Waterville Mayor Nick Isgro said Thursday he will hold a press conference next week to talk about “critical issues and opportunities for Maine’s future,” a move that comes a week after the Republican said he was considering a run for governor.

Isgro said in a statement Thursday he would make an announcement Monday morning at Waterville City Hall.

On Thursday, he declined to comment further on the planned event.

In an interview Jan. 16 with the Morning Sentinel, Isgro said he was contemplating a run for Maine’s top spot because he had surveyed the field of Republican candidates and found it to be “an incredibly low-energy campaign thus far.”

“I had stepped aside before, waiting for a candidate that would step forward with a bold, exciting agenda that would put Maine citizens first in Augusta; and I haven’t seen anybody step forward yet, so I’ve been forced to reconsider,” Isgro said at the time, prior to a City Council meeting.

Isgro, 36, the assistant vice president and controller of Skowhegan Savings Bank, was elected mayor in 2014, inaugurated in January 2015, served a three-year term and was re-elected last November. Isgro and his wife, Amanda, have five children.

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If he does decide to run, Isgro would follow in the footsteps of Gov. Paul LePage, who was a Republican city councilor and mayor in Waterville before running for governor eight years ago. Like LePage, Isgro also is a fiscal conservative.

There are currently at least 23 candidates who have registered to run for the Blaine House, including five Republicans. Candidates vying for the nomination as party standard-bearer face off in the primary election on June 12.

Democratic candidate Adam Cote is leading the governor’s fundraising race, according to campaign finance reports that were filed last week with the state. Cote, a Sanford attorney and 20-year veteran of the Maine National Guard, had raised $546,000 since he launched his campaign last April, including $278,000 in donations during the last six months of 2017, his campaign said. Cote has $350,896 in cash on hand.

Reports filed by Republican candidate Shawn Moody, owner of a chain of auto body shops, showed he had raised $301,705 and had about $260,000 in cash on hand at the beginning of January. The report also showed he contributed $150,000 to his own campaign.

Others in the race for the Republican nomination include state Senate President Mike Thibodeau, a Republican from Winterport, and former Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew, a Republican from South China.


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