In the final weeks of the election season, Sen. Angus King has a comfortable lead ahead of three challengers in his reelection campaign.

King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, is facing off against Republican Demi Kouzounas, Democrat David Costello and Jason Cherry, who is also running as independent.

Kouzounas, a Saco native, served in Germany with the U.S. Army and became a dentist and small business owner, describing herself as both a mother and a grandmother.

Kouzounas cited among her issues the economy and a bipartisan approach to governing. She is also focused on improving national immigration policy. She presented herself as the daughter of legal immigrants, and spoke to a need to “end the crisis at our southern border.” 

Costello also pointed to his Maine roots, born in Bangor and raised in Old Town. Now living in Brunswick, he has a background in working as a campaigner and staffer for other politicians dating back to being on the late Sen. Edward Kennedy’s national staff in 1980.

“He subsequently worked on two additional national presidential campaigns and locally on U.S. Senate, U.S. House, and Maine gubernatorial campaigns into the early 1990s,” his campaign website stated. He also worked as an aide to Maine Secretary of State Bill Diamond in the 1990s.

Costello said he wants to “substantially reform and governing practices and institutions.” His website cited a list of issues including the economy, health care, climate change and immigration.

Cherry was a conservation officer for the National Marine Fisheries Service before getting a law degree and becoming a criminal defense attorney. The 9/11 terrorist attacks, he said, prompted him to join the FBI as an agent. He later retired from the FBI and now lives in Bangor. 

On his website, Cherry cited a need for government reform, praising ranked-choice voting and supporting other changes to the law at the federal level, including a maximum age limit of 80 years and maximum terms of 20 years “for all branches of government.”

Numbers indicate King has been in the lead from the start. Polling conducted over the summer by the University of New Hampshire showed King with at least 10 percentage points over Kouzounas, who came in second.

Polling data from mid-September from Pan Atlantic put King squarely in the lead at 53%, with Kouzounas at 23%, Costello at 8% and Cherry with 1%. 

But campaign officials, while confident, said the incumbent senator is not complacent, releasing a second television ad within a month of October’s early voting and still raising money. 

“As Olympia Snowe famously said, there are only two ways to run: scared and unopposed,” said campaign spokesperson Dana Youngentob. “Angus is not taking anything for granted and continues to travel the state to listen to Maine people's concerns and share his ideas about the best path forward to a prosperous, bright future for the state and nation.”

Despite placing third in the polls, the Costello campaign is also remaining positive.

“We’re feeling upbeat, although it’s a challenge, given the lack of press coverage, reaching voters with our ‘Congress is broken and in need of an overhaul’ message,” Costello said in an email.

Neither the Kouzounas nor the Cherry campaigns responded to inquiries from Spectrum News.