Incumbent Republican governor Paul LePage won re-election to a second term, defeating Democratic nominee Mike Michaud, the U.S. representative from Maine's 2nd congressional district, and independent Eliot Cutler, an attorney and second-place finisher from the 2010 gubernatorial election.

Republican gubernatorial nominees in Maine have failed to win a majority of the vote in 12 consecutive cycles over the last 50+ years – the longest such GOP streak in the nation.

On January 17, 2014, Eliot Cutler announced that he had challenged LePage and Michaud to a series of policy debates, with at least one to be held in each of Maine's 16 counties, over the course of the campaign.

[33] Lee Schultheis said that his campaign was not about winning the election, but about encouraging honest conversation on the issues and working towards compromise, while criticizing the win-at-any-cost mentality in politics.

[34] However, citing the fact that two of three debates he had been invited to had been cancelled, as well as the difficulty of an independent working in the two-party system, he withdrew from the race on September 5, 2014.

[31] Cutler posted a video to his Facebook and Twitter accounts on May 5, 2014, where he responded to a voter's question about his candidacy potentially splitting the vote again.

[40] Meanwhile, Cutler himself has appeared to be winding down his campaign, decreasing his spending on television advertisements, leading to speculation that he was essentially conceding the race.

[42] In late October, the Republican Governors Association began airing a television advertisement that attacked Michaud before pivoting to praise Cutler, noting that he had been endorsed by Independent U.S.

Michaud campaign manager Matt McTighe called it "a desperate attempt to split the vote that is uniting to defeat Gov.

"[46][47][48] Cutler also encouraged Maine voters to support a proposed citizen initiative to implement ranked choice voting.

"[49] Shortly after, Angus King announced that he was switching his endorsement from Cutler to Michaud, explaining: "it is clear that the voters of Maine are not prepared to elect Eliot...

The good news is that we still have a chance to elect a governor who will represent the majority of Maine people: my friend and colleague, Mike Michaud.

Cutler criticized both men as "cowards" and said that they wanted voters to make their decision "on the basis of a cascade of negative television ads bought by outside special interests".

[53] Despite Michaud's position on debates, he did appear at a forum on September 12 to discuss energy policy topics with only Cutler, after LePage abruptly withdrew from participating, citing what he called a change in the format of the event.

Michaud responded by issuing a statement saying that LePage was looking for an excuse to avoid debates and that he should instead use them "to set the record straight and explain why he said in a press release that Social Security is 'welfare' and why Maine's economy hasn't recovered as quickly as the rest of the country."