This story will be updated.
AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Janet Mills and former Gov. Paul LePage will face each other in four televised debates ahead of their high-stakes November election.
It will be must-see TV in political circles when the two longtime rivals begin debating in early October, just over a month before Election Day. Mills, a Democrat, served as attorney general during most of the former Republican governor’s eight-year tenure and won the 2018 race to succeed him on broad promises to undo much of his legacy.
LePage and Mills will meet first in an Oct. 4 debate hosted by Maine Public and the Portland Press Herald, then will go to an untelevised Portland Chamber of Commerce breakfast two days later. After a break, WGME and the Bangor Daily News will host them on Oct. 24 for an in-studio debate at the CBS affiliate’s Portland studio.
The schedule will wind down with an Oct. 27 News Center Maine debate and the final one on Nov. 3 hosted by WMTW of Portland, WABI of Bangor and WAGM of Presque Isle. The final debate will come just five days before Election Day.
Independent Sam Hunkler, a doctor from Beals who is also on the ballot, is expected to make at least one debate appearance and perhaps more. The BDN and WGME invite candidates who reach 5 percent in any one public poll, while WMTW, WAGM and WABI use a higher threshold.
While Hunkler is a political unknown and has vowed to spend almost no money on his race, he could be a factor in an election that will not use ranked-choice voting. Mills led LePage in the last public polls of their race in the spring, but her lead was small and within margins of error.