Gov. Paul LePage said Tuesday he does not plan to attend the Republican Party’s national convention in Cleveland this month, when the party is expected to make Donald Trump its presidential nominee.
LePage, who appeared with Trump at a rally in Bangor last week, told Bangor’s WVOM radio show hosts George Hale and Ric Tyler that he would go if Trump called on him for help. But otherwise LePage said he would again sit out the national convention, as he did four years ago when Mitt Romney was selected to challenge President Obama.
LePage first endorsed New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s bid for the Republican Party’s nomination, then threw his support to Trump in February after Christie dropped out of the contest. Maine Republicans, however, selected U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas over Trump during the party’s caucus in March.
LePage’s announcement Tuesday that he wouldn’t attend contrasts with his efforts in April, when he campaigned forcefully to become a delegate to the national convention during the Maine Republican Party’s state convention.
At the convention, LePage at one point accused Cruz backers of snubbing him in an attempt to block his bid to serve as a delegate in Cleveland. LePage also argued at the state convention for a “unity ticket” for Maine’s delegation to the national convention, a bid to ensure Trump’s nomination.
Although Trump is considered the presumptive nominee, a growing movement among Republican faithful to upend his nomination has many political observers speculating that the convention in Cleveland July 18-21 could become a spectacle. The lineup of convention speakers has yet to be released, as a number of top-ranking Republicans have sought to distance themselves from Trump, who with his Democratic rival, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, remains one of the most unpopular presidential candidates in U.S. history. LePage said Tuesday he had not been asked to deliver a speech at the convention.
“I felt if (Trump) needed me there I would have gone,” LePage said Tuesday, “but I think it is pretty much established.”
LePage went on to say there might be some “shenanigans” at the national convention, as there were four years ago when Maine’s delegation, which was largely committed to U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, walked from the convention floor in protest.
Under Maine Republican Party rules, LePage is a delegate to the convention and would be among the 23 casting the state party’s votes, as reflected by caucus results in March. On the first ballot Maine’s delegates are committed to casting 12 votes for Cruz, because he received about 46 percent of the vote. Only a candidate who wins 50 percent or more of the caucus votes is given all 23 of Maine’s convention votes.
Trump, who won 32.5 percent of the Maine caucus vote, will receive nine of the delegates’ votes on the first ballot at the convention, while Ohio Gov. John Kasich will be awarded two votes.
Overall, however, Maine’s 23 votes could be irrelevant if the established national convention rules stand in Cleveland.
One of the Maine party’s 20 alternate delegates would have to replace LePage in Cleveland if he doesn’t attend. LePage’s wife, Ann LePage, is on the alternate delegate list.
Gov. LePage also ruled out Tuesday the possibility that Trump might tap him as a running mate. LePage said Trump needs a partner from a larger state with more Electoral College votes than Maine’s four.
“He needs somebody from a big state like a Texas, a Florida, an Ohio, Pennsylvania. He doesn’t need somebody from Maine,” LePage said.
The governor also offered his thoughts on who would make a good running mate for Trump, suggesting Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who served in the Cabinet of President George W. Bush.
During the show, LePage again said that he is “seriously considering” challenging Angus King, an independent, for his U.S. Senate seat in 2018. LePage even tested a possible campaign slogan, referencing a 1980s advertising campaign by the fast-food chain Wendy’s.
“Where’s the beef?” LePage asked. “The beef’s not in Angus, it’s in LePage.”
A recent Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram poll conducted by the UNH Survey Center in June of 467 likely voters statewide suggests King would win handily, picking up 63 percent of the vote to LePage’s 29 percent.
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