Paul Richard LePage (; born October 9, 1948) is an American politician who served as the 74th Governor of Maine from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, LePage served two terms as a city councilor in Waterville, Maine, before being elected Mayor of Waterville in 2004, serving until 2011. LePage ran for governor of Maine in the 2010 election, winning the general election with a plurality, 37.6%, in a five-candidate race. He was re-elected with a stronger plurality, 48.2% of the vote, in a three-candidate election in 2014. During his tenure as the Governor of Maine, he made extensive use of his veto power, vetoing 652 bills as of July 2018, more than the total by all Maine governors over the previous 100 years combined. As governor he made controversial remarks regarding abortion, the LGBTQ community, racial minorities, the death penalty, voting rights, campaign financing, the government and the environment that sparked widespread national criticism including calls for impeachment. LePage left office with an approval rating of 39%. His disapproval figure of 54% was the fourth-highest of the governors at the time. LePage was unable to seek a third consecutive term due to Maine's term limits law. His plurality wins and unpopular tenure contributed to Maine voters changing their voting system from plurality voting to ranked-choice voting in a 2016 ballot initiative even though it is currently not applicable for gubernatorial elections. In April 2021, he announced that he would be a candidate for governor again in 2022. He faced no primary opposition but lost to incumbent Janet Mills by 13 percentage points in the November general election. Early life and education LePage was born in Lewiston, Maine, on October 9, 1948. The eldest son of eighteen children of Theresa (née Gagnon) and Gerard LePage, both of French Canadian descent, he grew up speaking French in an impoverished home with an abusive father who was a mill worker. His father drank heavily and terrorized the children, and his mother was too intimidated to stop him. At age eleven, after his father beat him and broke his nose, he ran away from home and lived on the streets of Lewiston, where he at times stayed in horse stables and at a "strip joint". After spending roughly two years homeless, he began to earn a living shining shoes, washing dishes at a café, and hauling boxes for a truck