Former two-term Republican Gov. Paul LePage speaks during a campaign stop at Dysart’s truck stop in Hermon in November 2022. Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald

Former Gov. Paul LePage announced Monday that he is running to represent Maine’s 2nd Congressional District in Congress.

The Republican served as governor from 2011 to 2019 before leaving office because of term limits. He ran again for governor in 2022, when he lost to Democratic Gov. Janet Mills.

LePage, 76, announced his plans to contest the 2026 election in a Facebook post Monday, a day after he filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission. He spent Monday morning meeting with residents in Eastport about his campaign.

“The entrenched interests are fighting President (Donald) Trump at every turn as he works to fix problems,” LePage said in the post. “We need more straight talk to help take back Washington. We need more real-world business experience, those who know how to create jobs. We need people who understand what it’s like to struggle, why inflation hurts.”

LePage’s campaign did not respond to a request for an interview.

He changed his residency to Florida after Mills was elected in 2018, though he and his wife, Ann LePage, later reestablished residency in Maine in the town of Edgecomb prior to his 2022 run for governor.

LePage is now living in Augusta, where the city clerk’s office confirmed Monday that he registered to vote in the city in April.

The 2nd District seat is currently held by Rep. Jared Golden, who was reelected to a fourth term in November. Golden, a Lewiston Democrat, kept his seat even as the 2nd District backed Donald Trump, and Republicans have eyed the district as a seat to flip in 2026.

Golden has been rumored to be a potential candidate for governor or the U.S. Senate next year, though he has not said definitively what his plans are.

“I thought Paul was doing his best work in retirement,” Golden said in a written statement Monday.

Asked if Golden plans to seek reelection to his seat or if he is considering running for a different office, a spokesperson said Golden “is busy fighting the GOP’s health care cuts and working through his committees to secure jobs for Bath Iron Works and protect Maine’s fishing communities. The next election is the furthest thing from his mind.”

No other candidates have filed with the FEC for the 2nd District race.

A native of Lewiston, LePage was general manager of Marden’s Surplus and Salvage, a Maine-based chain of bargain stores, and served as mayor of Waterville before being elected governor in 2010.

He ushered in a new era of divisive politics with his election, proudly disavowing political correctness and openly clashing with Democrats, teachers unions, environmentalists, the media and some other Republicans. His impolitic comments and slash-and-burn style led to many controversies, including multiple instances in which he was accused of racially inflammatory remarks.

But LePage was also successful in securing major policy victories, even in years when Democrats controlled the Legislature. He reduced income taxes several times, slashed welfare rolls and expenditures by tightening eligibility, reduced government red tape on businesses, rebuilt the state’s “rainy day” fund and significantly reduced the size of state government.

Maine’s Constitution prohibited LePage from seeking a third consecutive term in 2018. While he said just prior to that election that he was “done with politics,” LePage never really dropped out of Maine’s political scene.

His bid to return to elected office ended with him losing to Mills by 13 percentage points in 2022.

Maine’s 2nd District has become a battleground in recent elections, as Trump has won one of Maine’s four electoral votes in the rural district composed of northern and western Maine in each of the last three presidential races.

Golden, a centrist Democrat who said prior to last year’s election that he was “OK” with Trump winning, won with 50.4% of the vote after a ranked choice runoff in which Republican Austin Theriault, a first-term state lawmaker, received 49.7%.

Democrats were quick to criticize LePage Monday while Republicans expressed confidence in flipping the 2nd District next year. The Maine Democratic Party said in a news release that it is “investing earlier than ever” in the 2nd District and will be opening new offices in the district in the coming months.

“(LePage) had eight years in office, and Mainers paid the price,” Maine Democratic Party Chair Charlie Dingman said in a written statement. “With Donald Trump’s cuts and chaos hurting Mainers and our economy, the last person we need representing us in Washington is a retired politician who would rather enrich himself and his cronies than serve ordinary working Mainers.”

Maine GOP Chair Jim Deyermond said, meanwhile, that hundreds of volunteers who worked on delivering a 2nd District win for Trump last year will now turn their attention to the Congressional race. “I want to be crystal clear,” Deyermond said in a written statement. “Maine’s Second Congressional District will no longer be in Democrat hands in 2026.”