RGA Congratulates Governor-Elect Paul LePage

The Republican Governors Association congratulates Governor-elect Paul LePage on his election as the next governor of Maine. LePage will be the first Republican governor of Maine elected in more than 20 years. RGA deployed resources of nearly $1.8 million.

“Paul LePage’s message of fiscal sanity and common sense resonated with Maine voters,” said RGA chairman Haley Barbour. “In a difficult three-way race his conservative ideas rose to the top, showing that voters across the nation are tired of out-of-control spending.”

The Republican Governors Association was a key supporter of LePage’s victory beginning in early June, following LePage’s primary win. RGA deployed resources of nearly $1.8 million total into the race.

The RGA ran a series of television ads beginning shortly before Labor Day and continuing through Election Day. Two television ads highlighted Paul LePage’s tremendous life story, including his rise from poverty and his business and government success. RGA also ran two TV ads which focused on Libby Mitchell’s decades in government raising taxes and increasing spending and debt. To close the campaign, RGA ran a television ad comparing Libby Mitchell and Eliot Cutler and their support for job-killing taxes. The last television ad highlighted Cutler’s career as a millionaire Washington, D.C. lobbyist.

The RGA was one of the first observers to recognize independent Eliot Cutler moving past Democrat Libby Mitchell, allowing the RGA to be ready to cut Cutler’s momentum in its tracks. In addition to the TV spots, RGA gave $400,000 to the Maine Republican Party helping to produce one of the most effective absentee balloting programs in recent history as well as a number of direct mail pieces, field offices and staff.