![]() He declined an Associated Press interview request. Despite any private misgivings, however, LePage hasn’t condemned Trump. LePage served as Trump’s honorary state chairman and once sought a job in his administration, but he now won’t say whether he would vote for Trump for president if Trump runs again in 2024. LePage issued a statement amid the violence supporting law enforcement and telling those involved in the riot “to leave and go home.” 6, 2021, and that LePage fears the country is in danger of tearing itself apart. LePage’s senior adviser Brent Littlefield said LePage was astounded when Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Soon, he was headed back to Maine for what supporters described as “Le.0.” When LePage left office in 2019, prevented from seeking a third consecutive term by the Maine Constitution, he declared he was decamping for Florida, where the taxes were lower, and leaving politics behind. He has promised to try again to eliminate the state’s income tax. ![]() ![]() He attacked Mills’ executive orders during the pandemic, including mandatory vaccines for health care workers, calling it a “reign of terror.” He’s called for a parental bill of rights in education, claimed Mill has allowed crime and drugs to proliferate and accused her of budgetary gimmicks that will cause problems in the future. Raised in poverty and homeless for a time as a boy, LePage, 73, is an unabashed conservative whose past controversies often overshadowed his political achievements, such as lowering the tax burden, shrinking welfare rolls, overhauling the pension system and paying back millions of dollars of hospital debt. She expanded Medicaid - something LePage had blocked - and presided over the largest budget surplus in Maine history, which allowed the state to send $850 relief checks to most residents. Her supporters portray her as a steady leader whose cautious COVID-19 policies helped guide the state through the worst pandemic in a century, with fewer coronavirus deaths per capita than most others. The two clashed publicly, with Mills declining to represent LePage’s administration on some matters, forcing LePage to seek outside counsel to represent his interests in litigation. Mills, a 74-year-old moderate and the first woman elected governor of Maine, is a former two-term attorney general whose stint as the state’s top prosecutor coincided with LePage’s time as governor. LePage and Mills’ adversarial relationship goes back years. The way in which the campaign plays out with voters weary of political ugliness may be a harbinger for Trump’s White House aspirations in 2024. The race is shaping up to be among a dozen or so competitive contests for governor this election year. ![]() His critics point to a recent campaign event in which LePage threatened to “deck” a Democratic staffer who got too close to him - an incident, they say, that illustrates LePage hasn’t changed at all. LePage attracted national headlines when he told the Portland chapter of the NAACP to “kiss my butt,” made racist remarks about drug dealers who impregnate “white” girls and accused a lawmaker of screwing over state taxpayers “without providing Vaseline.” ![]() LePage’s efforts at putting distancing from Trump are particularly notable given LePage once invited comparisons to Trump - and made them himself.ĭemocrats aren’t going to let voters forget LePage’s tumultuous time in office, when he occasionally acted and sounded a lot like Trump. Janet Mills and become the longest-serving governor in Maine history, he is banking on an approach familiar to other Republican candidates in liberal- and moderate-leaning states who are trying not to alienate swing voters they would need to win a general election. I am a fighter.”Īs LePage seeks to unseat Democratic Gov. “I had to scrimp and save to eat and survive. I was a fighter all my life,” LePage told workers. ![]()
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