The most jarring elections in recent history are done, and the results are clear: Paul LePage lost.

But for some reason, Gov. Le-Page seems elated at the results of the 2016 election. Maybe it’s because the Donald Trump victory can be seen as affirmation of LePage’s crass and truthless style of governing.

However, a review of the actual results of Maine’s elections reinforces a very clear truth: The majority of Maine voters do not support Paul LePage, his causes or his candidates.

LePage began his foray into the 2016 elections by fighting his own party. He challenged a sitting Republican senator, Linda Baker, with fringe alt-righter Guy Lebida in Sagadahoc County. And he pushed aside the Republican Senate’s pick for one of the Aroostook County seats by propping up the far-right Rep. Ricky Long in a primary. On election night, both Lebida and Long were defeated. That starts LePage off at 0 for 2.

LePage also openly opposed Republican Senate President Mike Thibodeau. LePage spent the last several years publicly maligning Thibodeau, a smear campaign that culminated in robocalls placed to his district by LePage’s daughter that called the conservative Senate president a “socialist.”

Thibodeau won re-election despite LePage’s efforts, and was re-elected as Senate president by his fellow Republicans. 0 for 3.

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Next was LePage’s foray into the referendum process. Before the election, the governor put out statements on all of the referendum issues, many of them in hostage-style video format distributed through social media. In fact, his first video – opposing Question 1 – was so silly and made so many baseless claims, the administration was soon forced to remove it from the internet.

The two questions LePage focused on most were Questions 2 and 4 – the education tax on upper-income earners and the increase in the minimum wage. Shortly before the election, Le-Page went as far as saying that the passage of these two questions would make Maine “an economic wasteland” and that their proponents should be jailed for attempted murder, and suggested he’d leave the state if they passed.

How did Maine voters respond to these threats? They passed Questions 2 and 4. That makes LePage 0-5.

LePage got trounced on referendums this year. He opposed Questions 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. His side won just one of those – the background check bill. And Question 5, ranked-choice voting, was put on the ballot and passed as a direct answer to the question, “How do we keep Paul LePage from happening again?”

That puts the governor’s tally at 1 win, 8 losses. And finally, let’s look at the presidential race. LePage, as he has said himself, was Trump before Trump was Trump. LePage stumped for the Republican nominee, hosting several visits to Maine, and even had his wife film a television commercial for him. So how did the people of Maine react to the LePage endorsements of Donald Trump?

Maine voted for Hillary Clinton, making LePage 1-9.

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LePage’s record for endorsements is terrible, starting with his gushing support of Chris Christie for president. LePage openly attached his political fortunes to Christie, and speculation of a place for LePage in the Trump administration was largely predicated on their relationship. But Trump fired Christie from his transition team late last week, leaving LePage as the head of a losing effort in Maine with no friends left at the top.

This abysmal showing on Election Day was nothing new for Paul LePage. Since he came onto the political scene in 2010, he has never garnered majority support in Maine for anything. He won election and re-election with less than 50 percent support. His first two years in office resulted in the Republican Party losing both the House and the Senate. His tax plans have failed, his energy policies have gone nowhere and the Legislature has gotten used to fashioning the state budget without his input. His endorsements fail time after time, and his approval ratings remain the lowest of any of Maine’s major elected officials.

LePage and his alt-right allies may be louder than their opponents, but they do not make up a governing majority. It bears repeating: Mainers do not support Paul LePage, his causes or his candidates. This should be a reality Maine legislators remind themselves of in these last two years of his term.

Maine faces a daunting array of challenges, and those challenges can only be met if the will of the Maine people is considered with more priority than the rantings of Maine’s most unpopular political figure.


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