NEW: Extremist Paul LePage Vetoed Countless Bills To Make Maine More Affordable as Governor

New reporting from the Maine Independent lays bare extremist Paul LePage’s abysmal eight-year record of making life harder and more expensive for Maine families.

LePage is telling ME-02 voters he’ll “prioritize lowering costs and inflation” on the campaign trail. But as governor, he vetoed nearly every meaningful bill that would have done exactly that:

• LePage vetoed Medicaid expansion SIX times — and refused to implement it even after Maine voters approved it at the ballot box.
• LePage vetoed protections for Mainers with pre-existing conditions.
• LePage vetoed raising Maine’s minimum wage from $7.50 to $9 an hour.
• LePage vetoed a voter-approved bond to build affordable housing for Maine seniors.
• LePage vetoed funding to fight lead poisoning and protect Maine children.
• LePage vetoed opioid treatment for homeless Mainers, and refused to expand access to the overdose-reversal drug naloxone at the height of Maine’s opioid epidemic.

In all, LePage vetoed more than 640 bills as governor, a record no Maine governor has come close to touching in more than a century. About half were overridden with bipartisan support, because even members of LePage’s own party refused to defend his extreme and cruel agenda.

DCCC Spokesperson Riya Vashi:
“Paul LePage spent eight years vetoing every plan to make Maine more affordable, then turned around and ran to Florida so he wouldn’t have to pay his own share. Mainers have seen this movie before, and they know exactly who gets stuck with the bill when LePage is in power – that’s why they’ll elect Matt Dunlap in November.”

Maine Independent: Paul LePage vetoed Medicaid expansion and higher wages as Maine governor

• Former Maine Republican Gov. Paul LePage, the GOP nominee for the state’s open 2nd Congressional District, says on his campaign site that if elected he will fight for Maine’s future and prioritize “lowering costs and inflation.” During his eight years as governor, he vetoed several bills intended to help Mainers and make the state a more affordable place to live.
• LePage served as Maine’s governor from 2011 to 2019. In 2018, he announced that he was done with politics and would change his legal residence to Florida to avoid paying state taxes in Maine. He changed his voter registration back to Maine, ran for governor again in 2022, and moved to Florida again after losing the race. In May 2025, he again returned to Maine and filed to run for Congress.
• LePage vetoed more than 640 bills, though the Maine State Legislature overrode about half of those vetoes, overrides that had bipartisan support.
• LePage vetoed multiple bills that would have expanded Medicaid to include tens of thousands of additional Maine adults. […] “We have vetoed Medicaid expansion five times, and we will veto it every time electioneering politicians try to bring it up.”
• Two years later, Maine voters approved a ballot measure to require Medicaid expansion by a 59%-41% margin, but LePage refused to implement it. He urged the federal government to reject his own plan after a state court ruled that the state must submit a plan to expand Medicaid and comply with the voters’ will.
• LePage vetoed a 2018 bill to bar insurance companies from discriminating against people with preexisting medical conditions, a 2013 bill to gradually raise the minimum wage from $7.50 an hour to $9 and then index it to inflation, and a 2017 bill to implement a voter-approved bond package to fund more affordable housing for older Maine residents.
• In 2018, LePage vetoed a spending bill that included funds for lead abatement, a bill to provide opioid addiction treatment for individuals experiencing homelessness, and a bill to make the overdose-reversal drug naloxone more accessible.
• The Legislature overrode his 2014 veto of a bill to create a working group to study ways to reduce child abuse and neglect.
• A LePage campaign spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.