-governor-alan-caron-plans-announcement/

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This is Maine.

[msongs]

1. FYI this is in Maine nt

[OAITW r.2.0]

2. Great News!

I voted absentee for Janet, but I don't understand why ranked choice wasn't an option for the Governor's race. Seems like the whole Ranked Choice event was driven by Le Clown LePage's splitting the vote to sneak into office. Really need RC for future governorship races.

[riversedge]

4. Nothing in the article if Caron will still be on ballot. Anyone know if so???

[riversedge]

3. Hillary Clinton endorsed Mills last week.............

..........In addition to support from Caron, Mills acquired backing Monday from a much higher-profile politician: Hillary Clinton. The former Democratic presidential candidate tweeted an endorsement early in the day, describing Mills as “an experienced leader and an outstanding public servant….”

Moody campaign advisor Brent Littlefield responded to Caron’s announcement on Twitter, saying the move was “not a surprise” because of Caron’s prior activism as a Democrat. Littlefield noted that Hayes had also been a Democrat.

“If someone wants politics as usual they can pick Mills or Hayes,” Littlefield tweeted. “Maine people want a fresh voice with a proven history of creating jobs and solving problems, and that is why entrepreneur Shawn Moody will be elected as Maine’s next governor.”

While Hayes has promised to stay in the race until Election Day, Caron has come under increasing pressure from the left to drop out in order to avoid the split electorate that lifted Republican Paul LePage to victory in the 2010 governor’s race with just 38 percent of the vote.

In his op-ed piece earlier this year, Caron called on non-viable candidates to “do the right thing” and withdraw from the race.

“If a candidate clearly cannot win the election by mid-October, they need to put the interests of Maine ahead of themselves and pull out. No wishy-washy stuff,” Caron wrote in a March 23 op-ed in the Portland Press Herald. “No arguments that major-party candidates have special privileges. Just do the right thing.”