Paul LePage Favored for Maine House Seat After 8-Year Democrat Jared Golden Retires
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Sep 14
Paul LePage Favored for Maine House Seat After 8-Year Democrat Jared Golden Retires
1 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Sep 14
Summary
Maine’s 2nd District is poised to swap centrist Democrat Jared Golden for former Republican Gov. Paul LePage, a hard-line conservative and Trump ally now seen by forecasters as the favorite.
Golden’s retirement opened the seat after eight years of split-ticket politics in a district that backed Trump in three presidential elections while repeatedly returning Golden to Congress.
LePage’s edge comes despite a long record of incendiary remarks; he argues his blunt style would help him in Washington and says he would work with anyone on legislation for Mainers.
Democrats nominated state Auditor Matt Dunlap, a progressive who beat a party-backed moderate in the primary and has since tried to reassure independents wary of candidates on both ideological poles.
The race now tests whether independent-minded voters in one of the country’s rare red-for-president, blue-for-Congress districts still want a cross-party dealmaker or will choose a sharper ideological turn.