BOWDOIN

Tyler Washburn, chairman of the Bowdoin Republican Committee, has stepped down after finding himself in a moral dilemma, unable to support the candidate who won the Republican primary on June 14.

Guy Lebida of Bowdoin defeated seated Sen. Linda Baker in the Senate District 23 Republican primary race by 40 votes, according to initial results.

“I’ll be honest, I always have considered myself proud to be a Republican,” said Washburn on Monday.

Until he witnessed the negativity that occurred in the District 23 primary race.

“I’ve always believed if you’re an officer for the party, if you take a leadership role, you need to support all Republicans,” Washburn said. “After the primary, I couldn’t do that.”

So he has stepped down and is staying out of the race.

Gov. Paul LePage endorsed Lebida. Washburn said it is disappointing to see people like LePage and Lebida pushing a far right agenda, which he doesn’t agree with, nor does he think it can win.

Washburn said he chaired Baker’s campaign in Bowdoin previously and former Sen. Olympia Snowe’s campaign as well. He campaigned for Baker personally in this primary race, introducing himself as a friend and former student.

What went down with the primary race, Washburn believes, ensures the Democratic candidate Eloise Vitelli the win in November.

“I supported Sen. Baker personally in the primary and honestly, I don’t know who I’ll support in the fall. I’m probably going to leave the ballot blank,” he said.

He added, “I never thought I’d consider voting for Eloise Vitelli.”

He argues that Lebida cherry-picked 28 bills Baker voted on to put on the score card he campaigned with. Those 28 roll calls out of all the others aren’t indicative of who she is, Washburn said.

“I can tell you it transcended the voting record,” Washburn said.

Shortly before the primary, a flier was circulated stating Baker supported the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. In reality, Baker voted against Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act in Maine. She voted the Republican way, he said.

“I can tell you this type of negativity in Sagadahoc County is going to make it extremely hard to have a unified ticket in the Senate race,” he said, adding Lebida can’t expect Baker supporters to line up behind him.

It was equally disappointing to see LePage “wade into the public where it wasn’t his business to, in my opinion,” Washburn said, weeding out Baker, who didn’t agree with him 100 percent of the time.

Lebida countered that most score cards contain less than the 28 bills his covered, “and they’re all important bills.”

He said that the more than 400 bills that passed can be found in their entirety on his website, with hyperlinks straight to the state website.

“I’m not trying to hide anything. I’m just making everything transparent,” he said.

He also questioned Washburn’s actions and said the former chairman was bias from the start, campaigning heavily for Baker.

“Now as far as chairs, they are supposed to stay neutral in contested primaries, whatever party you’re in,” Lebida said. “They’re supposed to support both candidates equally or not at all, and he didn’t do that.”

Regarding his campaign tactics, Lebida cited freedom of speech and insisted that he has been truthful.

Lebida also rejected Washburn’s assertion that his primary victory means Vitelli will win in November.

“That’s not someone who is impartial,” Lebida said, regarding Washburn. “He’s just a sore loser.”

But it’s not just sour grapes, Washburn said.

“I can’t support someone with that blend of the party,” he said. And he isn’t the only Republican who will have reservations supporting Lebida.

Republican group Get Right Maine criticized LePage’s involvement in the Baker-Lebida race, as well as the governor’s opposition to Calais Republican Joyce Maker’s successful primary bid.

“Linda Baker is an excellent senator,” reads a June 17 post on getrightmaine.com. “She had the support of the state Senate leadership, ranging from the most conservative to the most moderate. But because of his spiteful and reckless tendencies, Paul LePage sabotaged her campaign by running a fringe candidate against her in a primary.”

The post later added: “And now, he’s deliberately unseated an excellent Republican state senator, and handed her seat to a Democrat.”

The race

• GUY LEBIDA of Bowdoin defeated seated Sen. Linda Baker in the Senate District 23 Republican primary race by 40 votes in the June 14 election, according to initial results.