Maine Candidate for Governor Announces He's Gay

A six-term congressman and former paper mill worker hoping to unseat Maine Gov. Paul LePage next year announced that he’s gay — a response to what he called a ‘‘whisper campaign’’ by political opponents hoping to weaken his gubernatorial bid.

Rep. Mike Michaud, 58, wrote in an op-ed provided to The Associated Press, the Portland Press Herald and the Bangor Daily News that ‘‘whisper campaigns, insinuations and push-polls’’ attempted to get voters to question whether he’s gay.

‘‘Allow me to save them the trouble with a simple, honest answer: ‘Yes I am. But why should it matter?'’’ he wrote in the op-ed published Monday.

The Democrat’s announcement adds intrigue to a tight three-way race with LePage, the Republican incumbent, and wealthy independent Eliot Cutler.