Paul LePage moves from Florida to Augusta to run his next campaign

By Bill Kobin, Bangor Daily News Staff

Former Gov. Paul LePage moved to Florida after leaving the Blaine House in 2018, moved back to Maine in 2020 and then went back south after losing to Gov. Janet Mills in 2022.

LePage made another move to return to Maine and its political scene late Sunday by filing to run for the 2nd Congressional District race in 2026, a contest both national parties care about given U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat, has held the expansive, rural district since 2018 while its voters have backed President Donald Trump in each of his elections.

Golden remains a rumored gubernatorial candidate for next year’s other big race that is wide open due to Mills being termed out of office. LePage’s entry on the Republican side will likely box out other GOP hopefuls, though the field on both sides remains unsettled.

Neither LePage, 76, nor his campaign strategist would immediately answer an emailed question Monday about where he is going to live and vote in Maine during his 2nd District campaign to meet constitutional requirements for members of the U.S. House of Representatives to live in the state they are seeking to represent. 

But the former governor registered to vote in Augusta on April 9, giving a commercial building just down the street from the State House as his address. That building is owned by a company linked to 2018 Republican gubernatorial nominee Shawn Moody, whose eponymous chain of collision repair shops has a location next door.

LePage lived in the Lincoln County town of Edgecomb for his 2022 gubernatorial race that Mills won by double digits before returning to Ormond Beach. As of Monday, he was still listed in Florida records as an active registered voter in Ormond Beach, a city north of Daytona Beach on the Atlantic coast. LePage, a former Waterville mayor who led Maine from 2010 to 2018, previously said he moved to Florida because the taxes were lower.

The combative former governor who liked to say he was Trump before Trump said via Twitter Sunday it was “great seeing friends” in Washington, Hancock and Penobscot counties. He officially announced his bid Monday morning by posting pictures of him and others in Eastport.

“I am running to serve the people of Maine and help the President fix Washington,” LePage wrote. “We’ve had too many years of Washington, DC trying to control the people. It is time to put the people before politics.”

Those last few words mimic a “people before politics” line used by last year’s Republican candidate for the 2nd District, former state Rep. Austin Theriault, who narrowly lost to Golden by about 2,700 votes in a nationally-watched race featuring a ranked-choice runoff and recount.

Theriault, a 31-year-old former NASCAR driver from Fort Kent, had been previously considering running again for the 2nd District before LePage’s interest in the seat surfaced this winter. Theriault is now working in real estate in his native Aroostook County and did not respond to a phone call and text seeking comment Monday.

Rep. Mike Soboleski, R-Phillips, a Marine veteran who lost handily to Theriault in last year’s 2nd District primary, remained noncommittal Monday in terms of whether he would seek the seat again but questioned if LePage is “the right fit for Maine right now.” Soboleski, 68, has used a political action committee funded by a Republican megadonor to grow his profile in Augusta.

“Mainers are looking for a ‘boots on the ground fighter’ who’s in touch with grassroots conservatives and our everyday life and struggles here at home,” Soboleski told a reporter in a text message. “It will be interesting to see how the [primary] field fills out.”

Spokespeople for U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, New England’s lone Republican in Congress who endorsed LePage in his failed 2022 gubernatorial bid, did not respond to a request for comment Monday on whether she plans on backing him in his 2nd District race. 

Golden spokesperson Mario Moretto said the congressman is “busy fighting the GOP’s health care cuts and working through his committees to secure jobs for Bath Iron Works and protect Maine’s fishing communities,” adding the next election “is the furthest thing from his mind.”

Golden, a 42-year-old Marine veteran who lives in Lewiston, had few words to say about LePage in a Monday statement.

“I thought Paul was doing his best work in retirement,” Golden said.

BDN writer Michael Shepherd contributed to this report.