LEWISTON, Maine (AP) - Some of the Democrats vying to replace bombastic Republican Gov. Paul LePage teed off on him Saturday as they rallied their party to reverse eight years of GOP hold on the governor’s mansion.
The audience roared when former House Speaker Mark Eves joked that he can put his skills as a therapist to work if he’s elected.
“If there’s ever a time in our state’s history that we need a family therapist, it is after eight years of Paul LePage,” said Eves, who sued after the governor intervened to sabotage a private sector job.
LePage is term-limited and cannot seek re-election.
One by one, six gubernatorial candidates appeared on stage at the Maine Democratic Party Convention. “Are you fired up? Are you fired up to never have to say ’Gov. LePage’ again?” said candidate Diane Russell, a former state lawmaker.
Democrats hastened to say the party must defeat Republicans with its values and ideas - living wages, expanded health care, renewable energy, education - not simply by fighting LePage and Republican President Donald Trump.
But the target was too tempting to resist. Attorney General Janet Mills also got a dig in. “I faced down the biggest bully this state has ever seen,” she said in video remarks before taking the stage at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.
Other gubernatorial candidates were Betsy Sweet, former leader of the Maine Women’s Lobby; Mark Dion, state lawmaker and former sheriff; and Adam Cote, a lawyer and military veteran. Addressing the group by video was former Biddeford Mayor Donna Dion.
Democrats will choose one of them during a primary election on June 12.
The topic of guns came up several times at the convention a day after 10 were killed in a school shooting in Texas.
Cote, who trained hundreds in how to use assault rifles in the infantry, said he wouldn’t be afraid to address it.
“I feel confident in saying I know more about firearms than anyone running for office right now. But I also have five kids doing active shooter drills at schools. … We can respect our hunting heritage without allowing people to have the same firepower that I had in Iraq or Afghanistan,” he said.
The opening of the convention Friday focused partly on the congressional races, while Saturday was mostly dedicated to candidates for governor. Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro, of Texas, delivered the keynote address.
Maine GOP Executive Director Jason Savage fired back at Democrats, accusing them of embracing “socialism and extremism as they make a boatload of promises they can’t afford and probably have no intention to keep.”
History will be made regardless of who wins on June 12 because Maine will become the first state to use a ranked-choice system in a statewide primary election.
Democrats are committed to using ranked-choice voting but Republicans have gone to federal court to be absolved of the requirement to use the system in which voters rank candidates by order of preference.
The system’s goal is to ensure a majority winner through multiple voting rounds if necessary. If there’s no outright majority winner, then the last-place finisher is removed and votes reallocated.
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