When Gov. Janet Mills went to bed Thursday night, she had decided that she would not attend a breakfast meeting of the nation’s governors at the White House because President Donald Trump was excluding two of her Democratic colleagues.
Upon waking up in the nation’s capital, Mills had a change of heart.
“It really was a last-minute thing,” Mills said in an interview Friday. “I woke up this morning thinking, ‘oh jeez, why don’t I just go?’ Because if there’s any possibility of making a statement or talking about what Maine people need, then I should take advantage of that.”
The decision ended a week of whipsaw planning for a traditionally bipartisan meeting of the National Governors Association and White House officials.
At first, Trump planned to exclude all Democratic governors from the breakfast and allow all but two — Jared Polis of Colorado and Wes Moore of Maryland — to attend a separate dinner at the White House.
Democrats, including Mills, said they would boycott that dinner. Then, Trump appeared to reverse course, saying that all Democrats could attend the meeting, but not the dinner. Then, he said he’d still exclude Polis and Moore, before reversing again right before the event.
Mills said such meetings had been productive in the past, allowing governors to speak directly with administration officials.
But that all changed last year, when Trump called out Mills over her state’s policy allowing transgender athletes to play girls’ sports. Trump threatened to withhold federal funding and Mills said, “see you in court.”
This year, Mills attended along with Polis and Moore, but she said they got little accomplished.
“It was not particularly productive,” Mills said. “When the president came in, he dismissed the press almost immediately and then he went on a 45-minute-rant — a rambling speech about many different things and not exactly connected.”
Mills said she had hoped to ask Trump about the tariffs that are affecting Maine residents and businesses. But the president left after being informed of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that he could not enact emergency tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
The Republican National Committee criticized Mills, who is running for U.S. Senate, for her indecisiveness, noting she would be the oldest freshman senator in history if elected.
“Janet Mills is a weak and ineffectual governor on a good day,” RNC spokesperson Kristen Cianci said in a written statement. “This bumbling episode is just another example of her not being up for the job. Janet Mills should do the people of Maine a favor and drop out before she embarrasses herself further.”
Mills is hoping to take on Republican Sen. Susan Collins in the fall, but she’s locked in a competitive primary against political newcomer Graham Platner, a progressive 41-year-old oyster farmer and combat veteran endorsed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
The governor shrugged off the attack with a hearty chuckle, noting that all of her Democratic colleagues wrestled with the decision. She blasted the administration for its “yo-yo invitation game.”
“This is the chaos that comes from a chaotic administration, which can’t make up its mind whether it wants to face down Democratic governors, whether it wants to hear from Democratic governors, or not,” Mills said.
