Republican congressional hopeful Mike Perkins said Monday that he’s been in the hospital with COVID-19 since Friday.
Mike Perkins Submitted photo
Perkins, a state representative from Oakland, said he’d been feeling poorly for a couple of weeks but Friday as he drove to work he suddenly took a turn for the worse.
“All of a sudden, it hit me,” he said. “I felt like I got hit by a tractor-trailer and then the truck backed up and hit me again.”
Perkins, 59, who’s locked in a four-way primary for Maine’s 2nd District congressional seat, said everything from his eyeballs to his fingers hurts.
“Probably a little, weak Democrat could beat me up” at the moment, he joked.
Perkins, the longtime leader of Oakland’s town council, said that thanks to the oxygen and medication he’s received at MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta, he’s feeling a little better. He hopes to be home by Thanksgiving.
Perkins said he never got a vaccination for COVID-19 because last year he had Bell’s palsy, an unexplained episode of facial muscle weakness or paralysis, and his doctor thought he should wait a year for the vaccination in case it impacted the palsy.
“When you’re old and fat and ugly like me,” Perkins said, you don’t want to risk making your face even worse permanently.
Perkins said he’s always been an active guy who works constantly so it’s tough having no energy and lying in a hospital.
But, he said, he’s confident the Lord doesn’t want him for a good, long while yet so he’ll have a chance to recover and get back on the campaign trail soon.
Perkins hopes to unseat U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a two-term Democrat from Lewiston, who is running for reelection in 2022.
Also seeking Republican backing in the race are former U.S. Rep. Bruce Polilquin, Caratunk Selectwoman Liz Caruso and Sean Joyce of Newburgh.
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