Republican Paul LePage won election Thursday to the U.S. House of Representatives representing Maine's 2nd Congressional District, defeating Democrat Matthew Dunlap.
The outcome was never really in doubt, and Dunlap conceded last week. But state law required the Secretary of State’s Office to conduct the official count. LePage, who traveled to Washington for orientation this week, won by just under fifty-five hundred votes, or 51% to Dunlap's 49%
LePage was governor from 2011 to 2019 and lost a bid for another term in 2022. He once described himself as "Donald Trump before Donald Trump became popular" and threw support behind the future president in 2016.
Dunlap has served as Maine's state auditor since 2022. Before that, he was secretary of state, a role in which he was a leading voice in pushing back against Trump's claims of voter fraud.