Gov. Janet Mills has endorsed a successor.

On Tuesday, Mills announced her support for Hannah Pingree, a former speaker of the Maine House of Representatives and official in the Mills administration, for governor.

The endorsement could give a boost to Pingree in the five-way Democratic primary for governor, a race in which there is no clear front-runner.

It is also not surprising.

Mills, who is leaving office due to term limits, spoke highly of Pingree when she left her role as director of the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future in May 2025. Pingree also boasts a lengthy list of endorsements from current and former Democratic lawmakers and officials in Augusta.

In a news release from the Pingree campaign Tuesday, Mills said she has worked closely with many of the Democratic candidates for governor, but Pingree stands out.

“I can say without a doubt that she is a leader of courage, integrity, strength, compassion, and action — someone who is unafraid to fight for what is right and who will deliver for Maine people day after day,” Mills said. “Hannah is a leader whom Maine people can trust.” 

Pingree, who is the daughter of U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, served in the Maine Legislature from 2002 to 2010, including as House speaker from 2008 to 2010. She was tapped by Mills in 2019 to lead a new state office focused on finding innovative solutions to some of Maine’s most pressing problems, including the opioid crisis, broadband expansion and climate change.

Pingree said Tuesday she was honored to have Mills’ support, which comes three weeks before the primary election on June 9.

“She knows what’s at stake and what it takes — from protecting reproductive rights and making housing and health care affordable, to going toe to toe with Washington when Maine’s future is on the line,” Pingree said. “That’s the fight ahead, and I’m ready for it.”

It’s been more than two months since any public polling was released in the governor’s race. Earlier polls had Nirav Shah, the former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, leading in the five-way primary. Meanwhile, Pingree has led the pack in fundraising, with $1.9 million raised as of the end of the last fundraising period, in late April.

Also in the race are Shenna Bellows, Maine’s secretary of state and the former executive director of the ACLU of Maine; Troy Jackson, former Maine Senate president; and Angus King III, a renewable energy entrepreneur and the son of U.S. Sen. Angus King.

A poll commissioned by the Pingree campaign and released last week had Shah up 12 points over Pingree, with 32% of respondents selecting him as their first choice. Shah’s lead over Pingree dropped to 5 points after voters received biographical information on the candidates, according to the poll.

Mills, who is term-limited, recently dropped out of the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate while trailing progressive newcomer Graham Platner in polling and fundraising.

In addition to the five Democrats, seven Republicans are competing in the governor’s race, which is also likely to feature at least one independent on the ballot in November.

Bobby Charles, who has led public polling in the Republican primary, said Tuesday that a vote for Pingree is a vote for “more of the exact same,” given Mills’ endorsement of her.

“Hannah Pingree is Janet Mills’ handpicked successor, and Mainers simply cannot afford four more years of her failed policies,” Charles said in a written statement.