Paul LePage, former Maine Governor and current frontrunner for the hotly contested 2nd Congressional District (CD2) House seat occupied by incumbent Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine), announced on Wednesday that he has raised over half-a-million dollars in just 57 days since announcing his candidacy.
[RELATED: Another Poll Gives LePage Slight Edge Over Golden in Second District Congressional Race…]
“I’m humbled by the support we’ve received in just a few short weeks. It’s incredibly heartening to see so many Mainers step up and stand with me in this new fight. From day one, we’ve seen incredible energy from working people who are ready for a stronger voice in Congress who shares their values and delivers real results,” said LePage.
LePage, who served two terms as Maine Governor from 2011-2019, announced his bid to unseat Rep. Golden on May 5, and has already raised over $550,000, outpacing Golden’s fundraising for 2025’s entire first quarter.
The former governor celebrated that his donations came from all 16 Maine counties, and over 80 percent of his total funding were raised inside Maine, with $300,000 total coming from inside CD2.
The Republican candidate’s press release cited information from watchdog organization OpenSecrets showing that, during his last race against former state Rep. Austin Theriault, over 80 percent of Rep. Golden’s funding came from out of state. Donations from New York City, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles, California accounted for the majority of his funds, the analysis showed.
LePage appears to have a slight lead over the incumbent Golden, who has previously won the Trump-supporting CD2 seat by voting more pragmatically than many more ideological Democrats like Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine).
A May poll from the Congressional Leadership Fund, first released to Notus, gave LePage a five-point lead over Golden, with 48 percent of respondents saying they would support LePage and 43 supporting the incumbent.
[RELATED: LePage Leads Golden in CD2 Race According to Congressional Leadership Fund Poll…]
In June, the University of New Hampshire’s Pine Street Poll also gave LePage a slight lead, with 50 percent of respondents saying they would support the former governor, and 47 percent saying they would support Golden. Due to that poll’s small sample size and large 4.9 point margin of error, it marked an extremely close race.
