Nov 03, 2025

by Bill Trotter/BDN

ELLSWORTH—A current lieutenant with the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department has filed paperwork to run for the position held by his current boss.

He is the second person to file with the state as a candidate for the seat. Corey Bagley, who previously served as the county’s chief deputy, filed earlier this year to run in the 2026 election for Hancock County Sheriff.

The county’s current sheriff, Scott Kane, has not indicated whether he plans to seek re-election to the position he has held since January 2015.

Lt. Dakota Dupuis intends to run for the Democratic nomination for sheriff. This will pit him against either Kane (if he runs again), who is a Republican, or Bagley, a former chief deputy under Kane who is seeking the GOP nomination in the 2026 general election.

Dupuis has been with the sheriff’s department for seven years, rising to the rank of lieutenant in February 2024, after Bagley left his job as chief deputy. Dupuis filed his candidacy paperwork for the election with the Maine Ethics Commission on Oct. 27.

Bagley’s departure came with controversy when former sheriff William Clark, who now serves as a Hancock County commissioner, accused Kane of pushing Bagley out of the job so that Kane’s brother, former chief deputy Patrick Kane, could return to the post. Patrick Kane ended up not returning to the sheriff’s department and the chief deputy position was not refilled long-term until the current chief deputy, William Birch, started in the post in March 2024.

Bagley has worked for the Ellsworth Police Department as a detective since August 2023.

Bagley and Kane did not immediately respond Monday morning to messages seeking comment about Dupuis filing to run for sheriff.

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This story appears through a media partnership with the Bangor Daily News.