Congressional Candidate Claims He’s Used Guns His ‘Whole Life,’ But Doesn’t Know Basics About Shotgun Sport

A congressional candidate in Maine undermined his own claim about firearms knowledge in a video he posted online Thursday.

Former Democratic Secretary of State Matt Dunlap claimed in the video posted on X Thursday that he could beat former Republican Gov. Paul LePage in the race for the House of Representatives seat currently held by retiring Democratic Maine Rep. Jared Golden. Dunlap took a shot at the former two-term Maine governor in the post, claiming LePage was a Floridian.

“I’d beat this Floridian in a skeet shooting contest any day of the week,” Dunlap claimed, describing himself as a “sportsman” for his “whole life” after listing the hunting he had done before using what he said was “my old 16 gauge” – a single-shot, break-action shotgun – to blast a clay pigeon to smithereens. LePage has used Florida as a secondary residence and briefly registered to vote there after he concluded his second term as governor, according to the Portland Press-Herald.

Dunlap did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The National Republican Congressional Committee posted video of LePage accusing Dunlap, a former leader of the Sportsmen’s Alliance of Maine, of receiving donations from anti-Second Amendment groups seeking to ban guns. Federal Election Commission records show no donations to Dunlap’s campaign from political action committees associated with Everytown for Gun Safety, March for our Lives, Giffords and Brady United.