Former Gov. Paul LePage promised in a Thursday debate that he could get President Donald Trump’s ear, voicing disagreements with the president on tariffs, immigration and the Iran war but opposing steps Congress could take to rein him in.
The Republican faced State Auditor Matt Dunlap, a Democrat, in the first of their two debates in the race for Maine’s open 2nd Congressional District. The WMTW debate showed LePage managing a delicate balance as the favorite in a seat Trump has won three times.
Trump carried the 2nd District by 9 points in 2024. But his approval rating in Maine was just 37% in an AARP poll released Thursday. The Iran war has helped push heating oil to above $6 per gallon heading into winter, an ominous figure for the state most reliant on that fuel source.
Dunlap went after the administration on Iran, immigration enforcement and Medicaid, but he largely avoided attacking Trump directly. Instead, he framed Congress as a check on the White House and focused on costs, a pitch aimed at district voters who still back the president.
“The job of Congress is to provide oversight of the executive branch,” Dunlap said.
When asked by moderator Jon Chrisos whether he had a direct line to the president, LePage noted that he worked with Trump as governor. During that time, he was one of Trump’s early endorsers and called himself “Donald Trump before Donald Trump became popular” in a reference to their bombastic styles.
“I know him personally, and I will say right now, I will be able to get into the Oval Office,” LePage said. “My opponent will not.”
It marked a shift from his 2022 run for governor, when he kept Trump at arm’s length in a statewide race. Asked then whether he wanted the former president’s help, LePage said, “If he comes, he comes.” Trump didn’t come. LePage lost to Gov. Janet Mills by 13 points.
On Thursday, LePage, who usually speaks off the cuff, read carefully from notes after being asked about Trump’s tariffs. Upon questioning, he said he does not support Trump’s tariffs on Canada in their current form. That was a softer line than last year, when LePage told Fox News he was “all for the tariffs” and said on WVOM that Trump was “doing the right thing” on trade.
He said he could help bring the president back to the table, pitching a continuation of a role he held in Trump’s first term, when Canadian officials saw LePage as a go-between with the White House during NAFTA talks. He opposed Trump’s tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber, putting him at odds with a pair of sawmill owners who accused him of a “Canada-first” trade policy.
“We need to de-escalate the rhetoric, and we need to get the president and the prime minister of Canada back to the negotiating table,” LePage said.
He also said he does not support the Iran war. But he opposed a war powers resolution, which Dunlap backs as a way to end the conflict and lower oil prices, saying it may hamstring the president in foreign policy
“I’m urging the president to finish the war in Iran as quick as possible,” he said.
LePage agreed with Dunlap that immigration agents have “run roughshod” in Maine, where an agent fatally shot a man in Biddeford in July. But he opposed new limits on the agency from Congress. Dunlap said LePage “changed his tune” after a relative faced deportation, which LePage called a personal matter.
LePage also said high earners should pay more into Social Security, a position most congressional Republicans oppose. Dunlap has tied him to Trump’s tax and spending law, which LePage embraced last year and U.S. Sen. Susan Collins voted against.
The candidates meet again for the second and final time on Oct. 15 at a forum hosted by WABI and WAGM. Dunlap had called for four debates, but LePage, the frontrunner in the race, agreed to two.