Paul LePage is the most unpopular political figure in Maine. Nearly 70 percent of the Maine people don’t approve of the job he is doing. And as the dust settles on the 2015 election, the evidence is clear that the governor and his angry style of politics are liabilities for Maine Republicans.
LePage’s negative impact can be seen in the sharp contrast between two different sets of races: the legislative special elections in Sanford and Standish and the statewide Clean Elections referendum.
In Tuesday’s special elections, Republicans gained ground in the House by capturing two Democrat-held seats. LePage did not engage in these races.
These were issues-based, positive campaigns that steered clear of the divisive rhetoric the governor has become known for. LePage did not campaign for these candidates, and in fact, two independent-minded Republicans — former Republican Party Chair Charlie Webster and GOP state Sen. David Woodsome, R-North Waterboro — are being credited with providing the senior-level support that helped win these races. Both Webster and Woodsome have openly challenged LePage in the past, a fact that clearly did not affect their ability to get candidates elected.
It’s safe to say these two seats were won outside of the embrace of LePage.
Compare Republican success in these House races with the Clean Elections ballot initiative.
LePage took an active role in opposition to Question 1. He joined the No on 1 team at a press conference and used his town hall meetings to push the anti-Clean Elections message. The governor told a crowd in Auburn that passing Question 1 would be like “giving my wife my checkbook.” LePage blanketed the state with robocalls. The governor’s political apparatus was put into place to work the campaign, and his senior political advisor even joined the effort.
The result? A double-digit loss.
The Yes on 1 campaign ran away with the race, 55-45, winning half of Maine’s counties, despite the GOP’s traditional off-year election turnout advantage.
When LePage engaged, Republicans lost. When he didn’t, they won.
It wasn’t just LePage’s direct involvement that was tested in this year’s election, but his style as well.
While the victorious special election campaigns stayed positive, the losing No on 1 campaign was a perfect reflection of the caustic and alienating style the governor has refined to a science.
The No on 1 campaign was based primarily on insult. The campaign, and the far-right GOP legislators who were the driving force behind it, castigated anyone with a different point of view, including fellow Republicans. GOP legislators called their opposition liars, carpetbaggers and worse. A No on 1 supporter posted to the official campaign Facebook page that Democratic state Sen. Justin Alfond, a Yes on 1 advocate, “is such a puke, wish I beat him up in middle school when I had the chance.”
No on 1 advocates took to the newspapers, Internet and airwaves promoting their angry message. They called their opponents pickpockets and scammers, and they even implied Clean Elections would somehow result in more babies being born addicted to drugs.
A direct quote from No on 1: “What are your priorities? More money for politicians or drug addicted babies?”
No on 1 whipped their supporters into an angry frenzy by claiming the Yes campaign refused to debate them, circulating a photo of an empty chair with the quote, “What are they hiding and why are they afraid to let the Maine voters witness the truth?”
There was one major flaw in this argument: Maine Public Broadcasting had sponsored an hourlong live debate between the campaigns just the day before.
This paranoid, dishonest, vindictive style is what we’ve come to expect from LePage and his closest allies, and it was on embarrassing display throughout the No on 1 campaign. The result was a thorough drubbing on an issue Republicans should have been able to win on.
This contrasts sharply with the positive, issues-based victories earned by Republicans in the two special elections, where candidates and operatives steered clear of the governor and his tactics.
The evidence is clear that LePage has become a liability to Republicans, and continuing to support behavior and policies that are anathema to the majority of Maine voters will mean darker days ahead. If we are to become a governing party with a mandate from Maine voters, Republicans need to drop the insults and assert a visible level of independence from this governor.
Lance Dutson is a longtime Maine Republican political operative and founder of GetRightMaine.com.