LEWISTON — Paul LePage, the outspoken former businessman who rode a Republican wave into the governor’s mansion and late-night talk show jokes in 2010, has won re-election in Maine.

Despite Democrats’ best efforts to turn the gubernatorial race into a referendum on the controversial governor, LePage’s message of lower taxes, leaner, more efficient government and cuts to the welfare rolls won over a base of support that was projected to have grown substantially from the 37.6 percent that elected him in 2010.’