Janet Mills (D-ME)

Janet Mills is running in the 2018 election for Governor of Maine. She is the current Attorney General of Maine and has also worked as a practicing lawyer and representative in the Maine House of Representatives. Mills won the Democratic primary on June 12 and will run against Republican primary winner Shawn Moody in the November 6 general election.

Background and Achievements

Janet Mills was born in Farmington, Maine, and still lives there today. She received her BA from the University of Massachusetts Boston and her JD from the University of Maine School of Law. Mills worked as an Assistant Attorney General for four years and was then elected District Attorney, the first woman District Attorney in New England, for three Maine counties. She practiced law for 13 years with her brother and was elected to the Maine House of Representatives in 2002. Both in 2008 and 2012, she won the Maine Attorney General election. In the intervening years between her two terms, she taught at the University of Maine Augusta and worked as counsel for a litigation group. In the community, Mills co-founded the Maine Women’s Lobby and has been active in organizations such as the Margaret Chase Smith Foundation.

Positions on Key Issues

  • Supports Medicaid expansion
  • Strives for ending childhood hunger
  • Advocates for forming stronger bonds with Maine’s indigenous nations
  • Supports reproductive health care rights
  • Advocates for family leave, equal pay, protections against discrimination for pregnant workers, and increasing the minimum wage
  • Supports gun safety reform
  • Believes in increasing renewable energy usage

Prospects & Opponents

Janet Mills won the Democratic primary on June 12. Maine used ranked choice voting this year, so after the fourth round of vote counting, she won the primary by 10 points. The seat is currently open, as current Republican Gov. Paul LePage has reached his term limit. Mills will run against Shawn Moody in the November 6 general election. The Cook Political Report ranks the election as a toss-up.

Endorsements

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