‘Working People Vote Republican’: GOP Populist LePage Aims at Maine Comeback Against Democrat Gov. Mills

Former Gov. Paul LePage cruised through the Republican gubernatorial primary in Maine unopposed on Tuesday, officially setting up a face-off against incumbent Democrat Gov. Janet Mills for November.

LePage, who is celebrating election night at a small event near his hometown of Lewiston, wrote in a statement as polls were closing, “The entire country is waking up to what I’ve known from the beginning: We can defeat Janet Mills in November.”

LePage previously served as governor of Maine for two terms until 2019, and while he could not run for a third term because of the state limit of two consecutive terms, he began hinting just a year after he left office that he would run again in 2022 to succeed Mills.

LePage formally launched his campaign in July 2021, saying at the time, “We must work toward building a better future based on individual liberty, fiscal responsibility, and an economy which empowers everyone including our rural communities.”

Mills announced in March she would pursue reelection, setting up the fight with LePage and contending she had “much left” to do as governor.

Formerly a city councilor and mayor, LePage won his race for governor in 2010 by a narrow vote of less than two percent, and in doing so, rocked the moderate Republican presence in Maine with his strong personality and unrelenting conservative views.

The magazine American Conservative noted during his first term in office that LePage, for instance, “compared the IRS to the Gestapo, said that Obama could go to hell, and pointed to the press box during his inaugural address warning, ‘You’re on notice.’”

Roughly around the same time LePage was running for his first term in office, the Maine Republican Party adopted the tagline “working people vote Republican” as a means of sequestering the Democrat Party — historically a party focused on the working class and unions — as an out-of-touch party of elites. LePage, who grew up in poverty before entering the workforce to take on various blue-collar jobs, served as an exemplary figure for that message as the state party was spreading it around in ads and selling it as a popular bumper sticker.

As part of his comeback bid, LePage is advocating for cutting the state income tax and promoting that he left the Maine economy “surging” in 2019.

He recently stated that when he left office, “private sector jobs were rapidly expanding, unemployment was at a record low, investment capital was flowing, and government red tape and spending was under control for the first time in 50 years.”

LePage’s heavy focus on economic issues aligns with national polling data showing Americans are overwhelmingly concerned with inflation and costs of necessities like groceries and gas. Gas in particular had been hovering at high rates for months but reached a new record-breaking high price Tuesday for the 17th day in a row.

LePage zeroed in on gas prices back in March, pressuring Mills to cut the state’s fuel tax, in line with temporary suspensions or cuts that some other governors had begun implementing.

Mills insisted in response that one-time $750 relief checks, which she proudly announced during her State of the State address this year, were the answer to Mainers’ strained budgets rather than a structural change like a tax cut.

The Maine Democrat shared a video on Tuesday urging voters to turn out to the polls, as some contested races were taking place further down the ballot. Mills wrote, “Let’s show folks that #Maine is ready to keep moving forward”:

I voted in my hometown of Farmington today! I hope everyone gets out and makes their voice heard today — let's show folks that #Maine is ready to keep moving forward. pic.twitter.com/MmBCypyb4J

— Janet Mills (@JanetMillsforME) June 14, 2022

A recent biannual statewide poll provided an illustration of the difference in support between LePage and Mills. It showed Maine’s rural and expansive Second District favored LePage, whereas the state’s more densely populated First District, peppered with wealthy coastal towns, preferred Mills.

The poll’s topline result found the two candidates were in a dead heat, with LePage trailing Mills by a few points, within the poll’s margin of error.

LePage political adviser Brent Littlefield indicated to Breitbart News on Tuesday that issues such as President Joe Biden’s multitrillion spending packages — which states have reaped the benefit of — and Mills’ “extreme” handling of coronavirus are issues he expects will resonate with the average Maine voter.

“It’s that extreme nature of her approach that is different from Gov. LePage,” Littlefield said.

“He has a background and history of turning things around economically, and she is basically living off Uncle Joe’s money and subsidizing the state with temporary funds, and she’s running around handing it out like Santa Claus,” Littlefield added. “In the meantime the state’s going to be left holding the bag when the money from D.C. runs out.”

Biden defeated former President Donald Trump in Maine by about nine points in 2020, but with the president continuously receiving dismal approval ratings, and with growing expectations that Republicans will see big gains nationally in November, the gubernatorial race in the Pine Tree State is set to be competitive.

The Republican Governors Association (RGA) praised LePage on Tuesday as a “proven leader” and said the group was “confident” he would defeat Mills.

“Janet Mills’ only concern as governor is appeasing the far-left activists and Joe Biden,” RGA cochairs Govs. Doug Ducey and Pete Ricketts said in a statement, adding Mills “signed into law a grocery tax, proposed a gas tax hike, and allowed an extreme environmental agenda to decimate local fishing communities.”

“The RGA congratulates Paul for officially becoming the GOP nominee,” the governors added, “and we remain confident Mainers will return him to the Blaine House.”