EDGECOMB, Maine — Former Republican Gov. Paul LePage, who moved to Florida to enjoy warm weather and lower taxes after leaving office, has reestablished his residency in Maine.
LePage, 71, posted a photo Thursday on Facebook showing that he’d replaced the Florida plates on his car with Maine license plates.
“I registered to vote last week and today I picked up these shiny new plates for my car. So glad to be officially back home here in Maine,” he wrote.
LePage, who’s living in Edgecomb, followed through on his vow to return to the state of his birth.
He's been making appearances in the news of late, attending a rally against pandemic restrictions in Augusta in May and met with President Donald Trump last month in Bangor.
Earlier this year, he told a radio talk show Gov. Janet Mills “ought to resign” over her plan for reopening the state’s economy and said he’ll “challenge Janet Mills or the Democratic Party in 2022.”
During his meeting with Trump and Maine fishing industry leaders last month, talks shifted from fishing to Mills when LePage brought up her handling of the reopening the state amid the coronavirus pandemic.
"You have a Governor that doesn't know what she's doing, and she's like a dictator," Trump said.
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In a television interview in February, Lepage seemed to announce that he would rerun for Maine governor.
WAGM-TV reporter Shawn Cunningham asked, "Can we see an inkling of maybe you'll be throwing your hat back in?"
"Uh, you're very observant. The answer is yes. We are working on it. I want to see what happens this year with the election," LePage answered. "My wife and I have a home in Florida, but we will be here in March and April and I won't go back until next winter but we're gonna be residents in Maine."
However, he told NEWS CENTER Maine the following day a formal decision wouldn't be made until after the election in the fall.
LePage said, “The formal decision will not be made until after the election, and with my wife going all in.” He also said for right now he is “going to watch and listen,” and there will be several key factors that will guide the decision.
