Political newcomer Michelle Boyer easily won a three-way race for the Democratic nomination to represent part of Cape Elizabeth in the Maine House with 62% of the vote in Tuesday’s primary elections.

Michelle Boyer, Democratic nominee for the House of Representatives in District 123. Contributed photo

Boyer received 1,123 votes in the contest for the open District 123 seat, while former legislators Kimberly Monaghan and Cynthia Dill received 522 votes and 175 votes, respectively.

In November, Boyer will face Republican Annie Christy, who got 310 votes Tuesday running unopposed. The seat is held by Rep. Rebecca Millett, a Democrat who isn’t seeking reelection after 12 years in the House and Senate.

Boyer was the frontrunner in fundraising, collecting $4,100 from supporters, while Dill had raised $3,900 and Monaghan had raised $3,600, according to campaign finance reports. Boyer also was endorsed by Millett.

Boyer, 44, is a member of the town’s Conservation Committee and owner of Arctic Lynx Maternity Activewear. She decided to run after volunteering with the Gun Safety Caucus and working on legislation to ensure private health insurance coverage for postpartum care. She said she would continue to support similar issues, as well as climate change and resource conservation.

Monaghan, 65, served in the House from 2011-18 and said she was urged to run again by party leaders. She is operations director for a progressive news site, Common Dreams, and serves on the State Liquor & Lottery Commission and the Maine Commission on Public Defense Services. She planned to defend reproductive rights and birth control.

Dill, who declined to give her age, is a lawyer who runs a small media production company, Cyndicate Media. She served in the House from 2006-11 and in the Senate from 2011-12. She said she wanted to work on affordable housing, after leading an effort that effectively killed an affordable housing project in the town center in 2021.

The other candidates also said they support efforts to create more housing, but while Boyer wouldn’t comment on the failed local project, Monaghan said she was disappointed that it didn’t go through.

All three candidates said they support gun safety measures Democrats passed this year and would support a red flag law to make it easier to confiscate weapons from people in mental health crises.