FARMINGTON (NEWS CENTER Maine) – Governor-elect Janet Mills stopped in a number of cities across Maine Wednesday, finishing with a “homecoming celebration” in her hometown of Farmington.
Mills arrived to a crowd of nearly 200 people at the Homestead Kitchen, Bar, and Bakery and music played by the Franklin County Fiddlers, made up of students from Mt. Blue High School.
Her smiles turned to hugs. Her hugs turned to dancing. Her dancing turned to slapping the spoons on her thigh.
Before the merriment, Mills addressed a number of key issues, including Medicaid expansion, which faced another hurdle in court Wednesday.
“I thought it was important to listen to the argument and listen to the judge and see where she was going with that, and the case is still alive, and I’m not governor. Mr. LePage is still governor. This case is still pending, and the concern is that if the state plan amendment does not get filed or approved before January 1, or at least filed before January 1, that the expansion will not be retroactive to at least October 1, so a lot of people will lose health care should be on healthcare now,” said Mills.
Mills also said that she received a phone call from Senator Susan Collins, congratulating her on her victory. Mills said she hopes to rekindle the relationship between the Governor’s office and the Congressional delegation.
“We had a long productive conversation about working together,” said Mills. “My understanding is that the Congressional team have not actually met with the governor as a group for some time and I want to start out doing that, talking to members of Congress, finding where we can drive down appropriate federal funds, for things like Alzheimer’s treatment, child care for people with kids in Head Start, for colorectal screenings, forest legacy money, all these things that we have turned back that money that is going to other states, let’s start getting our fair share.”
Mills said she had not heard from Governor LePage, but appreciated his statement congratulating the candidates who won. LePage supported Republican candidate Shawn Moody during a press conference the day before Election Day.
“I felt pretty good about it going in, so I wasn’t terribly anxious, but it makes a difference when you get a call a little after midnight from somebody saying, ‘you’ve won,’ and then you go, ‘oh, yeah!’ said Mills. “I was in this to win, and I have, so it’s good. I feel good that I guess, I won by more than 51 percent, and I won majorities in both congressional districts, and I won by more than 300,000 votes, which is a record for anybody running for governor, including Mr. LePage when he ran for reelection. I beat the record and I feel really good about that. The turnout was tremendous. People are energized. They want to see me and go in a new direction, and I felt that for the last few weeks in particular, and that’s what we are going to do: take it in a new direction.”
Mills is the first woman governor elected in Maine, and the first from Franklin County.
“When you have Farmington next to your name, you never know if people from Portland are going to vote for you, people from York are going to vote for you, but they did, because they know Farmington is a great place to grow up and live and learn,” said Mills. “These people taught me my values. These people taught me that you stand up to bullies. You don’t tolerate bullies. These people taught me that you don’t just talk the talk, but you walk the walk. These are the people who taught me that we have compassion for one another. We care about one another. That’s who we are as a community. That’s who people in Maine are. Those are the values were going to bring back to the Blaine House in Augusta.”
Mills said she learned to play the spoons at the Homestead Kitchen, Bar, and Bakery. It is the same restaurant that her brother, Paul, a lawyer in Farmington, visits almost daily. He has his own special order: a turkey wrap, no mayonnaise, with onions and peppers.
She said she was happy to sleep in her own bed Wednesday night, as she prepares to move into the Blaine House in Augusta.