Janet Mills seeks to succeed Paul LePage as governor

AUGUSTA — Attorney General Janet Mills declared her intention Monday to seek the state’s highest office next year.

Calling state government broken, the Democrat said she couldn’t stay on the sidelines without fighting “to put it back together.”

Mills, 69, is the most high profile Democrat to jump into the race that already includes Republican Mary Mayhew and independent Treasurer Terry Hayes among others.

Two-term incumbent Republican Paul LePage is barred from serving another stint in the governor’s office, opening the door for Maine voters to install a woman in the post for the first time.

One tough contender who is mulling whether to run is U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a 20-year Capitol Hill veteran who has expressed interest the job. She said she’ll decide this fall whether to leap into the contest.

Her most prominent opponent within Democratic ranks is attorney Adam Cote of Sanford.

Mills, a Farmington native, has served as attorney general since 2008 with the exception of a two-year hiatus during LePage’s first two years at the helm.

In a prepared statement, Mills said that “in Maine, when something’s not working, we don’t wait around for someone to come along and take care of it for us.”

Instead, she said, “we roll up our sleeves and fix it ourselves.”

“Well, it’s pretty clear that our government is broken, and there’s no way I’m going to stand on the sidelines and not fight to put it back together,” said Mills, who has often clashed with LePage.

Mills said she’s used her position to fight Maine’s opioid crisis, including suing pharmaceutical companies “for lying about the dangers of their products.”

She said she’s used settlement funds from suits to buy Narcan and distribute it to police officers around the state, sometimes driving shipments to rural stations herself.

“I’ve spent my life fighting to protect Maine families, defend working people, and preserve our stunning natural resources,” Mills said.

“As governor, I will do everything in my power to make Maine the safe, beautiful, prosperous state we all want for our children and grandchildren.”

Mills served as the district attorney for Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties starting in 1980, a job she for which she was elected three times. She was New England’s first female district attorney.

Mills graduated from Farmington High School, earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts Boston and secured a law degree from the University of Maine School of Law , where she was an editor of the law review.

Before her election as district attorney, Mills was an assistant attorney general. She later practiced law in Skowhegan.

Elected to the State House in 2002, her colleagues chose her as attorney general in 2008.

She is also a co-founder of the Maine Women’s Lobby and has been involved in many organizations, including the Margaret Chase Smith Foundation Board.

She was married for 29 years to Stanley Kuklinski until his 2014 death. She has five stepdaughters, three grandsons and a granddaughter.

Also in the running for Democratic backing are Cote, Betsy Sweet and Patrick Eisenhart.

On the GOP side are Mayhew, the former health and human services commissioner for LePage, and Deril Steubenrod. Hayes is the only independent in the running so far.

In addition, Jay Parker Lunt Dresser is seeking the Green Party’s backing and Richard Light hopes to be the Libertarian Party’s candidate.

scollins@sunjournal.com