LePage prevails in 2nd District ranked choice runoff

Republican Paul LePage has formally won Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, after the Secretary of State’s Office completed the ranked choice tabulations Thursday. 

He will succeed U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat, making the district one of a handful of seats that Republicans flipped among the overwhelming support for Democrats around the country — and possibly the only flip that was not subject to GOP redistricting efforts.  

Brent Littlefield, spokesperson for the LePage campaign, said in a statement Thursday that the ranked choice tabulations “only confirmed what we already knew.” 

“Paul LePage is already hard at work for the people of Maine attending congressional orientation, meeting with national leaders and making it clear the political parties need to work together for the American people,” Littlefield said.

The former governor was the frontrunner in the first round results after Election Day, receiving 49.894% of votes to Democrat Matt Dunlap’s 48.307% — falling just short of the more than 50% threshold needed to avoid a ranked choice runoff. 

The Secretary of State’s Office began the ranked choice process Monday morning, with the vast majority of the time spent logging results from every ballot and checking multiple times to ensure the totals line up. 

After eliminating blank ballots and first choice votes for declared write-in candidate Gregory Ward, LePage secured 50.81% of votes to Dunlap’s 49.18%, a difference of just over 5,000 votes.

“A nail-biter of a race, a razor-thin margin,” Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said after tabulations concluded. “Paul LePage should feel very good, we congratulate him as the winner in CD2.”

It was the expected outcome, given that LePage declared victory last Wednesday, and Dunlap conceded one day later. 

Despite that, the Secretary of State’s Office was still legally bound to carry out the tabulations. “There’s no provision for close enough,” Bellows said Monday.

LePage also traveled to Washington, D.C. this week with fellow freshman lawmakers. 

“This is my gig: if it helps Maine, I’m going to be all over it, if it hurts Maine, I’m going to be all against it,” LePage said last week. “And I will work with anyone and everyone that wants to put Maine first.”

Dunlap initially said the race was too close to call, but shortly after the secretary’s office announced the ranked choice runoff, he said he didn’t believe the process would impact LePage’s lead.

“This isn’t the result we were hoping for, and I’m disappointed that we came short,” Dunlap said in a statement last week. “Congratulations to Paul LePage, I wish him the best.”

Lauren LePage, LePage’s daughter and campaign spokesperson, said on X that LePage is the only man left standing after Democrats swept many races across the country in the midterms.

“This was your moment,” Lauren LePage said. “You failed. He didn’t barely win in an R+5 year. He won in the most hostile climate we’ve seen in many cycles.”

It appears LePage saw strong support in the more rural areas of the district, as Dunlap won in the district’s more populated cities. In Lewiston, Auburn, Bangor, Orono and Augusta, Dunlap not only beat LePage — he outperformed other winning Democratic candidates Troy Jackson and Hannah Pingree.