Rep. Chellie Pingree address supporters in Portland, as her husband, Donald Sussman (left) looks on.
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) _ Democratic U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree on Tuesday coasted to a third term representing Maine's 1st Congressional District, easily defeating Republican challenger Jon Courtney.
In the 2nd District, Democratic Rep. Mike Michaud maintained a comfortable lead over Republican Kevin Raye with votes in 8 percent of the districts counted.
Pingree said she was "gratified the voters would give me an opportunity to serve again."
"There's a tremendous amount of work to be done in Congress," she said.
Tops on her list is a bill to help the country's farms, but the biggest challenge is the deficit.
With 17 percent of the 1st District precincts counted, Pingree had 67 percent of the votes in her race against Courtney, a cleaning business owner and majority leader in the state Senate.
Photo by Mark Vogelzang.