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Ann LePage has endorsed Ben Midgley for governor ahead of the June Republican primary.

The Pine Tree State’s former first lady threw her support behind Midgley in a Tuesday text to Republicans, saying Maine needs a “tough and strong” governor.

“Ben Midgley’s life overcoming poverty and having a great partner in his wife Sonia makes Ben the best choice,” she wrote.

Midgley, a former fitness executive who spent his career at Planet Fitness before founding the chain Crunch Fitness, spent 27 years as a Democrat before changing parties in 2015.

His campaign has strong ties to former Gov. Paul LePage, whose daughter Lauren is a strategist for Midgley’s campaign.

In an interview with the Bangor Daily News last fall, Midgley said that winning for him is about delivering “results” and not “proving I’m the reddest,” noting that some people will “almost say and do anything” to get the Republican nomination.

He is among seven Republicans vying for the opportunity to succeed term-limited Gov. Janet Mills. Midgley led in an April online straw poll circulated by the Maine Republican Party, which drew criticism from candidates and their campaigns.

But in a poll earlier this month from Portland-based Pan Atlantic Research Midgley trailed behind former Bush administration official Bobby Charles, health executive Jonathan Bush and former Maine Senate Majority Leader Garret Mason, with just 2% of likely primary voters saying they’d rank him first on their ballot.

Lauren LePage criticized that “false poll” in a fiery statement on May 20, saying that Pan Atlantic Research’s poll before the seven-way Republican primary in June 2010 underestimated her father who went on to win almost 40% of the vote.