Jonathan Sonnenfeld of Little Deer Isle is a recent graduate of Wesleyan University. He currently works on a lobster pier Downeast.

The recent UNH polling illustrates a point that many in Maine have been trying to make for months: Gov. Janet Mills is not a “safe candidate.”

The “favorability among likely Democratic primary voters” section most effectively demonstrates this. Graham Platner holds a 71% favorability rating among primary voters, as opposed to Mills’ 51%. Gov. Mills first entered public office in 1980 and 46 years later the people of Maine are, at best, lukewarm on her.

Pundits love to point out Platner’s faults but rarely discuss why Mills holds barely more than 50% favorability among the Democratic base. Gov. Mills has consistently enacted policies that hurt working people. Mills has repeatedly vetoed tax increases on the wealthiest corporations and individuals. Look to her April 2024 veto of  LD 1231 for a perfect example. The Legislature was prepared to raise taxes on the wealthiest households and cut taxes for the least fortunate. Maine faces a near constant budget crisis and Mills’ refusal to raise the tax burden on the most affluent forces working Mainers to pick up the tab.

Last summer, the Legislature passed a series of Mills’ tax proposals that demonstrate exactly why so many dislike her. Rather than tax the wealthiest, Mills raised taxes on cannabis, streaming services and cigarettes. Taxes like this primarily affect working people. Many will try to shift the conversation to one of public health, but it is absurd to suggest that we can simply tax addiction away. If indeed a tax would end cigarette addiction, Gov. Mills would not try and fill her budget deficit with it.

Admittedly, the Legislature chose to raise the cigarette tax by $1.50 rather than Mills’ proposed $1. It did this, however, in part to avoid implementing Mills’ other ludicrous proposals: a tax on ambulances, a tax on pharmacies, a massive cut to child care worker stipends and an end to food stamps benefits for noncitizens. 

Gov. Mills’ veto pen has consistently revealed her fealty to wealth over workers. Here is a non-comprehensive list of some of Mills’ vetoes that have hurt working people on the left and right: 

• LD 151, An Act to Protect Farm Workers by Allowing Them to Organize for the Purposes of Collective Bargaining.
• LD 958, An Act to Prohibit Eminent Domain on Existing Tribal Land Trusts.
• LD 1338, An Act to Prohibit Employers from Retaliating against the Use of Earned Paid Leave.
• LD 373, An Act to Improve Labor Conditions for Maine Workers.

And no one should forget that Gov. Mills vetoed this one, which later passed on referendum with a whopping 86% of the vote:

• LD 1610, An Act to Prohibit Campaign Spending by Foreign Governments and Promote an Anti-Corruption Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Mills is weak from the left and the right. The new poll shows 88% of socialists and 69% of progressives supporting Platner. Likewise, we see that Platner beats Collins by 11 points versus Mills’ 1 point.

Say what you will about Graham Platner’s past; Janet Mills spent the past eight years impeding improvements for the lives of working Mainers. Gov. Mills, please step aside for a new generation.