Husband vs. wife in Maine election: Who won?

Democrat Jennifer Johnson of Waterville, Maine, won the Ward 1 warden position over Republican David Johnson on Tuesday by a 127-76 margin. The husband and wife ran against each other to show the importance of public service.

|
(AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty/File)
Jennifer Johnson (D) and David Johnson (R) each ran for the elected post of warden - which oversees voting at polling stations – in Waterville, Maine.

A Maine woman was victorious over her husband in an election they say was more about being involved in their community than about partisan politics.

The Morning Sentinel reports that Democrat Jennifer Johnson of Waterville won the Ward 1 warden position over Republican David Johnson on Tuesday by a 127-76 margin.

They were nominated by their respective party city committee caucuses in August.

Although their race drew national attention, they say they ran against each other to show the importance of public service and to show that Democrats and Republicans can get along.

"The empty lines on ballots make me sad," Jennifer told the Portland Press Herald in August. "If nothing else, we really don't care who wins, but if we can get young people involved in politics, especially on the local level, that would be tremendous."

David volunteered on the city's Safety Council, which was recently disbanded after 40-plus years. They both have worked behind the scenes to help friends in local political campaigns. But neither aspires to higher political office. According to the Portland Press Herald:

The couple quibble over fiscal issues; he is a fiscal conservative, she is more lenient in that respect. A stay-at-home mother who volunteers at George J. Mitchell School, where two of their children are enrolled, Jennifer, 36, says more money should be spent on education.

David, 32, a lead solution architect for Oxford Networks who works 50 or 60 hours a week, supports education but says there are creative ways to keep costs down, such as through volunteerism.

The parents of three have been married about 10 years.

In Maine, the warden's job is to oversee voting at polling places on Election Day. That includes distributing ballots and counting them at the end of the day.

___

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Husband vs. wife in Maine election: Who won?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2013/1106/Husband-vs.-wife-in-Maine-election-Who-won
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe