Paul LePage

Paul Richard LePage (born October 9, 1948) is American businessman and politician who served as the 74th governor of Maine from 2011 to 2019.

LePage was born in Lewiston, Maine, on October 9, 1948.

The eldest son of eighteen children of Theresa (née Gagnon) and Gerard LePage, both of French Canadian descent, he grew up speaking French in an impoverished home with an abusive father who was a mill worker.

His father drank heavily and terrorized the children, and his mother was too intimidated to stop him.

At age eleven, after his father beat him and broke his nose, he ran away from home and lived on the streets of Lewiston, where he at times stayed in horse stables and at a "strip joint".

After spending roughly two years homeless, he began to earn a living shining shoes, washing dishes at a café, and hauling boxes for a truck driver.

He later worked at a rubber company and a meat-packing plant and was a short order cook and bartender.

LePage was the only person among his parents and siblings to graduate from the 8th grade.

He graduated from Lewiston High School in 1967.

LePage applied to Husson College in Bangor, but was rejected due to a poor verbal score on the SAT because English was his second language.

He has said that State Representative Peter Snowe—the first husband of former U.S. senator Olympia Snowe—persuaded Husson to give LePage a written exam in French, which allowed LePage to show his reading comprehension skills and gain admission.

At Husson, LePage honed and improved his English-language skills and became editor of the college newspaper.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in business administration in finance and accounting and later earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Maine.

LePage worked for a lumber company in New Brunswick, Canada, that was owned by his first wife's family from 1972 to 1979, and later for Scott Paper in Winslow, Maine.

He founded the management consulting firm LePage & Kasevich Inc., which specialized in aiding foundering companies.

In 1996, LePage became general manager of Marden's Surplus and Salvage, a Maine-based discount store chain.

LePage was elected to the Waterville city council in 1997 and reelected in 1999.

LePage was elected mayor of Waterville in 2003 and reelected in 2008.

In the 2003 mayoral election, LePage faced his Democratic rival Charles Kellenberger and the independent candidate Daniel Dufour.

LePage won the general election with 40 percent of the vote.

A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the mayor of Waterville, Maine, from 2004 to 2011 and as a city councilor for Waterville from 1998 to 2002.

LePage officially became mayor on January 6, 2004, succeeding Nelson Madore.

During his time as mayor, he reorganized city hall, lowered taxes, and increased the city's rainy day fund balance from $1 million to $10 million.

On several occasions, LePage clashed with Democratic governor John Baldacci over issues such as illegal immigration and taxes.

LePage was reelected in the 2008 mayoral election with 51 percent of the vote, defeating his Democratic rival Rosemary Winslow, who received 49 percent.

On September 22, 2009, LePage announced that he would be seeking the 2010 Republican nomination for governor of Maine.

He won 38% of the vote in a seven-way primary election, despite being outspent ten-to-one by his closest challenger.

John Morris, LePage's campaign chief-of-staff, credited LePage's win with a campaign strategy (devised by chief strategist Brent Littlefield) that he referred to as the "three onlys" theme before the June primary election.

This theme focused on particular aspects of LePage's biography that supposedly set him apart from the other candidates.

He ran for governor of Maine in the 2010 election, winning with 37 percent of the vote in a five-candidate race.

He resigned his position as mayor before taking office as governor in January 2011.

He was re-elected with a stronger plurality, 48 percent of the vote, in a three-candidate election in 2014.

In a 2016 ballot initiative, Maine voters changed their voting system from plurality voting to ranked-choice voting, although it is currently not applicable for gubernatorial elections.

During his tenure as governor, he made extensive use of his veto power, vetoing 652 bills as of July 2018, more than the total by all Maine governors over the previous 100 years combined.

LePage was criticized for making controversial remarks regarding abortion, the LGBTQ community, racial minorities, the death penalty, voting rights, campaign financing, the government and the environment that sparked widespread national criticism, leading to some calling for his impeachment.

LePage was unable to seek a third consecutive term due to Maine's term limit laws and was succeeded by Democrat Janet Mills.

After leaving office he announced his retirement from politics and would reestablish residency in Florida, but in 2021 he announced he would run for governor again.

He faced no primary opposition but would lose to Mills by 13 percentage points in the 2022 general election.

After his loss he returned to Florida.

Despite his plurality wins, LePage often ranked among the least popular governors in the country.