AUBURN, Maine — Former Maine Gov. Paul LePage returned to familiar political ground Saturday night in Auburn, using a speech before the Androscoggin County Republican Committee’s Lincoln Day dinner to rally Republican voters, blast Democrats and frame the 2026 election as a make-or-break fight over fraud, welfare policy and Maine’s political future.
Now running for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, LePage told the Republican crowd that the path to victory is simple: show up and vote.
“You gotta vote early, vote often,” LePage said. “If we vote the 2nd District and we vote hard, we can overcome the 1st District. We just need to get out there and vote.”
LePage said he was frustrated by Republican turnout in the recent special election between Janet Beaudoin (R), and Scott Harriman (D), arguing that it was not a lack of effort that hurt the party, but a lack of voters willing to get off the sidelines.
“The bottom line is I win if you vote,” LePage said. “If you don’t vote, I don’t win. It’s that simple.”
That message, stop staying home, was at the center of his remarks. But LePage quickly moved into a broader and more familiar attack on the Democratic establishment in Augusta, especially Gov. Janet Mills (D), whom he accused of refusing to crack down on fraud when she served as attorney general.
“When I say you gotta get out and vote, this is why,” LePage said.
LePage told the audience that during his administration, officials identified 180 alleged fraud cases and brought them forward, including Gateway Community Services, only to see no prosecutions pursued. He said he later went directly to the Legislature seeking funds so his office could prosecute cases itself, but claimed Democrats shut that effort down.
He did not mince words about what he thinks voters should do next.
“We need to vote and kick those SOBs out,” LePage said.
The former governor also tied that frustration to one of the state’s most emotional and politically sensitive issues: the aftermath of the Lewiston mass shooting in 2023.
LePage said that in the wake of the shooting, he called Mills the next morning and proposed they work together to raise money for victims’ families before Christmas. According to LePage, she declined. He said he and his wife then launched their own fundraising effort.
The fundraising campaign ultimately brought in roughly $475,000 for victims and their families, LePage said.
“But we made sure the money went directly to the families,” LePage said. “It did not go to 29 nonprofits, NGOs. That’s another reason we’re gonna throw them out. That was just disgusting.”
That line drew attention because it touched on a growing public anger in Lewiston and beyond over how shooting-related funds were handled, particularly concerns that too much money flowed through nonprofits rather than directly to victims and families. LePage’s remarks showed he intends to make that issue part of his broader argument that too much government-connected money ends up filtered through organizations and political allies rather than reaching the people it was supposed to help.
LePage also returned to another issue that defined his years in Augusta: the use of EBT cards in drug investigations.
He said that during his time as governor, authorities frequently recovered EBT cards during drug busts, which led him to publicize the issue after concluding the cards were being used as a form of payment.
“The reason I did that is because every time DEA would go to a drug bust, we’d get a couple dozen EBT cards,” LePage said. “I was pretty naive, come to find out that was a form of payment.”
He said the problem subsided after he had photos of the recipients placed on the EBT cards, but argued the problems returned once Mills took office and ended the practice.
From there, LePage widened his focus to Washington, where he said runaway spending and broken welfare policies are trapping people in dependency instead of helping them climb out of poverty.
The federal government, he said, is spending far too much, pointing to the national debt as a major concern.
At the same time, LePage argued that welfare rules should be reworked so people are not punished for earning more money.
“You have to work your way out of poverty,” LePage said. “We have to encourage people to work their way out of poverty.”
Drawing on his own upbringing, LePage again referenced his childhood poverty and homelessness, themes he has long used to argue that government assistance should be structured to reward work rather than create permanent dependency. He said benefits should phase out gradually as income rises, instead of disappearing all at once.
He also called on Republicans to push Maine to conform to the federal tax code, presenting it as one immediate step the state could take to provide relief to working people.
And in a line sure to resonate with many conservatives and inflame many on the left, LePage added that if he makes it to Washington, “you will never see me vote for solar or wind.”
LePage, a Lewiston native, served two terms as governor from 2011 to 2019 after first making his name as mayor of Waterville. Known for his combative style and willingness to say what many establishment Republicans would rather avoid, he remains one of the most recognizable and polarizing political figures in Maine.
Now, he is attempting a return to elected office in Maine’s sprawling 2nd Congressional District, where turnout will once again be everything.
His speech Saturday night made clear he is not running as a toned-down elder statesman. He is running as Paul LePage, blunt, confrontational and eager to nationalize a Maine race around fraud, welfare, government spending and what he sees as Democratic corruption.
And if Androscoggin County Republican Dinner was any indication, he plans to make sure voters hear that message loud and clear.
