SOUTH PORTLAND — Scott Hamann, the South Portland Democrat who had support from retiring Rep. Jane Eberle, D-South Portland, was elected Tuesday in Maine House District 123.

Hamann, with 2,716 votes, won a three-way race against Republican Kenneth Myrick and independent Roger Bishop. Myrick had 1,574 and Bishop 933 in the district comprised of the center of South Portland and northwest portion of Cape Elizabeth.

“I feel good, very good,” Hamann said.

Hamann and Bishop were making their first runs for elected office. Bishop carried Cape Elizabeth with 344 votes to 285 for Hamann and 183 for Myrick.

Myrick ran against Eberle and lost in 2010. She could not seek a fifth, two-year term this year because of state term limits laws.

While crediting Eberle and Rep. Terry Morrison, D-South Portland, for advice on campaigning, Hamann said leg work made a difference, too.

“After spending two months walking around, I had to stand (still) for the first time in a long time,” he said about greeting voters Election Day at the South Portland Community Center.

Myrick said he felt good about his second campaign, despite the results.

“We did what we could to get our base energized, it’s hard to blow up a balloon with a hole in it,” he said.

Myrick said he would have expected an independent candidacy like Bishop’s to attract Democrats, but with the state referendum Question 1 on the ballot, he and former Republican Bishop might have gotten lumped together despite their support of the same-sex marriage question.

He also urged Hamann to follow a bipartisan path in Augusta.

“You get to learn what’s at the heart of the city, people want bipartisan politics. They are tired of being divided and politics as usual,” Myrick said.

Bishop congratulated Hamann and said the campaign was enjoyable.

“I hate to use the term ‘I lost,’ he said. “I really didn’t lose because I had a wonderful experience.”

Bishop said there was little he would change about the campaign, and said Eberle’s support of Hamann helped the winner.

“I did what I wanted to do, and got some good support as an independent and as a resident of Cape Elizabeth,” he said. “I would encourage others not to sit on sidelines.”

Hamann, a video producer and marketing consultant, said he is working on legislation to create better tax incentives for production companies filming in Maine.

He also said the new Democratic majority in the Legislature will benefit Mainers by preventing Gov. Paul LePage from “pushing through a conservative agenda.”

David Harry can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 110 or dharry@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidHarry8.

Corrected Nov. 8 to show Scott Hamann received 2,716 total votes.

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