Paul LePage

Paul LePage

Republican Party

Prior offices

Mayor of Waterville

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Governor of Maine

Successor: Janet T. Mills

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Report an officeholder change

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 8, 2022

Education

Bachelor's

Husson College

Graduate

University of Maine

Personal

Birthplace

Lewiston, Maine

Profession

Business executive

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Personal LinkedIn

Paul LePage (Republican Party) was the Governor of Maine. He assumed office on January 5, 2011. He left office on January 2, 2019.

LePage (Republican Party) ran for election for Governor of Maine. He lost in the general election on November 8, 2022.

LePage was elected in the 2010 elections, when Republicans took control of both the Maine state House and the state Senate. In the 2012 elections, Democrats again took control of the legislature.

Prior to his election as governor, LePage served as mayor of Waterville, Maine, from 2004 to 2011. Before that, he served two terms on the Waterville City Council.

Biography

Paul LePage was born in Lewiston, Maine. LePage earned a B.S. in finance from Husson University and an M.B.A. from the University of Maine. He worked as a business executive, consultant, and advisor before entering politics. LePage served two terms on the Waterville, Maine City Council. He later served as mayor of Waterville from 2004 to 2011 and the governor of Maine from 2011 to 2019.

Political career

Maine Governor (2011-2019)

LePage was sworn in as Maine's 74th governor on January 5, 2011. He first won election on November 2, 2010, and he was re-elected on November 6, 2014.

Elections

2022

See also: Maine gubernatorial election, 2022

General election

General election for Governor of Maine

Incumbent Janet T. Mills defeated Paul LePage and Sam Hunkler in the general election for Governor of Maine on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Janet T. Mills (D)	55.7	376,934
		Paul LePage (R)	42.4	287,304
		Sam Hunkler (Independent)	1.9	12,581

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 676,819
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic Primary for Governor of Maine

The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Janet T. Mills in round 1 .

		Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
✔		Janet T. Mills	100	69,422	0	Advanced (1)

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 69,422
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• John Glowa (D)

Republican primary election

Republican Primary for Governor of Maine

The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Paul LePage in round 1 .

		Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
✔		Paul LePage	100	59,713	0	Advanced (1)

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 59,713
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

2018

See also: Maine gubernatorial election, 2018

LePage was unable to file for re-election due to term limits.

2014

See also: Maine gubernatorial election, 2014 and Maine's 2nd Congressional District elections, 2014

LePage ran for re-election as governor in 2014. He was uncontested in the Republican primary on June 10, 2014. He faced Democrat Mike Michaud and Independent Eliot Cutler in the general election. The general election took place on November 4, 2014.

Results

Governor of Maine, 2014
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Paul LePage Incumbent	48.2%	294,519
	Democratic	Mike Michaud	43.4%	265,114
	Independent	Eliot Cutler	8.4%	51,515
	Nonpartisan	Write-in votes	0%	79
Total Votes				611,227
Election results via Maine Bureau of Corporations, Elections & Commissions

2010

See also: Maine gubernatorial election, 2010 and Gubernatorial elections, 2010

LePage defeated Elizabeth Mitchell (D) in the general election on November 2, 2010.

Governor of Maine, 2010
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Paul LePage	37.6%	218,065
	Democratic	Elizabeth Mitchell	18.8%	109,387
	Independent	Eliot R. Cutler	35.9%	208,270
	Independent	Shawn H. Moody	5%	28,756
	Independent	Kevin L. Scott	1%	5,664
	Others	Various	0.5%	2,624
	Blanks	-	1.3%	7,772
Total Votes				580,538
Election results via Maine Secretary of State

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Paul LePage did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign advertisements

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Noteworthy events

Call for resignation following voicemail threat left for state Rep. Drew Gattine (D)

House Speaker Mark Eves (D) called for LePage's removal or resignation from office in August 2016 after the governor threatened Democratic state Rep. Drew Gattine in a voicemail that included several obscenities. "I would like to talk to you about your comments about my being a racist, you [expletive]. ... I’ve spent my life helping black people and you little [expletive], socialist [expletive]. ... I want you to record this and make it public because I am after you," LePage said in the voicemail according to audio recordings first obtained by the Portland Press Herald. Eves stated, "We need to get reset and be able to focus in order to find solutions and right now our current governor is not fit to govern."

Though LePage initially stood by his comments, he later met with Gattine at the governor's office on August 31 to apologize. He also released a statement expressing remorse for his actions and offering an apology to Gattine and his family. "I apologize sincerely for using such disrespectful language. ... I understand how hurtful statements affect a family and regret that my words have adversely upset your lives. For this I am sorry," said LePage. The governor also stated that he would not resign and vowed to communicate with the media through written statements only in the future.

Pocket veto decision

See also: Governor Paul LePage veto record

On August 6, 2015, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court decided against LePage in a conflict with the state legislature over a rule of veto procedure. Agreed upon by all six participating justices (the seventh recused himself), the court reaffirmed the legitimacy of bills LePage had opposed and failed to veto. LePage's approach to defeating the bills involved waiting out the 10-day time limit for returning a veto. It was predicated on his understanding that an unsigned bill, per the state constitution, would fail to pass into law after ten days provided the state legislature was adjourned. According to the state's top court, LePage overlooked a key aspect of the pocket veto procedure when he let 65 bills pass without realizing it. In order for the bills to expire automatically after 10 days absent a governor's veto or signature, the legislature must be adjourned as well as not in session. The inverse is true whenever the legislature is still in session; a bill passes automatically if the governor fails to return a veto within the 10-day period, as LePage did. LePage's lawyers contended that because the legislature was temporarily adjourned, the governor was unable to deliver his vetoes within the allotted timeframe.

The measures LePage unintentionally facilitated into becoming law included a proposal to outlaw the opioid acetyl fentanyl and another to increase access to naloxone, a drug that can be obtained under special circumstances to prevent fatal overdoses. LePage opposed increased access because he said it enabled existing drug addicts. "In the last year, I have been informed about drug addicts getting multiple naloxone treatments in the span of a week. ... Clearly, the lack of consequences for serious drug use is having the opposite effect from what is advertised," LePage explained in his veto message to the legislature. Sen. David Burns (R), a former state trooper, sponsored the acetyl fentanyl ban on behalf of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency. LePage said in his veto message that he is "concerned we are tinkering with our laws that deal with illegal drugs while more and more of our citizens are being destroyed because we do not have the appropriate resources to enforce the laws on the books."

Good Will-Hinckley Charter School funding lawsuits

See also: Governor Paul LePage threatened with impeachment (2015)

Maine charter school Good Will-Hinckley rescinded a job offer to Maine House of Representatives Speaker Mark Eves (D) just days before he was slated to become the school's president. Eves alleged that the school's decision was based on a threat by LePage to withhold $500,000 in state funding from the school for at-risk youth. The loss of state funding would have resulted in an additional loss of $2 million in private funds, according to the legislator.

In an official statement, LePage did not deny Eves' charges. LePage criticized the school for hiring Eves, whom LePage considers a politician with an anti-charter school stance. The statement criticized the decision to hire Eves:

“	I will not stand for it and neither will the Maine people. Speaker Eves has been an ardent foe of charter schools for his entire political career, then he turns around and gets hired to run a charter school—whose board is chaired by Eves’ own State House employee—for a cushy job worth about $150,000 in total compensation. To provide half-a-million dollars in taxpayer funding to a charter school that would be headed by Maine’s most vehement anti-charter-school politician is not only the height of hypocrisy, it is absolutely unacceptable.	”
—Governor Paul R. LePage

According to Eves and Cynthia Montgomery, the governor’s chief legal counsel, a second, handwritten letter was sent to Jack Moore, chairman of the school's board of directors, threatening to withhold funding unless the school changed its mind about hiring Eves. The chairman of the school's board of directors confirmed on June 26, 2015, that the sole reason for withdrawing Eves' offer was LePage's threat to withhold the $500,000.

Civil suit filed against LePage

Following Eves' charges, a second accusation of wrongdoing by LePage emerged. An unnamed source from the Maine Department of Education told reporters that Suzan Beaudoin, the state's director of school finance and operations, was told by LePage to stop payment on approximately $100,000 that was due to the school as soon as the state's budget was approved. According to the source, LePage gave Beaudoin the direction to stop payment on the already-approved money on the same day that Good Will-Hinckley announced Eves' appointment as school president.

On July 30, 2015, Eves filed a civil suit against LePage in U.S. District Court, alleging that the governor used public funds and the power of his office to block the Good Will-Hinckley employment contract. That job was reportedly worth $150,000 per year in salary and benefits. This was the first time in 40 years that a sitting governor of Maine had been sued personally.

Threat of impeachment proceedings

Six members of the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives announced they would attempt to press for the initiation of impeachment or disciplinary proceedings against LePage for the alleged funding threats. The push for impeachment was led by state Reps. Jeffrey Evangelos (I), Ben Chipman (I), Pinny Beebe-Center (D), Lydia Blume (D), Roberta Beavers (D), and Charlotte Warren (D). There had been no successful impeachment efforts against a governor in Maine's history, and there was no procedure in the state for citizens to recall a governor.

On July 1, 2015, the legislature's Joint Government Oversight Committee voted unanimously to have the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability (OPEGA) investigate whether changes were made in the distribution of state funding to the Good Will-Hinckley charter school, and whether LePage's threat to withhold funds had an impact on Eves' hiring. Cynthia Montgomery, LePage's counsel, sent a letter to the director of OPEGA, informing her that the organization did not have the authority to investigate the governor. The OPEGA probe went forward, despite Montgomery's warning, but would not make a determination of wrongdoing. On September 8, 2015, the probe concluded that Acting Education Commissioner Tom Desjardin had moved to withhold funding from the school after a series of meetings with LePage, but there was no evidence that LePage was behind the move or that LePage had ever directly threatened the school.

Following hearings, Evangelos said they had "the necessary grounds to believe that the governor is abusing the bounds of his power." He and Chipman said they planned to draft impeachment charges.

The Maine House of Representatives indefinitely postponed the impeachment effort on January 14, 2016. In the 96-52 vote, Republicans unanimously opposed impeachment of LePage; Democrats were split.

Attorney general rejection of criminal charges

On December 22, 2015, Maine Attorney General Janet Mills rejected calls for criminal charges of abuse of power against LePage. In a letter to Reps. Evangelos, Chipman, and Warren, Mills and Kennebec County District Attorney Maeghan Maloney wrote "that there is not a basis at this time for us to pursue a criminal investigation."

History of gubernatorial impeachments

There have been 15 governors impeached by state legislatures in American history. Eight impeachments resulted in convictions, with the remaining seven ending in acquittals, resignations, or the completion of terms. The first impeachment effort targeted but failed to remove Kansas Gov. Charles Robinson in 1862 following questions about the state's bond sale. The most recent impeachment was the 2009 conviction of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich following federal corruption charges. Two governors—Florida Gov. Harrison Reed and Oklahoma Gov. Henry Johnston—were impeached twice, with Reed avoiding conviction in both trials and Johnston removed from office after two trials in two years. The following table details the history of gubernatorial impeachment efforts in the United States:

Historical gubernatorial impeachments
Year	State	Governor	Outcome
2009	Illinois	Rod Blagojevich	Conviction
1988	Arizona	Evan Meacham	Conviction
1929	Louisiana	Huey Long	Acquittal
1929	Oklahoma	Henry Johnston	Conviction
1928	Oklahoma	Henry Johnston	Acquittal
1923	Oklahoma	John Walton	Conviction
1917	Texas	James Ferguson	Conviction
1913	New York	William Sulzer	Conviction
1876	Louisiana	William Kellogg	Acquittal
1876	Mississippi	Adelbert Ames	Resignation
1872	Florida	Harrison Reed	Acquittal
1872	Louisiana	Henry Warmoth	End of term
1871	Nebraska	David Butler	Conviction
1871	Arkansas	Powell Clayton	Acquittal
1870	North Carolina	William Holden	Conviction
1868	Florida	Harrison Reed	Acquittal
1862	Kansas	Charles Robinson	Acquittal

Veto record

LePage vetoed a record number of bills, 83 in total, during the legislative session which ran from December 5, 2012, through July 10, 2013. The Democratic legislature failed to override many of those vetoes, including laws gradually increasing the minimum wage, requiring police to obtain warrants before using surveillance drone aircraft, making changes to health insurance laws, increasing penalties and ownership restrictions for those who commit animal cruelty, and increasing fees for snowmobiles to maintain trails. The legislature did successfully override two of the dozens of bills they considered during a marathon meeting on July 9. The first would require police to obtain a warrant from a judge before accessing information about an individual's location via cellular phone records or other GPS devices from a company, and notifying the individual within three days of accessing the information that their records were examined. This new law made Maine the second state, after Montana, to enact a cellular phone privacy bill. The second bill passed by the legislature over LePage's veto gave funding to the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Council, a group that aims to help high school and college students pursue math, science, and technical careers. Of LePage's 83 vetoes that session, five were overridden, including an energy bill and the state budget.

Dropped NGA membership

In September 2012, LePage withdrew the state's membership from the National Governors Association (NGA), saying Maine was not receiving sufficient benefits for the yearly membership fee of $60,000. “I get no value out of those meetings. They are too politically correct and everybody is lovey-dovey and no decisions are ever made. There are some tough decisions that need to be made in this country and we need to start making them,” LePage said.

According to Jodi Omear, director of communications for the NGA, all governors are considered members even if they do not pay dues. It is unclear which other states, if any, have stopped paying dues, but Omear said membership fees vary from $22,000 to approximately $176,000 a year.

Proposed welfare program changes

In 2013, LePage reintroduced bills to limit welfare benefits. He said he wanted to remove the ability to use state money to purchase lottery tickets, cigarettes, and alcohol. LePage also said he planned to create legislation to ensure those receiving unemployment benefits were also applying for work. The SNAP food stamps program was limited to food items, but the EBT card used by other welfare programs did not have limits. When compared with other states' welfare programs, Maine's spending was reportedly significantly higher. LePage said welfare reform was one of his top issues for the state.

Job creation ranking

A June 2013 analysis by The Business Journals ranked 45 governors based on the annual private sector growth rate in all 50 states using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. LePage was ranked number 43 (tie). The five governors omitted from the analysis all assumed office in 2013.

Stance on Syrian refugee resettlement

Main article: U.S. governors and their responses to Syrian refugees

Following the Paris terrorist attacks on November 13, 2015, in which members of the Islamic State (ISIS) killed at least 129 people and wounded more than 350, reports surfaced showing that one of the terrorists responsible for the attacks in Paris may have come to France posing as a Syrian refugee. Many governors issued statements of support or opposition to President Obama’s (D) plan to allow 10,000 new Syrian refugees into the United States. LePage had strong opposition to the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the state of Maine. He said:

“	To bring Syrian refugees into our country without knowing who they are is to invite an attack on American soil just like the one we saw in Paris last week and in New York City on 9/11. That is why I adamantly oppose any attempt by the federal government to place Syrian refugees in Maine, and will take every lawful measure in my power to prevent it from happening.	”
—Gov. Paul LePage

Campaign donors

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The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may not represent all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer, and campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

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Paul LePage campaign contribution history
Year	Office	Result	Contributions
2014	Governor of Maine		$2,023,422
2010	Governor of Maine		$1,161,036
Grand total raised			$3,184,458
Source: [ Follow the Money]

2010–2014

Ballotpedia collects information on campaign donors for each year in which a candidate or incumbent is running for election. See the table below for more information about the campaign donors who supported Paul LePage. Click [show] for more information.

Paul LePage Campaign Contributions
	2014 Governor of Maine		2010 Governor of Maine
Total raised	$2,023,422		$1,161,036
Total raised by opponents	$3,121,781 (Independent) $3,093,097 (Democratic)		$1,940,152 (Democrat) $2,419,958 (Unenrolled) $551,486 (Independent)
Top 5 contributors	Bolduc, Cheryl A	$6,000	Paul LePage	$247,066
	Conservative Leadership Political Action State Account	$4,500	$20,000	Ann LePage
	Mirza, Zareen Taj	$4,050	Leslie Otten	$7,500
	Churchill Downs California Dba Hollywood Park Racetrack	$4,000	Gary Hammond	$2,250
	Pompea, Charlie	$4,000	Pembroke Schaeffer	$2,000
Individuals	$1,386,495		$662,993
Institutions	$610,629		$145,882
In-state donations	$1,627,777		$1,100,769
Out-of-state donations	$395,645		$54,263

2016 Republican National Convention

See also: Republican National Convention, 2016

Paul LePage
Republican National Convention, 2016
Status:	Delegate
State:	Maine
Bound to:	Unknown
Delegates to the RNC 2016
Calendar and delegate rules overview • Types of delegates • Delegate rules by state • State election law and delegates • Delegates by state

LePage was a delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention from Maine. In Maine’s caucuses on March 5, 2016, Ted Cruz won 12 delegates, Donald Trump won nine, and John Kasich won two. Ballotpedia was not able to identify which candidate LePage was bound by state party rules to support at the national convention. If you have information on how Maine’s Republican delegates were allocated, please email editor@ballotpedia.org.

Delegate rules

See also: RNC delegate guidelines from Maine, 2016 and Republican delegates from Maine, 2016

Delegates from Maine to the Republican National Convention were elected at the state convention in April 2016. Maine GOP bylaws stipulated that delegates were to be bound to the candidate to whom they were allocated through the first round of voting at the national convention. If a candidate withdrew prior to the convention, his or her delegates were to become unbound.

Maine caucus results

See also: Presidential election in Maine, 2016

Maine Republican Caucus, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes	Delegates
Ted Cruz	45.9%	8,550	12
Donald Trump	32.6%	6,070	9
John Kasich	12.2%	2,270	2
Marco Rubio	8%	1,492	0
Ben Carson	0.7%	132	0
Rand Paul	0.3%	55	0
Other	0.3%	58	0
Totals		18,627	23
Source: The New York Times

Delegate allocation

See also: 2016 presidential nominations: calendar and delegate rules

Maine was expected to have 23 delegates at the 2016 Republican National Convention. Of this total, six were district-level delegates (three for each of the state's two congressional districts). District-level delegates were allocated on a proportional basis; a candidate had to win at least 10% of the statewide caucus vote in order to be eligible to receive any of the state's district delegates.

Of the remaining 17 delegates, 14 served at large. At-large delegates were allocated proportionally; a candidate had to win at least 10% of the statewide caucus vote in order to be eligible to receive any of the state's at-large delegates. In addition, three national party leaders (identified on the chart below as RNC delegates) served as bound delegates to the Republican National Convention.

Personal

Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
As of June 2013, LePage and his wife, Ann, had five children together: Lindsay, Lisa, Lauren, Paul, and Devon.

State profile

Demographic data for Maine
	Maine	U.S.
Total population:	1,329,453	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	30,843	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	95%	73.6%
Black/African American:	1.1%	12.6%
Asian:	1.1%	5.1%
Native American:	0.6%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0%	0.2%
Two or more:	2%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	1.5%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	91.6%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	29%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$49,331	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	16.6%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Maine. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in Maine

Maine voted for the Democratic candidate in all six presidential elections between 2000 and 2020.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, eight are located in Maine, accounting for 3.88 percent of the total pivot counties.

Pivot Counties (2020)

In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. Maine had seven Retained Pivot Counties and one Boomerang Pivot County, accounting for 4.42 and 4.00 percent of all Retained and Boomerang Pivot Counties, respectively.

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Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by John Baldacci (D)	Governor of Maine 2011 - 2019	Succeeded by Janet T. Mills (D)