AUGUSTA — Former Maine Gov. and U.S. congressional candidate Paul LePage spoke Friday at the Maine GOP Convention in Augusta, telling Republicans he is coming out of retirement because “Maine needs jobs” and needs to “get rid of fraud and corruption.”
LePage, who served two terms as Maine’s governor, framed his congressional campaign as a return to public service rather than a search for another political title.
“I’m not running for Congress because I need a job,” LePage said. “I’m running for Congress because Maine needs jobs.”
The former governor opened his remarks by thanking supporters, including Steve Robinson, who he said could not attend because he and his wife are awaiting a newborn. LePage also thanked Brent, Lizzie, Damien, and his daughter Lauren, joking that he keeps telling her she is “a governor in training.”
He then turned to his wife, Amy, asking the crowd to applaud what he called “the greatest first lady the state of Maine ever had.”
“Maine’s extremely lucky to have had her as a first lady,” LePage said. “And I am blessed to be married to her.”
LePage wasted little time moving into the core of his message, arguing that Maine needs a fighter in Washington and saying he would work with U.S. Sen. Susan Collins to help clean up fraud and corruption in the state.
“Maine doesn’t need a smooth-talking politician in the 2nd District,” LePage said. “It needs a fighter.”
LePage told the crowd he has never been known for backing down.
“I don’t shut up often,” he said. “I never quit.”
He also said he would oppose efforts by Democrats in Washington to focus on impeaching President Donald Trump, arguing that Congress has more pressing work to do.
“We have too much work to do,” LePage said.
LePage used much of the speech to draw a contrast between his personal background and the politics of the left. He described growing up in an extremely poor Franco-American family in Lewiston, surviving homelessness and abuse, and enduring a childhood he said “would break most people.”
“So when I hear a liberal talk about having hardships, I don’t want to hear their lectures, and I sure as hell don’t want their handouts,” LePage said. “I lived there.”
The former governor said his life taught him that success comes through work, discipline, and personal responsibility.
“If you get up, you work hard, you earn your way,” LePage said.
He said those lessons helped him move from the streets of Lewiston to a successful business career, the mayor’s office, and eventually the Blaine House.
“I lived the American dream,” LePage said.
But LePage warned that, in his view, Democrats are undermining that dream in Maine through higher costs, more government control, mandates, handouts, and fraud.
“They want you to believe that they’re out there to help you,” LePage said. “They want to take care of you.”
Instead, he argued, Democrats are creating dependency and blocking opportunity.
LePage repeated one of the central themes of his political career: welfare should be temporary help, not a permanent way of life.
“If you’re an able-bodied person and you’re on welfare, you can get off the couch and go get yourself a job,” LePage said.
LePage contrasted the current political climate with his record as governor, pointing to tax cuts, hospital debt payments, welfare reform, lower unemployment, balanced budgets, school choice, crackdowns on sanctuary cities, and protections for individual liberties.
“We didn’t just do the talking,” LePage said. “We gave results.”
He said his administration cut taxes through what he described as the largest tax cut in Maine history, paid off hospital debt, and helped save rural hospitals at the time.
“We fixed welfare,” LePage said. “We lowered unemployment. We balanced the budget without using gimmicks.”
LePage acknowledged that his blunt style often infuriated Democrats and the media.
“I said some stuff that made the left and the media lose their minds,” LePage said. “In fact, they haven’t recovered yet.”
He defended that approach, saying voters may not always like the way he says things, but they know where he stands.
“I say it like it is,” LePage said.
The former governor also made a direct appeal to business-minded Republicans, saying profit and investment are essential to job creation.
“Profit is not a dirty word,” LePage said. “That is how jobs are created and families move ahead.”
He warned that investment capital goes where it is welcomed and remains where it is appreciated, arguing that socialists are pushing capital out of Maine and out of the country.
LePage pointed to electricity bills, heating costs, and housing affordability as evidence that Democratic leadership has taken Maine in the wrong direction.
“Electricity bills are skyrocketing,” LePage said. “Heating costs is unaffordable. Young people cannot buy homes anymore in Maine.”
He blamed those pressures on what he described as the Democratic model of “more government, more control, more mandates, more handouts and fraud instead of good paying jobs.”
“The left does not trust you,” LePage said. “In fact, the left doesn’t even like you.”
LePage said Democrats believe in control rather than opportunity and argued that the middle class pays the price.
“They call it progress,” LePage said. “It’s not progress. It’s socialism.”
The former governor told Republicans he is running because he has “had enough” of families being squeezed, rural Mainers being ignored, and politicians who do not understand the people they claim to represent.
“Enough of the politicians who couldn’t find their way to Ashland, Maine without a GPS or a safe space,” LePage said.
LePage said too many politicians spend money the government does not have, raise costs, and operate within a system that works for insiders while ordinary Mainers pay the bill.
“The system works for them if you’re part of their club,” LePage said. “But we, the Maine people and the American people, are paying the price.”
LePage then laid out a series of positions, saying he believes in hard work, freedom over government control, law enforcement, the Second Amendment, confidence, voter ID, Social Security, Medicare, the military, and veterans.
“I believe illegal means illegal,” LePage said. “I believe benefits should go to Mainers and our elderly population, not to illegal aliens.”
He also said he believes “there is only two genders: male and female.”
LePage said he would always support Social Security and Medicare, adding, “Heck, I’m on it.”
Much of LePage’s speech returned to the same theme: the need for Republicans to act rather than complain.
“Nothing is going to change unless we change it,” LePage said. “Nothing is going to be fixed unless we fix it.”
He recalled being homeless as a child and sleeping at the Lewiston Fairgrounds, where a worker in the barns gave him advice that stuck with him for life.
“Kid, if it is to be, it’s up to me,” LePage recalled the worker saying.
LePage turned that phrase into a call-and-response with the crowd.
“If it is to be, it’s up to us,” LePage said.
He applied that message to high costs, rural Mainers feeling ignored, children leaving Maine, and the future of the country.
“If we don’t fight for Maine, no one will,” LePage said.
LePage closed by saying he is ready to fight one more time for Maine families, children, and grandchildren.
“This will only happen if we stand up, if we fight, if we take it back, and we can take Maine back,” LePage said.
He ended by urging Republicans to vote and joked that he was borrowing a line from the Democratic playbook.
“Vote early and vote often,” LePage joked. “Thank you all. God bless you. God bless Maine and God bless the United States of America.”
Not only is he standing in the first district, but his left foot is on North Haven Island, Pingree’s residence.