# Latest pair of recounts maintain House status quo

**By:** Francis X. Quinn, Associated Press, Portsmouth Herald  
**Published:** 2000-11-18T06:00:00Z  
**Source:** [Portsmouth Herald](https://www.seacoastonline.com/story/news/2000/11/18/latest-pair-recounts-maintain-house/51304441007?gnt-cfr=1)

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AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) Two recounts Friday upheld the apparent victors from the Nov. 7 elections for the Maine House of Representatives, one a Democrat, the other a Republican.
With four more House recounts scheduled next week, incoming Democrats continue to hold a majority in the 151-member chamber with 89 seats. Another 61 are held by Republicans and there is one independent.
The Democratic total of 89 House members would be the largest partisan House bloc since 1993-1994, when Democrats numbered 91.
The makeup of the outgoing House has been 79-71-1 in favor of the Democrats.
In Friday's first recount, Democrat Paul Hatch of Skowhegan saw his winning edge over Republican David Summers of Skowhegan in House District 98 increase from 19 votes in unofficial returns to 28 votes in the final tabulation.
The final tally gave Hatch 1,307 and Summers 1,279.
In the second recount Friday, Republican Peter Chase of Levant held on to a winning margin over Democratic incumbent Daniel Williams of Orono in House District 122, although Chase's spread was reduced from 17 votes in the preliminary results to 9 votes in the recount tally.
Official results were 2,314 for Chase and 2,305 for Williams.
Williams was one of seven House incumbents who failed to win re-election, according to unofficial returns. Democratic Rep. Laura Sanborn of Alton, another of the seven, has a recount scheduled Monday.
Preliminary results from House District 137 showed Sanborn losing to Republican Anita Haskell of Milford by 35 votes.
Another recount slated for Monday will check the unofficial results from House District 148, which gave Republican Florence Young of Limestone a 380-372 win over Democrat Wade McLaughlin of Limestone.
Two final recounts are scheduled Tuesday:
House District 72, where preliminary results gave Republican incumbent Thomas Shields of Auburn a 2,275-2,142 victory over Democrat Stanley Tetenman of Auburn;
House District 151, where unofficial returns showed Democrat Marc Michaud of Fort Kent winning over Republican Troy Jackson of Allagash, 2,062-1,956.
Of the four House recounts so far, only one has resulted in a reversal. That came in House District 56, where Democrat Christopher Hall of Bristol had trailed Republican John Harris of South Bristol by seven votes in unofficial returns, but came out of the recount the winner by 22 votes.
Besides Williams and Sanborn, losing House incumbents were Democrat Brian Bolduc of Auburn and Republicans Sumner Jones of Pittsfield, Earl Richardson of Greenville, Robert Stanwood of Southwest Harbor and Barry Gillis of Danforth.