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After Bobby Charles got his gubernatorial campaign rolling more than a year ago, Jim LaBrecque handed him a pile of homework.
LaBrecque, who was an energy adviser to former Gov. Paul LePage said Charles “knocked it out of the park” when it came to understanding flaws in Maine’s energy policies and strategizing about ways to lower costs.
“I could see he was sincere and really cares,” LaBrecque said. “He really wants to fix things and he’s got the capability.”
LaBrecque is one of many early Charles supporters who are not surprised the lawyer and State Department official has built strong support on the ground and online to cement frontrunner status in the crowded primary. But when five of Charles’ rivals were asked whether they would support him if he won the nomination, not one raised a hand.
The moment at a May 7 debate hosted by CBS News 13 and the Bangor Daily News, which Charles skipped, captured a central tension in the race: The frontrunner has built a commanding lead through small events back to 2024 and AI-driven digital advertising but faces deep resistance from other parts of the party over his character, his record and his electability.
“No one has worked harder or covered more of the state,” Carroll Conley, the former executive director of the Christian Civic League of Maine, who met Charles six years ago and has worked as a convener between the candidate and faith leaders, said. “He’s running a simultaneously 20th- if not 19th-century campaign, along with an active 21st-century campaign.”
His opponents and some lawmakers in his own party question his electability in a general election. On Friday, he released a plan aimed at stopping the “Islamification” of Maine, the whitest state in the nation and one that leans Democratic by party registration.
But Charles led his Republican opponents with 36% support in a survey released Wednesday by Portland-based Pan Atlantic Research. Trailing were entrepreneur Jonathan Bush at 20% and former Maine Senate Majority Leader Garrett Mason at 13%. Charles has maintained polling leads despite spending a fraction of what his rivals have invested on TV ads, with Mason and Bush both backed by well-funded outside groups that have hammered Charles.
Over the last three months, Charles’ digital operation invested more than $47,000 on Meta platforms — about the same as the next two candidates, Bush and Democrat Angus King III, combined. He’s run hundreds ads on Facebook and Instagram, and often posted sharp criticism memes targeting Bush, Mason and former fitness executive Ben Midgley.
He’s gone after Democrats as well, from outgoing Gov. Janet Mills to the five contenders hoping to replace her, through a steady stream of daily content, including a video released last week depicting a “Blame Trump” game show lampooning members of the other party.
But Conley noted some of the highest engagement Charles sees on social media are in posts that touch on faith. The candidate has garnered strong support among conservative Catholics and evangelicals, a group that has long been central to Mason’s base of support.
Several Republicans say the primary is far from over, with many voters only just starting to engage. The Pan Atlantic poll, which many candidates criticized, suggested almost a quarter of likely Republican primary voters remain undecided. Charles’ opponents argue voters are increasingly turned off by his tactics, particularly as Election Day approaches.
Just as Bush, Mason and Midgley ramped up criticism of Charles’ promises to cut the state budget by $4 billion, he lumped the trio together and painted them as the “Three Amigos” and “Never Trumpers,” and questioned their conservative bonafides.
The escalating back-and-forth comes as Bush has risen in the latest poll and a PAC backing him has criticized Charles’ lobbying background, including with its own AI ad. It also comes as Mason has leaned into his legislative experience and received endorsements from almost 50 current and former lawmakers. Midgley, a political newcomer, won a non-scientific straw poll in April before finishing second to Charles in a state convention survey.
The Midgley campaign recently filed an ethics complaint with the state, claiming Charles’ team created an anti-Midgley website without proper disclosure in violation of Maine election law.
“Everyone he perceives as a threat, he attacks,” Lauren LePage, a Midgley strategist and the former governor’s daughter, said Friday.
Bush on Friday said a clear difference in the race is that he’s “created more than 900 Maine jobs while Bobby spent 25 of the last 27 years as a taxpayer-funded Washington DC lobbyist.”
“Sadly, as our statewide movement has caught fire, Bobby has descended into slimy gutter politics,” he said.
Former state Rep. MaryAnne Kinney, R-Knox, who backs Mason, said she tries not to speak ill of any Republican. But she decried “keyboard warriors” and negativity from Charles’ campaign. A Charles-led ticket gives her concerns because Augusta needs a Republican governor like Mason who “can work with both Republicans and Democrats.”
Much of LePage’s inner circle has coalesced around Midgley, but the former governor hasn’t officially endorsed a candidate while running for the 2nd Congressional District this year. There are no hard feelings among LePage backers who are divided on the governor’s race, LaBrecque said.
“We still go out for dinner,” he said. “And we’ll work with whomever wins.”
