Adam Cote

Congressional candidate Chellie PingreePORTLAND -- In spite of a late charge from Adam Cote, front runner Chellie Pingree captured a convincing win tonight in the Democratic primary for Maine's 1st Congressional District.

With 73 percent of precincts reporting, Pingree leads Cote 44 percent to 26 percent.

After waiting until after 11 p.m. for the local networks to call the race, Pingree addressed a boisterous crowd of a couple hundred supporters jammed into the Porthole Restaurant, an old bar and grill on the waterfront in downtown Portland. "We can actually say it now," she finally said, "I think that we won."

Congressional candidate Adam Cote at his Election Night gathering: Politicker Photo

UPDATED 1:00 a.m. Video: Adam Cote greets supporters at his party. 

UPDATED 11:45 p.m. | Democrat Adam Cote has conceded in the primary race for the 1st Congressional District, congratulating winner Chellie Pingree on her victory. In his speech, he said many people did cross over to the Democratic Party to vote for him, and he said he hopes they will remain there because it is the party of change.

UPDATED, 11:12 p.m. | Despite being down in the polls, Adam Cote, a Democrat running in the 1st Congressional District primary, is still optimistic, saying around 10:45 p.m. that were a lot of towns that haven't reported yet, such as his hometown, Sanford.

Later, Tom Janenda, campaign manager for Cote, restressed that point.

He said Cote will be happy to congratulate the presumptive Democratic nominee, Chellie Pingree, if she did indeed win.

At the party, supporters are hanging in there, huddled in small groups or around televisions, anxiously awaiting results.

Congressional candidate Adam CoteSANFORD -- In Sanford's first two wards, turnout was light in the after-work hours.

Voters who came through, however, eagerly offered up reasons for picking their candidate of choice. They went to high school with him or knew his family.

Seven of the eight Democrats interviewed by PolitickerME.com said Adam Cote was an easy choice for them. The eighth said she voted for Mark Lawrence, also from York County, because he was a friend of the family.

Cote and Lawrence face four other Democrats in the 1st Congressional District primary.

Congressional candidate Chellie PingreeUPDATED, 11:22 p.m. | The Bangor Daily News reports that U.S. Rep. Tom Allen is leading Tom Ledue in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate. With 75 percent of the vote counted, Allen has 85 percent of the vote in to Ledue’s 14 percent.

In the Democratic primary for the U.S. House race for the 1st Congressional District, Chellie Pingree leads with 44 percent. Adam Cote, Ethan Strimling, and Michael Brennan trail with 26 percent, 12 percent, and 11 percent, respectively,

In the Republican primary for the 1st district seat, Charlie Summers leads Dean Scontras by a 59 percent to 40 percent margin.

For more, see the Bangor Daily News.

Talk about horrible timing … PolitickerME has been out with a nasty flu for the past few days.

Here’s a quick rundown on what’s been going on in the days leading up the primary.

Monday, June 2:

It's a good thing Adam Cote spent some time in the military, because the enemy fire is really picking up.

Throughout most of the campaign, Adam has been dodging sniper fire quite well. He has endured the sporadic burst of fire from Strimling on Cote's republican donors as well as the occasional grenade tossed in by Lawrence or Pingree on his on-again, off-again relationship with the Republican Party.

Plenty of danger, but Cote managed to escape uninjured.....so far.

In fact, a Cote victory and wins for Collins and Michaud in November would put the entire Maine delegation in the political middle.

Photos from the evening speeches and rallies at the Maine Democratic Convention:

Mouse over for details. 

Video: Adam Cote, a Democrat running for the First Congressional District, gave the following speech at the Maine Democratic Convention this weekend.

Also, click here for video of James E.N. Bachelder, Commander of the Maine Veterans of Foreign Wars, introducing Cote.

The convention floor is clear and delegates have disbursed to the various parties – all of which started three hours late.

Before the final speaker came out, convention chair Beth Edmonds announced the final delegate tally – 15 delegates from Maine will represent Barack Obama in Denver, and nine will represent Hillary Clinton. The results of all the other votes – for national delegate slots and DNC members – will be announced tomorrow.

The Democratic Convention appeared to be running smoothly up until lunchtime, when chaos erupted. At that point counties broke off into caucuses where voting was to take place on national delegates, presidential electors, state committee slots and DNC positions.