Jon Gale, the Democratic nominee for Cumberland County district attorney, said in a statement Monday night that he will be dropping out of the race to lead Maine’s busiest prosecutor’s office.“It is with immense regret and a heavy heart that I decline to go forward with this process, and withdraw from this race,” he said in an emailed statement.
Gale’s decision to exit the race came less than 12 hours after his party publicly called on him to step aside and the Bangor Daily News reported three former colleagues saying that he’d left a private-sector job in 2004 amid a human resources investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct.
His departure promises to narrow the race to replace longtime District Attorney Stephanie Anderson to a single candidate, independent Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Sahrbeck.
Gale, 51, said in the statement that the BDN’s report “weaves together some inaccuracies and partial truths about my employment” at Unum, a publicly-traded insurance company with a campus in Portland.
He said he regrets having engaged in “extramarital affairs” but that he has “accept[ed] full responsibility for those decisions and actions” and worked through them with his wife and family.
Gale rejected that there were any victims of his behavior at Unum.
“Those decisions did not involve my victimizing anyone, nor was I accused of victimizing anyone,” he said.
Gale said that he is leaving the race because his family “decided we cannot bear this stress.” He expressed frustration that his own party asked him to drop out eight days before the election.
“The notion that our own party leadership has rejected us and encouraged people to vote for our opponent is unimaginable — that the largest segment of our battle now comes from the Democratic leadership is crushing,” he said.
Maine Democratic Party chairman Phil Bartlett said Monday that he asked Gale over the weekend to immediately withdraw his candidacy after hearing concerns from people who worked with the lawyer at Unum, including “a victim who reported some very troubling allegations.”
The Maine Secretary of State’s Office could not be immediately reached to confirm whether Gale had formally withdrawn from the race.
Regardless, Gale’s name appears on ballots in Cumberland County along with Sahrbeck and Republican Randall Bates, who dropped out of the race in September after raising far less money than his opponents in heavily Democratic county.
Votes cast for candidates who have withdrawn from a race will not be counted.
This story appears through a media sharing agreement with Bangor Daily News.
