Bobby Charles, Republican candidate for Maine governor, fields questions from the media during his visit to Phoenix House Recovery and Reentry Center in Lewiston on Friday. (Rich Abrahamson/Staff Photographer)

LEWISTON — Republican Bobby Charles visited Colorado last week for what he described as an “exceptional meeting” with party leaders and said he is confident in his chances in the Maine governor’s race, despite trailing Democrat Hannah Pingree in polling and fundraising.

Charles, an attorney and former official in the federal government, lagged Pingree by double digits in two recent polls on the race and has raised only $1.3 million to her $3 million.

In a rare press conference Friday, Charles said he met last week with the Republican Governors Association and several Republican governors who are “very excited” about Maine and plan to help him financially.

“I’m not going to give you a dollar number, but we are talking likely millions, and they are very committed to the idea that Maine is a pickup for them,” Charles told reporters outside Phoenix House Recovery and Reentry Center, an addiction recovery center he visited.

Charles, Pingree and independent Rick Bennett are vying to replace Gov. Janet Mills, who is term-limited and dropped out of the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in April.

The race has largely been overshadowed by the Senate contest, a high-profile matchup with national implications that features Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Democrat Troy Jackson, a former president of the Maine Senate.

Primaries on both sides were crowded and competitive, but the race seems to have cooled off since then, with Pingree appearing to emerge as a favorite. A mid-July poll from the University of New Hampshire Survey Center found Pingree leading Charles by a margin of 49% to 35% − findings that were similar to a different survey in June.

On Friday, Charles challenged Pingree’s lead, pointing out that he was also heavily outspent in the Republican primary, and that polls aren’t always right, especially early on.

One of the early polls on the Democratic side, Charles said, showed Angus King III tied for first place among five candidates, with support from 24% of likely voters. King finished the race in June in last, with 8% support.

“I feel better about this general than I ever did about the primary,” Charles said.

Bobby Charles, Republican candidate for Maine governor, mingles following his press conference and visit to Phoenix House Recovery and Reentry Center in Lewiston on Friday. (Rich Abrahamson/Staff Photographer)<?xml version="1.0"?> Purchase this image

Pine Tree State Prosperity, a group affiliated with the Democratic Governors Association, has booked more than $11 million in ad spending in the governor’s race for this fall. No similar commitment has been announced from national Republicans.

A spokesperson for the Republican Governors Association did not respond to questions about the meeting Charles described and spending in the race.

In Lewiston, Charles talked with reporters for nearly an hour outside Phoenix House, a stop he made as part of a tour this week of addiction and recovery centers around the state. Charles has made combatting drug addiction and recovery a key issue of his campaign.

He said he plans to address the problem with immediate executive orders prioritizing addiction services, securing additional federal resources to fight drug problems, coordinating private groups and ensuring there are enough residential treatment beds available.

“We need to focus on this problem, because this is the future of the state,” he said.

Charles, who has been a supporter of the Trump administration’s immigration policies, also addressed the recent killing in Biddeford of a 25-year-old Colombian man by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. He said he believes there are changes needed to how ICE operates in Maine, including that all agents should be wearing body cameras.

No video has surfaced to date of the July 13 interaction between agents and Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford, and the agents were reportedly wearing body cameras that couldn’t be turned on. Collins said this week that she has been assured by federal officials that they plan to have body cameras rolled out to all ICE agents by the end of August.

“We ought to have body cameras on everybody,” Charles said. “I don’t understand why that wasn’t happening. That would solve a lot of problems.”

In the weeks since the Republican primary, Charles said he has had good conversations with his former rivals, including real estate developer David Jones, who was Charles’ biggest critic in the primary and who in June said he would not rank Charles on his ranked-choice ballot.

Jones endorsed Charles on WLOB Radio this week and said in an interview Friday he expects Republicans to unify around him.

“I respect the process,” Jones said. “I was a candidate. I played to win, but Bobby won and so he deserves the respect and support of each and every Republican out there.”