Eliot Cutler (born July 29, 1946) is an American lawyer who was an Independent candidate in Maine's 2010 and 2014 gubernatorial races.
In 2010, he placed second in a multi-way race, receiving 208,270 votes, equaling 35.9%, narrowly losing to Republican Paul LePage.
In 2014 he garnered only 8.4%, placing third behind both the Democratic candidate as well as LePage, who was re-elected with 48.2% of the vote.
Both times, he was claimed to be a spoiler for the Democratic candidate.
Maine has since become the first state to use instant-runoff voting in its statewide elections.Cutler had previously served in the Carter Administration as part of the U.S.