U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree won election to her eighth term in Congress in decisive fashion on Tuesday.

With 39% of the expected vote counted as of 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, the 67-year-old Democrat from North Haven defeated Republican challenger Ed Thelander of Bristol  by nearly 20 percentage points, according to unofficial election night results.

During the campaign, Pingree emphasized her seniority and her service on the House Appropriations Committee as assets for Maine. She said she works with other members of the delegation to get funding for things such as ships at Bath Iron Works and for veterans’ programs.

Pingree said her office in Portland frequently works with cities trying to help asylum seekers find housing and get work permits. Last week, she said her lobbying efforts brought in more than $42 million in additional funding to help low-income Mainers afford their oil bills this winter.

Thelander, 53, is a retired Navy SEAL making his first bid for elected office. He campaigned as someone from the political center who sought to gain support from Democrats and independents as well as Republicans.

Pingree and Thelander agreed that Maine lobstermen are getting a raw deal from the federal government as it tries to impose new restrictions to protect endangered right whales.

But while Pingree disagreed with the U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn abortion rights and send the matter to the states, Thelander is anti-abortion and said he believes the issue belongs at the state level.

“The way America gets along is all these states and places have their own rules,” Thelander told Spectrum News in September.

Thelander faced an uphill battle from the start. Pingree has won seven consecutive terms representing a district where Democrats are 41% of registered voters, 33% are unenrolled 26% identify as Republican.

But on the national level, Republicans are favored to take control of the House, which would put Pingree in the minority.

“You have to negotiate with the other side,” she told Spectrum News in October. “Congress has to do that every single year. You don’t burn bridges with people you know you’re going to work with in the long term.”