Write-in candidate jumps into probate race for troubled seat
Brian Thomas seeks Democratic nomination, running against Matt Foster
May 18, 2026
By John Epstein
Attorney Brian Thomas, of Lamoine, is a write-in candidate in the June 9 primary. He is seeking the Democratic nomination for the Hancock County Probate Judge seat. Photo courtesy of Brian Thomas.
ELLSWORTH— Hancock County citizens will get to vote for a new probate judge this year, but so far only Matt Foster, a Republican, is assured a spot on the November 3 Election Day ballot.
When Brian Thomas, a Lamoine-based attorney, learned in March of this year that there was no Democrat registered in the June 9 primary to run for probate judge, he knew he had a decision to make.
Hoping to give voters a choice, Thomas submitted the necessary paperwork just before the March 31 deadline to run as a Democrat. Because he entered the race after the filing deadline, Thomas will not appear on the June primary ballot, so he is running as a write-in candidate. If he receives at least 300 write-in votes in the primary, his name will appear on the general election ballot in November.
“Unless there was a write-in candidate, Foster would be unopposed, and that just didn’t seem right to me,” Thomas said. “I have concerns about his judgment.”
County probate judges in Maine are elected to four-year terms and decide sensitive matters that can have huge impacts on families. Working part-time, they preside over cases involving wills and estates, guardianships and adoptions. Their work includes decisions regarding the care of incapacitated adults and children.
Foster, currently a trust and estates attorney in Ellsworth, is the former two-term District Attorney for Hancock and Washington Counties and lost his electoral bid for a third term in 2022. Just a week before that election, the Bangor Daily News reported that Foster had lied in a public forum about being investigated by the Maine Attorney General’s Office over a woman’s complaint that he had sexually abused her when she was 13 and living with her mother in Foster’s home.
According to news reports, Kathleen Hinerman, who briefly lived with Foster in Ellsworth as a child, reported to the Maine State Police in 2017 that Foster had touched her in an inappropriately sexual manner on multiple occasions. The state, while it did investigate, did not file charges and Foster denies any wrongdoing.
Foster did not respond to multiple telephone messages left by The Rising Tide seeking to discuss his probate judge candidacy.
The Hancock County Probate Court has been troubled over the last two years. William Blaisdell IV, its judge for more than a decade, has been held in contempt of court several times during that time and, mostly recently, had his law license suspended in April 2025. As a result of the suspension, he has been removed from the bench and cannot serve anywhere as a judge or a lawyer.
These disciplinary actions were taken because he has repeatedly failed to abide by a divorce decree calling for him to pay child support to his ex-wife. Since he has not resigned from his position, he cannot be replaced unless there is an election. Because of Blaisdell’s absence from the bench, probate judges from neighboring counties have had to step in to manage the caseload.
Hoping to give voters a choice for their next probate judge, Thomas — whose legal experience includes real estate transactions, land conservation trusts, estate planning and land title disputes — submitted the necessary paperwork just before the March 31 deadline. To appear on the November ballot as a Democrat, he must receive at least 300 write-in votes in the June primary.
“We have a recruitment committee to find candidates for local elections, but we don’t always succeed in finding people,” said Marcia Myers, chair of the Hancock County Democrats. “I’m just glad that Brian realized the gap and stepped in.”
Thomas said the local Democratic organization has started to help with outreach and by providing data bases.
After college, Thomas, who was in the ROTC, served four years in the U.S. Army as an intelligence officer. He then had a career as an archaeologist, working with consulting firms across the country that provided advice on large construction and public works projects to make sure they didn’t disturb archeologically significant sites. Before coming to Maine in 2013 with his wife of 33 years, Larissa Thomas, he was a state representative in the Georgia General Assembly from 2004 to 2013 and served for two years as Democratic Caucus Chair.
While serving in the General Assembly, Thomas went to Georgia State Law School at night to get a law degree. After moving to Maine in 2013, he joined the trusts and estates legal practice of Frederick Stocking in Lamoine.
“A lot of the work in probate is gathering facts at hearings and using discretion to determine who should have the right to make decisions about the care of another person,” Thomas said.
“You need to be able to read the room to see what may work best,” he added, “and good judgment is the most important characteristic to have for the job.”