BANGOR, Maine—State Auditor Matt Dunlap has conceded the race in Maine’s Second Congressional District to former Gov. Paul LePage, returning a district that has repeatedly voted for President Donald Trump to the Republican fold.
Dunlap announced his concession on Nov. 5, soon after Maine’s Secretary of State announced the results of the first round in Maine’s ranked-choice system. Although those results showed that the former governor fell short of 50 percent of the vote, triggering a second round, they also indicated that he led the state auditor by more than 5,000 votes, seemingly placing a victory out of reach for the Democrat.
“Congratulations to Paul LePage, I wish him the best,” Dunlap said in a statement. The statement also indicated that the campaign does not anticipate that the second round of tabulation would alter the outcome.
LePage declared victory on Nov. 4 before The Associated Press or other sources called the race. A campaign source told The Epoch Times the candidate contacted town clerks that day to assess the totals.
Although Trump won the district in 2016, 2020, and 2024, once by a margin of more than 10 points, Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) has represented it since 2019. Golden, a Blue Dog who has voted with Republicans on several high-stakes measures, decided not to seek reelection after a primary challenge from Dunlap.
The Associated Press had not yet called the race as of 2:20 p.m. ET on Nov. 5.
As of that time, The Associated Press reported that LePage had 50 percent of the vote with 95 percent counted. Dunlap had 49 percent of the vote.
“I am declaring victory,” LePage said at a press conference in Bangor on Nov. 4.
“I’m very, very pleased with the outcome. I’m looking forward to going to Washington and doing what I said I was going to do, work for the Maine people.”
During an Oct. 14 campaign event with LePage, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) described the contest as one of the top five most important congressional races in the United States.
Dunlap’s backers include Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), an independent who caucuses with the Democrats. Dunlap has also campaigned with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a democratic socialist from nearby Vermont.
In modern American politics, districts that vote for a particular party in congressional races also tend to favor that same party in presidential elections. Maine’s Second District has stood out as an anomaly.
According to the Cook Partisan Voting Index, Maine’s Second is an R+4 district, making it fairly Republican, though not overwhelmingly so—yet a Democrat has represented it since 2018.
Golden defeated Republican incumbent Bruce Poliquin in 2018 in ranked-choice runoffs. Those midterms were the first time Maine, or any state, used ranked-choice voting in a federal election.
Golden fended off Republicans in 2020, 2022, and 2024, in part by building a record as one of the more bipartisan members of the House.
His willingness to vote with Republicans during Trump’s second presidency drove opposition from some Maine Democrats. In November 2025, a month after Dunlap announced his candidacy, Golden declared that he would not seek reelection.
LePage, who oversaw tax and budget cuts during his governorship, ran in part against Maine Democrats’ record in relation to Gateway Community Services, a personal care agency that services immigrants. Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services suspended Medicaid payments to Gateway in December 2025, citing a credible allegation of fraud.
At an Oct. 27 press conference in Lewiston, LePage said his administration had identified billing problems but that Mills, then Maine’s attorney general, declined to prosecute.
“Matt Dunlap and his boss, Janet Mills, are purposely not taking fraud seriously in the state of Maine,” LePage said.
During an Oct. 15 debate with LePage, Dunlap pushed back against that line of argument. He said his office does identify fraud and refers it to the attorney general’s office, citing a recent large-scale procurement fraud prosecution.
Dunlap also contrasted his message with LePage’s. While LePage repeatedly vetoed Medicaid expansion, the auditor backs “some type of universal healthcare system.”
“I don’t see how you actually improve healthcare by taking healthcare away from people,” the state auditor said.
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