But on Tuesday, in the greatest shift in partisan makeup of a state government in the United States this year, voters chose Democrat Janet Mills to replace a term-limited LePage and gave her party control of both chambers.
“It’s a new day in Maine,” said Mills in an interview. “The current governor’s unpredictability has sent the wrong message to the world about Maine and that will stop with me. I want to be recruiter-in-chief, the promoter-in-chief and the closer-in-chief, and I will have partners in the Legislature to help tackle big goals.”
The immediate impact for Mainers won’t just be the tone in Augusta: The state is now poised to move forward with expanding Medicaid, which was approved by voters in 2017 but stalled by LePage over financial concerns despite court orders. At the time, he said he would rather go to jail “before I put the state in red ink.”
And LePage? He’ll be far away. He told reporters this week he plans to retire to Florida.