Two College of the Atlantic alumni running for office in Maine elections successfully won their seats on the Democratic ticket Tuesday. Chellie Pingree a 1979 graduate of COA will be running for Congress in November; Elsie Flemings, a 2007 COA graduate will be running for the District 35 seat from Mount Desert Island.

Pingree, who was majority leader of the Maine Senate, had been the director of Common Cause until she resigned to run for the seat being vacated by Tom Allen in the first district. She came out ahead in the six-person primary race in the first district. In 2002, before joining Common Cause, Pingree had run for Senator Susan Collins' senate seat.

Flemings won a hotly contested primary race against Gary Friedman, a candidate who also has ties to College of the Atlantic. Friedmann taught an introductory geology course at the college this spring. The two were vying for the seat being vacated by Ted Koffman, who has reached the legislated limits of his term.

In House District 41, yet another COA alumnus, Maxwell G. Coolidge, did not fare so well. He ran against Kenneth Lindell and Warren Southworth Sr. on the Republican ticket. Lindell will be running on the Republican ticket to represent Frankfort, Orland, Prospect, Searsport, Stockton Springs and Verona.

In a New York Times article about the college written last September by Tamar Lewin, Flemings was described as a "quiet powerhouse." She has represented the United States and the United Nations as a youth delegate at international conferences on climate change, serves as coordinator of the Union Watershed Coaltion and was instrumental in writing the Smart Growth bill that was signed into law last year, requiring developers to file independent economic impact statements to Maine towns where they want to build stores.

Friedmann previously served as director of operations for Maine Coast Heritage Trust and director of development at COA. In 1992, he started a fundraising consulting business, Gary Friedmann & Associates, serving Maine nonprofits. He sold his business prior to running for office.