The Contentious Paul LePage Turns Timid

Photograph: Robert F Bukaty/AP. Source: October 2022 news article about Paul LePage.

Paul LePage moved to Florida twice, once after leaving the Maine governor’s office, and then after losing in a landslide to Gov. Janet Mills four years ago.

He’s back, seeking yet another Maine office, this time as the Republican nominee to represent Maine’s second congressional district.1

LePage was well-known for speaking his mind, often with noticeable rudeness and without a basis in facts.2 Every Mainer who lived through his governorship and past candidacies has his or her own list of LePageisms.

And just recently LePage looked like he wasn’t going to change his style.

At the state Republican convention this spring LePage absurdly claimed that Democrats “want to permanently put you in economic slavery.”

And rather than acknowledge that his extreme, nasty rhetoric was inappropriate, LePage bragged, saying “I said some stuff that made the left and the media lose their minds.” “In fact, they haven’t recovered yet. And you know, I say it like it is.”

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Recently the Portland Press Herald did a very ordinary and important kind of political reporting. A reporter asked policy questions of the major party candidates for ME-2, Democrat Matt Dunlap and Republican Paul LePage.

Dunlap was direct, LePage shied away from giving his own answers.

Dunlap answered his questions over the phone, while LePage campaign adviser Brent Littlefield said LePage asked him to respond to questions on his behalf via a text message.

So, not only didn’t LePage speak for himself, but his staffer wrote out carefully crafted responses.

When asked about the Iran War, which a recent poll found that over two-thirds of Americans think have hurt the U.S., Dunlap was straightforward in his criticisms.

But LePage and his campaign staffer? They wouldn’t answer.

The Press Herald: For Paul, do you support the Trump administration’s actions to date with the Iran war, or would you have voted to limit or block Trump’s actions?

Littlefield and LePage did not respond to this question nor repeated requests from the Press Herald to answer it.

And the candidate-strategist duo wouldn’t even give an answer to a lay-up, an open-ended query about legislative priorities.

The Press Herald: For both of you, is there a problem or loophole or issue that you would like to fix or change through introducing or co-sponsoring a bill if elected? Could you get specific in terms of what your legislation may look like?

LePage and Littlefield did not answer this question.

For the record, Matt Dunlap’s answer was Medicare for All.

And it’s striking that, in responding to a Dunlap health care event, LePage sent his flak out to lie about Dunlap’s position.

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As hospitals and people all over the country are suffering because Trump cut ACA subsidies and Maine hospitals are “bracing for Medicaid cuts” which Trump and congressional Republicans put off until after the midterms,3 LePage’s campaign flak is lying up a storm about health care.

Health care deserves a full post of its own,4 but I’ll point to one aspect right now.

After Dunlap held an event on the 61st anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid, programs huge percentages of Mainers depend on and like, Brent Littlefield blatantly lied.

Littlefield said, “Matt Dunlap wants to eliminate private health insurance, including union and work health plans, taking away health choices to turn it all over to the government.”

That’s utter nonsense. No Medicare for all bill would do that and why would it? It’s normal for public and private coverage to coexist. Right now over half of people on Medicare have supplemental plans.

Besides this dishonesty, why is LePage, who was previously proud about blocking Medicaid expansion in Maine, hiding from the press and the public? It almost feels like he’s in a witness protection plan.

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Paul LePage looks like he’s emulating Bruce Poliquin, the last Republican to hold the seat.

In May 2017 Poliquin ran away after refusing to respond to a journalist Jim Newell’s query about whether he’d vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Poliquin “said nothing and made a beeline to the restroom,” Newell wrote. “Unfortunately it was the door to the women’s restroom that he had first run to, so he corrected himself and went into the men’s room. When he emerged several minutes later, he was wearing his earbuds and scurried away.”

Poliquin then backed the very unpopular repeal effort. Voters remembered that and his tendency to avoid transparency by not answering questions from voters and reporters.

In an August 2017 recording reported by journalist Scott Thistle, Poliquin explained that he was trying to help himself politically by not being open, honest and straightforward.

“You think the press is bad in Maine? It’s unbelievable and they are dying to get you on record to say whatever and that becomes the next, so …” Poliquin said, explaining why he doesn’t talk to reporters. “It would be stupid for me to engage the national media and give them and everybody else the ammunition they need.”

That approach didn’t work for Poliquin, as he lost re-election in 2018. Yes, his health care position was unpopular and there was a blue wave. But Poliquin’s surreptitious tendencies, which his opponent Jared Golden highlighted, also harmed him.

A lot of Mainers want politicians to listen to them and answer queries. Sen. Susan Collins has faced years of persistent criticism for not holding town halls for decades.

Dunlap has spent months crisscrossing the district, taking open questions at town halls and community gatherings. He also demonstrated genuine independence from his own party, challenging former Rep. Jared Golden in October 2025 and holding positions on gun rights that stem from him being a hunter and sportsmens’ advocate. LePage, by contrast, has been far quieter and less present.

So why is LePage ducking the public and the press? Here’s two possibilities:

1. Maybe LePage is tired or he’s not that interested in the job.

As Portland Press Herald columnist Steve Collins recently observed: “I’m not sure LePage has the energy for the race. I’m disappointed he seems so lackluster now.” And in 2017 LePage said “I will tell you, I don’t think I’d make a very good legislator.”

LePage will turn 78 shortly before Election Day, rather old to be a freshman congressman. Plenty of elected officials at that age possess have plenty of energy and do fine work.

However, given the public’s turn away from older candidates, some voters might wonder if his LePage’s reduced interaction is age-related. That could be a political problem.

2. Or perhaps LePage is following a strategy that shows disdain for the public.

It could be that LePage, like Poliquin, thinks it’s “stupid” to share his views himself because he’d then have to answer questions and deal with legitimate concerns.

Back in 2014, when he ran for re-election as governor, it helped LePage to keep his typical temperament under control and speak less to the press. (He changed his ways once he won. In fact, some of his rudest rants came after that.)

There may be other reasons why LePage is staying in the shadows. Whatever the case, it’s striking that the sometimes florid and sometimes Floridian LePage seems content to not answer basic questions and instead contract out communications.

A few items of possible interest:

“Maine Senate candidate Troy Jackson’s greatest political asset may be that he’s boring,” by John Casey, in The Advocate. Casey discusses Troy Jackson’s political humility, as seen in his willingness to admit he made mistakes in opposing abortion rights and LGBTQ+ rights.

A key quote: “What makes that transformation feel authentic is the unflashy way it happened. Jackson didn’t go around doing interviews about how he saw the light. He has talked about conversations with gay constituents in his own district that reshaped how he thought about their lives and relationships.”

“Progressives, Democrats need to start listening to American Jews,” by Amy Fried (yes, me), in the Portland Press Herald. I discuss the lamentable tendency among some progressives to attribute news stories they discuss to Israel and AIPAC and why that veers into anti-semitism and threatens the safety of American Jews.

A key quote: “Progressives should listen to Jews the way they’ve learned to listen to members of other minority groups, whether Black, gay, trans, Muslim or indigenous, about what language is appropriate and what they care about.”