1982 Maine gubernatorial election

1982 Maine gubernatorial election

← 1978 November 2, 1982 1986 →

Nominee Joseph Brennan Charles Cragin Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 281,066 172,949 Percentage 61.9% 38.1%

County results Brennan:      50–60%      60–70%

Governor before election Joseph Brennan Democratic Elected Governor Joseph Brennan Democratic

The 1982 Maine gubernatorial election took place on November 2, 1982. Incumbent Democratic Governor Joseph Brennan defeated Republican challenger Charles R. Cragin. Brennan defeated Cragin, winning his re-election by the highest percent margin in more than thirty years.

Brennan would be challenged in the Democratic primary by Lewiston state representative Georgette Berube, but would easily dispatch her. Cragin narrowly defeated Falmouth state representative Sherry Huber and Waterville State Senator Richard Pierce in the GOP primary. Berube and Huber would be the first women to ever run for Governor of Maine.

The 281,066 votes received by Brennan represented the single highest vote total for governor in Maine history, until the election of Governor Janet Mills in 2018. Brennan's coattails allowed Democrats to win the first trifecta in the state since 1913. This was the first time a gubernatorial candidate won a majority of the vote since 1970, this would not occur again until 1998. This was the only Maine gubernatorial election between 1974 and 2022 that no third-party candidate received more than 5% of the vote.