Kneeland wins school board seat after election filled with surprises

Jan. 7, 2026

By Emily Baer

The outcome of RSU 25’s hotly contested school board race was settled during a special election runoff on Dec. 31. Incumbent Keith Kneeland won by receiving 124 votes. His opponent Emily Fitzgerald received 74.

The historic race was a series of unexpected twists and turns as both candidates were initially told they had won on Nov. 4. But it turned out that officials had not accounted for absentee ballots when the first announcements were made. Fitzgerald was declared the winner by a slim margin.

Kneeland quickly requested a recount but it did little to resolve matters. After hand counting the unsealed ballots, town staff realized that the vote hinged on a single missing ballot. Once officials were able to track it down, the ballot proved unhelpful. It was blank. 

Given the tie, the town announced a special election would be held on Dec. 30 and both candidates resumed their campaigning. However, Fitzgerald soon discovered that she would be ineligible to hold the school board seat unless her husband, an employee of RSU 25, resigned from his position as coach of Bucksport Middle School’s robotics team. 

On Dec. 8 Fitzgerald effectively suspended her campaign by announcing that she would decline the seat if elected. By then absentee voting had already started and it was too late to cancel the runoff.

In the end, 198 ballots were cast. There were no blanks or missing ballots, election officials said, and Kneeland won 124-74, giving him the seat in which he will once again represent Bucksport for a three-year term on the RSU 25 school board. 

“It hasn’t hit me yet that it’s really over,” Kneeland said. “I hope everyone in Bucksport takes away from this whole saga just how important every single vote is.”

Kneeland said he is “excited to get back to focusing on all the hard work” facing the school board.

“Next up is contract negotiations with support staff and then it’s onto budget season,” he said. “That whole process is very fun for me.”