The LePage years, mapped

Mapping the 2010, 2014, and 2022 gubernatorial elections in Maine

The news that former governor Paul LePage is running for Congress in Maine’s Second District is the perfect opportunity to map out the three gubernatorial races in which he ran, 2010, 2014, and 2022, when he attempted to defeat incumbent Janet Mills.

These interactive maps are best viewed on a browser.

Here’s the first version, showing the partisanship in the 2010 gubernatorial election, when he was first elected.

Now, compare that to his re-election in 2014 against Mike Michaud:

You can see he did better in Republican areas and worse in Democratic ones, with Eliot Cutler as less of a factor. Now, let’s take a look at his comeback attempt against Janet Mills in 2022:

One can see that, even though he lost the race easily overall, he improved upon his standing in Republican areas all over the map, for the most part - with Janet Mills’ native western Maine being a glaring exception. So, how does the shift look? Let’s see how he did in 2014, when he won re-election, compared to 2010, when he first won:

Naturally, he improved his standing all over the map. But what about when one compares 2014, when he won re-election, to 2022, when he challenged Janet Mills?

Here, you can see while his numbers dropped off in the First District and larger cities, like Bangor, they improved in the Second District and many more Republican areas. Finally, how does his first election in 2010 compare to 2022, the last time he was on the ballot?

He improved all over the state in Republican-leaning towns, especially in Aroostook County, but also in the Second District as a whole - even in larger cities like Lewiston, Auburn, and Augusta (although not Bangor).

A final note: In some of the smaller towns, you may find discrepancies, as smaller townships are sometimes counted differently across different elections. That is the explanation for some of the huge change in vote totals that occur in more rural areas.

As always, should you spot any obvious mistakes, please let me know.

Jim is also a weekly columnist for the Portland Press Herald, Maine’s largest daily newspaper. Follow him on X or on Facebook.