In team effort, Summers wins congressional nomination again

UPDATED: SOUTH PORTLAND - For the second time, Charlie Summers will by the Republican Party's nominee in the 1st Congressional District.

A former state senator and one time staffer to U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, Summers defeated Dean Scontras by nearly 18 points by the time he claimed victory. He will now face Democrat Chellie Pingree in November.

The road to the nomination was far from easy. A lieutenant commander in the Navy Reserves, he was deployed to Iraq shortly after announcing his bid in July. As a result, he depended heavily on his wife Ruth to campaign on his behalf.

During his victory speech, he thanked her.

"She went all across this district and I am very blessed to have her as my wife," Summers said.

Because he had run before and won the nomination before, he become the front-runner early in the race. That said, Scontras outraised Summers. At the end of May, Scontras had raised $338,000 and Summers had $209,000.

"Dean has worked very hard," Summers said. "His supporters have worked very hard and brought issues to the forefront that I know will carry forward into the fall."

Scontras offered his complete support to Summers tonight. Summers said he was grateful to have him and his followers on his team.

"This is going to be a great campaign about solutions, about optimism and addressing the issues that face Mainers," Summers told a small crowd of supporters at the Thomas Room banquet facility.

Summers also committed to cut wasteful spending and taxes.

"This is not going to be a us against them proposition," he said. "This is going to be a conservative versus liberal proposition. This is going to be a we proposition. This is going to be a Maine proposition and an American proposition. It's about what is right in America. And that's going to be the strength of this campaign. "