LePage flips Maine’s 2nd congressional district for Republicans

By Christen Smith
The Center Square

Republican Paul LePage won Maine’s 2nd Congressional District Thursday when Democrat Matt Dunlap bowed out of the race two days after the midterm election.

Dunlap’s decision to bow out of the race came after Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows announced Thursday that the election would proceed to ranked-choice voting because neither candidate had reached the 50% threshold required under Maine law.

“This isn’t the result we were hoping for, and I’m disappointed that we came short. Congratulations to Paul LePage, I wish him the best,” Dunlap said in a statement. “I want to thank every volunteer who knocked doors, made calls, and made their voices heard. Your support inspired me, and I’m honored to have worked side by side with you over the past year.”

“Paul LePage looks forward to working for all of the people in Maine’s 2nd District. He will work with anyone, regardless of party, to put Maine first,” his campaign said Thursday in a statement.

LePage will fill the seat currently occupied by outgoing Democratic Rep. Jared Golden, who decided not to run for reelection.

Trump carried the 2nd District handily in the 2020 elections, peeling off one of the state’s four electoral votes. Biden took Maine’s 1st congressional district in 2020 and went on to win the presidency.

LePage, a Lewiston native who served two terms as Maine’s governor from 2011 to 2019, was known for his bombastic rhetoric and policies, at one point telling reporters that he was “Donald Trump before Donald Trump became popular.”

He fended off a failed impeachment effort by Democrats when he was in office, feuded with neighboring Massachusetts over cross-border drug trafficking, and lost his bid for a third term against Gov. Janet Mills in the November 2022 elections after coming out of retirement in Florida.

“Maine was well served during the LePage administration, and we are grateful he is returning to public service,” Maine Republican Party’s chairman Jim Deyermond said in a statement. “Gov. LePage brought common sense back to the Blaine House, and now he is bringing it to Washington, D.C., on behalf of Congressional District 2. Paul LePage always puts people before politics, without fail.”

LePage’s flip of the seat was a bright spot in an otherwise dismal midterm result for Republicans, who lost control of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate for President Trump’s final two years in office.

To be sure, the firebrand former governor will be the only Republican to represent a New England state in Congress in the next session when it gets underway in January.

On Tuesday, incumbent Democrat Rep. Chellie Pingree defeated Republican Ronald C. Russell to win another term; while Democrat Troy Jackson ousted five-term GOP Sen. Susan Collins in a major upset.

The other member of Maine’s congressional delegation, Sen. Angus King, an independent, wasn’t up for reelection in Tuesday’s midterms.