Rep. Mike Michaud, speaks during the Maine Democratic Party Convention in Lewiston, Maine, in 2010.
The Democratic candidate for governor of Maine said Monday that he is gay, ending what he dubbed the “whisper campaigns, insinuations and push polls” over his sexual orientation.
“They want people to question whether I am gay,” Rep. Mike Michaud wrote in an opinion article published by local newspapers. “Allow me to save them the trouble with a simple, honest answer. Yes I am. But why should it matter?
“That may seem like a big announcement to some people,” Michaud wrote. “For me, it’s just a part of who I am, as much as being a third-generation millworker or a lifelong Mainer.”
Michaud, who is challenging vulnerable Republican Gov. Paul LePage next year, joins Maryland Democrat Heather Mizur in looking to become the first openly gay candidate elected governor of a state, the the Portland Press Herald reports. New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey announced in 2004 that he was gay, becoming the first openly gay incumbent governor.