Janet Mills

  • Governor
  • Maine
Image of Janet Mills.

A trailblazer leading Maine forward

Gov. Janet Mills is an experienced leader and an outstanding public servant who ran for reelection to continue fighting for Maine working families. Gov. Mills, a lifelong Mainer, grew up in a rural community, and began delivering newspapers at the age of six and as a teenager waited tables at a local diner. After graduating from college and earning her law degree at the University of Maine School of Law, Gov. Mills began her career as an advocate for Mainers. She prosecuted major crimes as an assistant attorney general and co-founded the Maine Women’s Lobby to give vulnerable women who had survived domestic violence a powerful voice in the state legislature. When she stepped up to run for office for the first time, she made history as the first woman to serve as a district attorney in all of New England. She went on to successfully run for the Maine House of Representatives and served as a powerful champion for Maine working families. Gov. Mills was elected Maine’s attorney general in 2008 and is the first and only woman ever to hold that office. Maine had never before elected a woman governor until she became the first in 2018. She lives in Farmington, where she and her late husband Stan raised five daughters. Gov. Mills is a proud grandmother of five, and is fighting to increase opportunity so that all Mainers and their communities can thrive.

A champion for Maine working families

Gov. Mills is determined to ensure that every Maine person and every Maine family has access to affordable, high-quality health care, saving lives, and building Maine’s economy back stronger than ever before. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Mills has worked tirelessly to support Maine’s small businesses and workers. Mills’ administration provided significant funding to Maine’s public school systems to help them provide safe in-person learning opportunities and to adjust to remote-learning options. Under Gov. Mills’ leadership, Maine invested significantly in public health and safety, including the procurement of PPE; health and safety within congregate living settings; grants for health care providers and for municipalities to deploy public health and prevention programs; child care for frontline workers; and pandemic assistance for the most vulnerable. 

A critical governorship we helped defend

In her first term, Gov. Mills has been a strong and steady leader in the face of crisis. She is a fierce champion for the people of Maine, and her tireless work on their behalf has served as a powerful example of the positive impact Democratic pro-choice women can make in executive leadership positions. With so much at stake, we showed Gov. Mills the full support of the EMILY’s List community and helped reelect this champion for Maine working families.

Governor Janet Mills is an experienced leader and an outstanding public servant running for reelection to continue fighting for Maine working families. Janet, a lifelong Mainer, grew up in a rural community, and began delivering newspapers at the age of six and as a teenager waited tables at a local diner. After graduating from college and earning her law degree at the University of Maine School of Law, Janet began her career as an advocate for Mainers. She prosecuted major crimes as an assistant attorney general and co-founded the Maine Women’s Lobby to give vulnerable women who had survived domestic violence a powerful voice in the state legislature. When Janet stepped up to run for office for the first time, she made history as the first woman to serve as a district attorney in all of New England. She went on to successfully run for the Maine House of Representatives and served as a powerful champion for Maine working families. Janet was elected Maine’s attorney general in 2008 and is the first and only woman ever to hold that office. Maine had never before elected a woman governor until Janet became the first in 2018. She lives in Farmington, where she and her late husband Stan raised five daughters. Janet is a proud grandmother of five, and is fighting to increase opportunity so that all Mainers and their communities can thrive.

A champion for Maine working families

Janet is determined to ensure that every Maine person and every Maine family has access to affordable, high-quality health care, saving lives, and building Maine’s economy back stronger than ever before. During the COVID-19 crisis, Janet has worked tirelessly to support Maine’s small businesses and workers. Janet’s administration provided significant funding to Maine’s public school systems to help them provide safe in-person learning opportunities and to adjust to remote-learning options. Under Janet’s leadership, Maine invested significantly in public health and safety, including the procurement of PPE; health and safety within congregate living settings; grants for health care providers and for municipalities to deploy public health and prevention programs; child care for frontline workers; and pandemic assistance for the most vulnerable. She is dedicated to distributing Maine’s COVID-19 vaccine supply as quickly and efficiently as possible. Janet is uniquely qualified to lead Maine forward: As attorney general, she fought dishonest mortgage lending companies to help keep Maine people in their homes, she fought big pharma for their role in creating the opioid crisis and then used that money to purchase overdose-reversal kits that have saved more than 500 lives — even personally driving shipments of Narcan to police stations in rural communities like the one where she grew up to ensure that first responders were equipped to save more lives — and she fought to protect health care coverage for young adults. “I look forward to working with the Biden administration to turn back the coronavirus pandemic, to get our people back to work, to strengthen our economy, and to chart a more prosperous future for all,” she has said.

A critical governorship we must defend

In her first term, Janet has been a strong and steady leader in the face of crisis. She is a fierce champion for the people of Maine, and her tireless work on their behalf has served as a powerful example of the positive impact Democratic pro-choice women can make in executive leadership positions. As she faces reelection to this critical governorship, Republicans are sure to do everything in their power to unseat this effective leader. Janet is not afraid to take on tough fights, and we know what she has what it takes to win with our help. In her historic 2018 victory, Janet earned more votes than any governor in state history and is the first governor since 1966 to win a majority of the vote for her first term. With so much at stake, let’s show Janet the full support of the EMILYs List community and reelect this champion for Maine working families.