Mary Mayhew launches campaign to replace LePage in 2018

Source: Bangor Daily News

AUGUSTA, Maine — Former Maine Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew announced a 2018 run for governor Tuesday, becoming the first well-known Republican to enter the race to replace the term-limited Gov. Paul LePage.

A former Democrat and lobbyist, Mayhew’s career changed sharply in 2011 when she took the administration post that she left in late May, becoming the face of the Republican governor’s aggressive welfare agenda and the administrator most identified with him.

“I made that decision because I wanted to think about where the state needed to go in the next several years, and I wanted to be part of that,” Mayhew said Tuesday morning on WVOM, a Bangor radio station. “As I left the department, and as I have thought about all we have accomplished, I know we have worked too hard to see what we have done undone. So today I announce my candidacy to be the next governor of the state of Maine.”

It was an expected move from Mayhew, 52, of South China, who has been quietly and informally campaigning in Republican circles to succeed LePage for years and has cast herself as a practical reformer of Maine’s welfare system. She’s expected to “discuss her vision for the future of Maine” at a 9:15 a.m. news conference in Lisbon, according to a news release.

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Read more: http://bangordailynews.com/2017/06/06/politics/mary-mayhew-launches-campaign-to-replace-lepage-in-2018/