One of the most reliable groups of voters are our senior citizens. Their life experience gives them a perspective many other voters don’t have.

I have consistently fought the Democrats on issues critical to protecting the elderly in our state. This week, I want to speak directly to our senior citizens.

First, thank you for all you have done for our great state. You’ve worked hard, raised families, given back to your community, and helped your neighbors in need. It hasn’t been easy.

You’ve seen many changes to our industries: the loss of textile and shoe manufacturing; the exponential rise of our tourism sector; and the boom, bust, and resurrection of our forest-products sector.

Many of you worked hard your entire lives to pay off your home so you could live debt-free in your retirement. But when the jobs left, you saw your children and your grandchildren move away.

Now your pension and Social Security leave you on fixed incomes, while your town’s taxes continue to rise. You struggle to pay the bills as the minimum wage drives up the cost of items you use each day.

As your Governor, I have worked hard to place the needs of our seniors first. I have worked to eliminate waitlists, to remove the ability of municipal governments to sell your home out from under you if you get behind on your property taxes, and to keep the rise of the minimum wage from raising prices too high.

I have also worked hard to keep the cost of electricity low and to expand heating assistance programs so you can keep warm each winter.

Finally, I have fought the Democrats in the legislature, as well as referendums funded by wealthy out-of-state socialists, to keep taxes low so we can bring new jobs and new businesses to Maine. These new jobs will keep your families here, and they will attract our young people back home.

This isn’t just good for our families. Our population growth means that when you want to sell your home, there will be a buyer willing to pay market value. You can then care for your family with the equity you have built up over a lifetime.

When you go to the polls this November, I ask you to consider which candidates in Maine have looked out for your interests. The Democrats in the Legislature haven’t voted to fund waitlists for our elderly and people with disabilities.

They consistently refuse to fund nursing home facilities adequately or to identify a path to help rural facilities keep their doors open. They did not vote to slow the growth in the minimum wage.

Legislators did not vote to attract more young people to our state by helping them with their student debt.

Instead, the progressives in our Legislature did vote to tax high earners, driving doctors and other professionals out of state.

Democrats want to send our state backward. They vote for the high-tax, big-spend policies that drive our jobs and people away.

I ask you to vote for the candidates and the policies that will continue to carry Maine into the future. Vote for the candidate who will create the state you want your grandchildren to inherit.

That is what I’ll be doing.

Thank you.

Paul LePage

Governor