AUGUSTA — Republican Paul LePage, a tea party-backed candidate who’s promised to trim state government and make it more business-friendly, has been elected governor of Maine.
The Waterville mayor defeated independent Eliot Cutler and three other candidates to become the first Republican to be elected governor since John McKernan won his second term in 1990.
The race was so close that LePage had to wait until late Wednesday morning to learn for sure that he’d won. Cutler called to congratulate him.
LePage becomes the first Republican to be elected Maine governor since John McKernan won his second term in 1990.
The 62-year-old LePage surprised political observers and even himself with a decisive win in a seven-way primary in June. The victory in his first statewide campaign marks another step in a rags-to-riches story for LePage, who was homeless at age 11 but went on to finish college and have a successful career in business.
Fluent in French, LePage will become Maine’s first Franco-American governor since 1879, when Alonzo Garcelon was elected by the Legislature to serve a one-year term.
LePage ran for governor with promises to cut taxes, reform welfare, reduce what he sees as a bloated state bureaucracy and cut regulations he said hamper business and job growth. LePage surprised political observers with a decisive win in a seven-way primary in June, while playing down his support from tea party activists.
But he maintained a consistent lead in the polls over Democrat Libby Mitchell and independents Cutler, Shawn Moody and Kevin Scott throughout the fall campaign. But Cutler surged late in the campaign, and the vote count was so close that Cutler and LePage sent their supporters home early Wednesday without being able to declare victory.
LePage brought to the campaign a compelling personal story that few if any Maine politicians in recent decades could match. Abused in an impoverished home, he took to the streets of Lewiston at age 11 and took shelter wherever he could find it, sometimes in horse stables or an upstairs room of a strip joint.
He went on with his education and launched a successful business career, currently as general manager of Marden’s surplus and salvage stores. He’s married and has five grown children, including two from a previous marriage.
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