Lee Schultheis, a retired mutual fund consultant from Freeport, says he's dropping out of the governor's race.
Schultheis, who was running as an independent in a four-way race, has acknowledged that his campaign was a long shot. He said he was running, "but not really," in order to participate in debates.
Schultheis said the debates would offer him an opportunity to deliver voters his message, which focused on the need to fix the nation's broken political system. But several of the debates Schultheis had hoped to participate in have been canceled.
Maine Public Broadcasting Network has scheduled a gubernatorial debate for Oct. 23 in Bangor. MPBN plans to go forward with the debate, though some candidates haven't yet committed, as of today.
Remaining in the race are independent Eliot Cutler, Democrat Mike Michaud, and Republican incumbent Paul LePage.