Former Maine Governor Angus King rules the Senate race in Maine even though the voters in the state chose Republican and Democratic nominees to race against him. A new poll shows that the Independent King, who served as the state’s governor between 1995 and 2003, is leading among likely voters.

King has 50% of the support in those polled. Charlie Summers the Republican nominee and Secretary of State for Maine received 23% of the vote in the poll, while Cynthia Dill, the Democratic nominee and a state senator took just 9%. The recent poll was conducted between June 13 and 14 and has a plus minus margin of error of 4.4%.

King has a lead in the race because of his political experience. His name recognition is much higher than his two opponents are. The polls also found that the favorability rating for King was 60%. Only 5% of the people polled said they had never heard about King, while 23% said they did not know Summers and 35% said they were unaware of Dill.

King has not stated of yet which party he will eventually caucus with, but the logical choice would be Democrats because of his prior political history and because he has donated money to President Obama in the past.

Candidates in the Senate race are competing to fill the seat of retiring Republican Olympia Snowe. She surprised supporters and members of Congress with her February announcement of retirement. Her retirement has caused a problem for the Republican Party. Snowe was moderate and won broad support from voters in the state and often times would not tow the party line like other Republicans. She cited too much partisanship, as a reason for her retirement.