WATERVILLE, Maine — Nearly all of the candidates seeking to become Maine’s next governor rubbed shoulders in a Waterville hotel on Thursday morning in one of the first major events of the nascent 2026 campaign. Angus King III, a Democrat, sat near former fitness executive Ben Midgley, a Republican. Two Republicans who have been criticizing each other, Bobby Charles and David Jones, chatted on the sidelines. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Angus King III (left) talks with state Sen. Scott Cyrway, R-Albion, on Thursday morning after the Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce’s “Gubernatorial Meet and Greet Business Breakfast” at the Best Western Plus in Waterville. “So it’s nothing really fun to have a Democratic governor when you’re a Democrat either,” Jackson said, “because they screw you just as well as the Republicans.”