GORHAM — Shawn Moody, a plainspoken auto body entrepreneur who recently joined the Republican Party, announced his campaign to be Maine’s next governor Tuesday, saying Mainers were tired of simply getting by.

Speaking to a crowd of 100 at his business headquarters in Gorham, Moody made reference to his childhood, being raised by a single mother of three and growing up living in a mobile home. He said as a 13-year-old, he heard his mother crying herself to sleep one night.

The crowd in the small banquet hall at Moody’s Collision Center included past and present state lawmakers as well as former Republican Party officials, some traveling as long as three hours to attend.

“This is what we need, we need someone with this guy’s common sense,” said former state Sen. Doug Thomas, R-Ripley.

Moody ran in 2010 as an independent candidate against Republican Gov. Paul LePage, now finishing his second and final term. Moody finished that race in fourth place behind LePage, independent Eliot Cutler and Democrat Libby Mitchell.

Moody has formed a campaign team of former LePage staffers, including LePage’s daughter Lauren LePage and political adviser Brent Littlefield, a former Maine resident who now works in Washington, D.C., as a political consultant.

Moody, 57, joined the Republican Party in October and said he was exploring a run for the Governor’s Office. He noted his values were more aligned with Republicans and he believed he needed the party’s support to win but was committed to keeping his independent mindset.

Moody’s self-made business success story in many ways resembles that of Paul LePage, who escaped poverty, homelessness and an abusive father to become a business and then political juggernaut. LePage gained popularity with Mainers who relished his tell-it-like-it-is and often off-color and off-putting style of politics to twice win election to the state’s highest office. But Moody, who grew a statewide chain of 11 Moody’s Collision Center locations from a business he started while still at Gorham High School, has a softer edge than LePage, who so far hasn’t said who he supports in the race to replace him.

Moody is the fifth Republican to join the race, which now includes 20 candidates, including 10 Democrats, two Greens, two independents and a Libertarian. Other well-known Republicans in the lineup include former Maine Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew, state House Minority Leader Ken Fredette, state Senate President Mike Thibodeau and state Senate Majority Leader Garrett Mason.

This story will be updated.

Republican Shawn Moody announces his bid to run for governor during an event at his business headquarters in Gorham Tuesday.  (Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald)