There are currently seven candidates vying the GOP nod in the crowded Maine gubernatorial primaries. Bearing Arms had a chance to interview four of them and Ben Midgley was one.
Midgley is a Maine businessman who’s gone from having nothing to being a CEO. “(I’ve) been on food stamps, been on the system, and then, you know, gratefully, have been very, very successful in my life, too,” Midgley admits candidly. Midgley grew up in Maine and after dropping out of college had a job cleaning gym equipment. Eventually he became the president of Planet Fitness and subsequently founded his own company, Crunch Fitness. Midgley says he wants to take that experience and use it to get “things back to where they should be (in Maine).”
“I ended up on unemployment; I ended up on food stamps and that was back when food stamps were stamps you tear off in the grocery store,” Midgley recounted. “A lot of people don’t remember that, and they certainly wouldn’t allow that nowadays, because that might embarrass somebody. But, you know, sometimes that’s healthy, and I certainly was embarrassed, and just dug in, worked hard, spent 30 years in the fitness industry.”
Midgley spent 15 years as the chief executive officer and founding partner of Crunch. He said Crunch became the number one fitness franchise in the country with over 500 locations in 46 states, in six countries, with 3 million members. He said they “did over a billion dollars a year in revenue, and (he) created 15,000 jobs around the country … building that company.”
A hot topic in Vactionland is the moose hunt. There’s been some changes floated about how the lottery would work for outfitters and guides to get tags. Midgley said that the moose hunt was a topic of conversation at a gun show he recently attended in Dover-Foxcroft.
“There’s certain sort of lodges, or camps that don’t really meet the definition of what someone would think is a sort of a Maine guided experience to go out and hunt moose, and they’re getting these lottery tickets, and they’re essentially reselling them,” Midgley explained. “They’re making a lot of money off it. Some people, I think, in the industry of bringing tourists in and bringing them on hunts want to have that come into play. But I think everybody else is dead set against it.”
Midgley said that he’d lean in the side of hunters and traditional moose enthusiasts. Whether or not standard lodges have rights to the lottery, stipulating as long as it’s not an overwhelming number, the focus should be on ensuring there’s more licenses for hunters in the state.
“It’s a prized lottery in the state, generates a tremendous amount of excitement and a lot of food for a lot of folks,” Midgley admitted. “It’s a big industry, and it’s important to the state, so I think we’re going to end up in the right place.”
The current GOP primary is full of candidates who pledge their support of the right to keep and bear arms. “I think we were the only candidate in our opening announcement in running for governor — which we did in front of TV cameras on August 5 — I mean, bottom line, I back the Second Amendment,” said Midgley. “So whether you’re a hunter or a sportsman or somebody who just wants to protect your home and your family, I’m going to have your back period. That’s what we said day one. That’s where we stand right now, that’s where we’re going to stand.”
In an Aug. 2025 social media post, Midgley shared those same sentiments. He quoted the Maine Constitution: “Art. 1 sec. 16: ‘Every citizen has a right to keep and bear arms and this right shall never be questioned.’”
“I will never waiver,” Midgley wrote. “The right to keep and bear arms isn’t just part of our heritage. We cannot allow gun control advocates to continue to chip away at this right. We must protect it.”
Midgley was asked about a number of different areas of policy in Maine. There were and/or are legislative pushes in the Pine Tree State and he weighed in on them. Portions of these answers have been shortened and it’s recommended that the interview in its entirety is watched HERE. Portions of this interview have been edited for clarity and ease of reading.
So-called “red flag” law in Maine:
I oppose the citizens’ initiative to implement that law, and I don’t believe it has adequate process for the accused. Right? Individuals deserve their day in court before they lose constitutional rights, and there should be severe penalties for folks who bring false claims, because that could happen. That was one of the big concerns. The law enforcement community in the state did not support that. They were vehemently against it, but there was a tremendous amount of money on the other side of this initiative, which, you know, framing it as the safest thing to do.
There’s more states that certainly don’t have this law than do have this law. But, the left essentially tries to frame it as 16 states have this law, so we should be doing (it). Well, what about the 34 or what have you that don’t? And I don’t know that’s the right number, but anyways, there was a lot of marketing around it that I think is what a lot of folks paid attention to.
The yellow flag law, on its own, was really more of a compromise to fill a gap initially. I don’t know that law enforcement thinks it’s perfect the way it was, but they certainly preferred it, and they were utilizing it quite a bit more.
So, I think it’s bad for the state right now. And, should we win the governor’s office, we’re going to try to make changes (to that).
So-called “large-capacity” magazine bans:
I think it’s arbitrary. I don’t think it really makes anybody safer. If criminals want guns and high-capacity magazines, they’re going to get them one way or another. So for us, it’s a hard No, and (it) just (doesn’t) support Maine’s spirit.
So-called “safe storage” mandates:
No … you’re getting into people’s homes, you know what I mean? And then what are you inspecting people’s homes? And you’re, you’re all of a sudden going to their homes, seeing what they’re doing? You can’t do that.
Studies on lead ammunition use:
I haven’t looked too deeply (into it) … Anything that feels sort of nonsensical to me, until it’s an absolute issue, I don’t really pay that much attention to. I don’t have a heck of a lot of comments on it right now.
Maine is one of those states that’s going to dig in anywhere it possibly can to interrupt someone’s Second Amendment rights, either directly or indirectly … So you can either have something come in and be very obstructive to people right away, or you can have … essentially death by 1,000 cuts. If you know what I mean? You just keep chipping away, chipping away, chipping away. Any effort to go either direction, we certainly don’t support, but I can’t give you specifics on that particular (issue).
The so-called “ghost gun” law Governor Mills allowed to go into effect:
No. I mean, we’re pretty simple.
Restoration of rights to non-violent felons:
I’ve talked to a lot of guys that are former law enforcement that actually supported that … because it is non-violent … You could be accused of something that had nothing to do with a gun-related job or any domestic violence — any domestic violence or anything like that — And so I haven’t read all the details of it … to be absolutely safe, I’d have to read all the details, see if there’s anything that really sticks out.
Overall, I’d say if the majority of law enforcement supports something like that, and the legislators who are highly engaged in it, then I can support that too …
Maine has one of the highest percentages of gun ownership in the country, with one of the lowest percentages of gun related crimes … It’s been in our state forever, right? It’s not a major challenge, but the left will rely on the crime being committed by the gun, not the person, and they keep pushing that and pushing that and pushing that to try to get to where they need to be. At the end of the day, you just have to back someone’s Second Amendment rights, and know that the majority of everyone in the state of Maine is very responsible with their firearms.
Democratic proposal to add $500,000 to the Maine state budget for state lawmakers’ use for buying home security equipment:
Hard no. Shouldn’t be in there. We already got a $12 billion budget now. We had a $7 billion budget seven years ago. Now we’ve got a $12 billion budget heading to $13 billion. It’s insane the amount of spending that we’re doing — for something like that? That’s kind of just, that’s, that’s insulting to Maine taxpayers.
Rumors about a so-called “assault weapon” ban referendum:
I wouldn’t be surprised, right? I mean, you’re gonna — we’re in one of those states, and that’s the thing — a lot of national groups come to Maine because they think it’s an inexpensive way to pass initiatives, this compared to larger states. They’ll come in and they’ll pass as many progressive-driven referendums as they can, and then try to say, “Look, this passed in XYZ state.” And then bring it to other states.
One of the challenges for Maine is that we’ve got a small population. It is inexpensive to push these things. Marketing works. Something like that, obviously I wouldn’t support it. And, should it get passed, I’d do everything possible to disarm that particular initiative.
Final thoughts on the Second Amendment:
You’re the pros in this category, right? I think your job as — again, I’m not a politician — but I think your job as just an upstanding citizen — we’re talking about the Second Amendment here — your goal and your job is to defend that. It’s one of the most important amendments we have, and Maine has a long history of responsible gun ownership, and I think if you start to bend on that, what’s next to fall in terms of the amendments? Like I said in the beginning, we’re going to back the Second Amendment, one way or another. Whether you’re a hunter or sportsman, you just want to protect your home and your family, and you can count on me for that.
Final pitch to voters:
Yeah, and I try not to be too pitchy, just to be honest, because when I say, I’m not a politician, I’m not striving to be a politician. I’m the only candidate that has really, literally had nothing; been on food stamps, been on the system, and then, gratefully, have been very, very successful in my life, too. And this means a lot to us. My wife and I are putting a lot of our own resources into this because it matters. And we’ve driven over 60,000 miles already, over the state, across the state, talking to everyone that we can find in all counties and (as) many towns as possible. And that’s when it really matters, when you really sit down and hear from people, whether it’s the cost of health care — we’ve got 30 percent of our states on some sort of welfare. And if they start to make a little bit of money in the state of Maine, you lose all your benefits.
Essentially, what the Democrats are trying to do is trap people into this welfare state and not allow them the opportunity to do better. You’re stuck there forever. That’s no way to help people; that’s hurting people. You’ve got to get a structure in place where, and I said it earlier, that the government is there to help people do better for themselves and to help families do better for themselves.
When you look at the cost of living, electricity, housing, insurance, all the policies that have been in place right now are what’s driving these challenging … situations for people in the state, and it’s truly just policy driven. Once you get good policy in place, and you turn around some of these challenges we’re having, for example, we’re still in the top 10 of drug overdoses and drug deaths nationally. We have such soft-on-crime policies. My wife and I lost our nephew to a drug overdose; like a lot of people in the state. It doesn’t have to be like that.
You can defend law enforcement, not defund law enforcement. Think of the schools, fixed up. We gotta bring opportunity back to the state. Lower the cost of living, get taxes down, get spending down, get people a chance to take a breath so they can see that (the) government’s working for us the way it’s supposed to. And then you move up from there …
Go to BenForGovernor.com, or we’re all over Facebook, our social media platform. It’s just Ben (Midgley) for Governor on Facebook. We are all over the state. We announce where we’re going for meetings, and please reach out to us. We’ll take a call from anybody, talk to anybody, and the goal is just to get Maine on the right path forward, one way or another.
The Maine primary election is scheduled for June 9, 2026. Early voting runs from May 10 until June 4. As of the date of publication, the GOP candidates running in the gubernatorial primary are: Jonathan Bush, Bobby Charles, David Jones, Garrett Mason, Owen McCarthy, Ben Midgley, and Robert J. Wessels.
To catch our full conversation with Ben Midgley — and we recommended you do tune in for everything he had to say — click HERE or watch the interview in the embed below. Also be sure to catch our interviews with Jonathan Bush, Bobby Charles, and Garrett Mason.
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