Maine decides: Incumbent Gov. Mills or fiery ex-Gov. LePage?

Maine voters are deciding between two familiar and very different candidates for governor

Maine voters faced two familiar and starkly different gubernatorial candidates: the Democratic incumbent, who presents herself as pragmatic and bipartisan, and a Republican former governor whose bombast and brashness defied niceties — and sometimes generated national headlines.

During the campaign, Democratic Gov. Janet Mills promoted her stewardship through the pandemic. She boosted the state's rainy day fund to its highest level, fully funded the state's share of education and sent $850 relief checks to most Mainers.

Former Gov. Paul LePage has called her pandemic orders a “reign of terror,” and suggested she was “fortunate” to have benefited from federal pandemic dollars that gave her administration a boost.

Polls suggested a close race on Election Day — one of a dozen or so competitive races for governor across the country.

Mills is a moderate former attorney general from a family prominent in public service. LePage is an unapologetic conservative who suffered abuse and was homeless as a boy before he attended college and launched a business career.

LePage stormed to office in 2010, and later described himself as a prototype for Republican President Donald Trump, in effect “Trump before Trump.” Democrats urged Mainers to reject the man who told the Portland NAACP to “kiss my butt,” compared the IRS to the Gestapo and said he'd tell then-President Barack Obama “to go to hell.”

LePage’s penchant for controversy overshadowed his conservative record of reducing welfare rolls, shrinking government, paying off hospital debt and reforming state pensions.

Mills, for her part, earned scorn from Republicans for pandemic orders that closed businesses and required vaccines for health workers. She said the measures helped the state with the nation's oldest population weather the pandemic.

The two were no strangers.

They clashed when Mills’ tenure as attorney general overlapped with LePage’s time in the Blaine House. Mills angered the governor by refusing to represent his office, forcing him to hire his own counsel.

LePage decamped for Florida after leaving office in 2019. He was prevented from seeking a third consecutive term by the Maine Constitution. But he didn’t stay away for long, and soon returned to challenge Mills.

For this race, LePage, 74, avoided the public comparisons to Trump while on the campaign trail and tried to moderate his tone.

He once declared that Trump’s election had been stolen, but acknowledged that Democrat Joe Biden was legitimately elected. He surprised abortion opponents by saying he wanted to keep Maine’s law legalizing abortion on the books, and he said he'd veto a ban on early abortions that has been adopted in some states.

He leaned into culture wars during his campaign, calling for a “bill of rights” for parents and accusing Democrats of being soft on crime. He also pressed for the elimination of Maine’s income tax.

Mills, 74, said she wanted to continue to focus on health care after expanding the state’s Medicaid rolls, and on education after boosting funding. She vowed to work to grow the economy and to ensure that women continue to have the legal right to an abortion.

A third candidate, independent Sam Hunkler, wasn’t expected to play a big role in the race, as deep-pocketed independent Eliot Cutler did in 2010 and 2014, when LePage won each election without a majority.

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