In backing Matt Dunlap, Maine teachers union has blunt message for Paul LePage
Matt Dunlap, the Democratic candidate for Maine's 2nd Congressional District, shakes hands with Maine Education Association President Jesse Hargrove on Thursday during an endorsement event at Dufresne Plaza in Lewiston. (Libby Kamrowski Kenny/Staff Photographer)
LEWISTON — Former Gov. Paul LePage’s record from his time leading Maine is something he proudly points to while running to represent Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, but the state’s teachers union used it against him Thursday in endorsing State Auditor Matt Dunlap.
The Maine Education Association’s endorsement of Dunlap, the Old Town Democrat who previously served as a state lawmaker, secretary of state and Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine leader, was an unsurprising move from the union that has backed other Democratic candidates and counts roughly 24,000 current and retired education personnel as members.
Still, Thursday’s event at Dufresne Plaza in Lewiston offered the union a chance to not only praise Dunlap but also sharpen its critiques of LePage, who often did not see eye to eye with public educators while governor from 2011-19. MEA President Jesse Hargrove did not refer to the former governor by name while explaining why Dunlap earned the endorsement, but it was not hard to hear the criticism underlying his words.
Maine Education Association President Jesse Hargrove speaks during a news conference announcing the MEA’s endorsement of Matt Dunlap on Thursday. (Libby Kamrowski Kenny/Staff Photographer)
“We support leaders who listen to and trust educators and students,” Hargrove said before mentioning that Dunlap won the endorsement because he expressed support for a “well-funded federal education system” that properly serves students with disabilities, for paid student teaching opportunities and for student loan forgiveness programs.
LePage did not respond to the union’s invitation to answer questions as part of its endorsement process that incorporates feedback from all members, Hargrove added.
Hargrove, who was teaching social studies at Hermon High School before taking leave to become the union’s president in 2024, was more blunt later on after Dunlap described how President Donald Trump’s administration has been seeking to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. (Dunlap also criticized the federal government for currently covering only 13% of costs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which mandates support for students with disabilities.)
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“We know Paul LePage is not a supporter of our public schools,” Hargrove said.
Dunlap, 61, will welcome the new endorsement that came on the same day the national House Democratic campaign arm finally said it will support Dunlap’s campaign after not approving of his decision last fall to primary incumbent Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine. Golden ended up not seeking a fifth term, and Dunlap won a four-way Democratic primary in a ranked-choice voting runoff.
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The path to victory is certainly not a clear one for Dunlap. Election forecasters view LePage, a 77-year-old Lewiston native and former Waterville mayor who is using an Augusta apartment while seeking to make his political comeback this year, as the favorite in the 2nd District, which has thrice backed Trump while supporting Golden, a moderate Democrat who first won the seat in 2019. LePage has held three events this month to tout support from the National Rifle Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana.
The location of Thursday’s event has relevance for the race. Dunlap will view the state’s second-largest city, where Golden resides, as a place where he needs to vastly outperform LePage in November, given that the 2nd District’s smaller towns in the northern reaches of Maine have grown reliably conservative.
Jaye Rich, the Maine Education Association treasurer and a member of the Lewiston Education Association, criticized Republican congressional candidate Paul LePage on Thursday, saying, “We do not need leaders in Washington who devalue teachers.” That was a reference to the former governor’s past comments calling teachers “a dime a dozen.” (Libby Kamrowski Kenny/Staff Photographer)
LePage’s colorful streak of controversial statements as governor included jabs at teachers. While in Pittsfield in 2017 to unveil a new vocational school, LePage said he valued vocational training more than traditional education and described classroom teachers as “a dime a dozen.”
Jaye Rich, who has taught in Lewiston and Auburn and is the education association’s treasurer, referred to that past comment Thursday in saying “we do not need leaders in Washington who devalue teachers.”
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LePage’s decisions to sign charter school legislation and tweak public employee pensions while pushing tax cuts early in his tenure are among the actions that the educators backing Dunlap continue to remember and criticize. During his attempted gubernatorial comeback in 2022 that saw LePage lose handily to Gov. Janet Mills before he moved to Florida, he also joined Republicans elsewhere in criticizing what he deems “woke” policies in schools.
At the state level, Republican candidates up and down the ballot have hammered the Democratic Mills administration by pointing to declines in recent years in Maine student performance on national assessments, though the latest batch of data showed slight improvement.
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A LePage campaign adviser had a brief response to Thursday’s announcement: “Paul LePage increased K-12 funding during his governorship,” Brent Littlefield said.
Although state spending on education did grow during LePage’s tenure, from roughly $889 million at the start to $1.12 billion in his final year — enough to cover 46% of education costs — teachers union leaders noted that it fell short of the state’s mandate to fund 55% of essential K-12 costs for schools.
Though federal policymaking may differ from state-level policymaking, LePage’s Blaine House record is relevant to how he might legislate if he joins Congress, said Crystal Ward, a retired teacher from Lewiston who taught for 34 years. She said the 2011 budget changes under LePage’s watch that initially added a cap on pension benefits to make cost-of-living increases apply to the first $20,000 of earnings made it so that she and her peers are “behind all the time.”
Ward, 75, who retired in 2008, also recalled to a reporter how LePage told her during a 2011 meeting with the teachers union that teachers need “to have a little skin in the game.” Her message to those at Dunlap’s endorsement event was simple.
“Do not vote for Paul LePage,” Ward said.
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Tagged: 2nd district 2026, election 2026, Matt Dunlap, Paul LePage, teachers, unions
Billy covers politics for the Press Herald. He joined the newsroom in 2026 after also covering politics for the Bangor Daily News for about two and a half years. Before moving to Maine in 2023, the Wisconsin. More by Billy Kobin
