State of Maine Archives: on Principles & Values
Chris Lyons:
Keep God in the public sphere
Q: Do you support or oppose the statement, "Keep God in the public sphere"?
A: support
Source: OnTheIssues interview of 2018 Maine Senate candidate
Mar 6, 2018
Chris Lyons:
Personal belief in God is fine; government action is not
Q: What about government-supported displays of God in the public sphere?A: All of us have the 'right' to believe in God or not. Simple as that. The state (federal, state, county, district or municipality) is not to show bias one way or the other.
It is not wrong for people to voice their belief in God and it is not wrong for people to voice their opposition against the idea of God. What is wrong is either side attempting or successfully using the force of government to do one or the other.
Source: Follow-up OnTheIssues interview: 2018 Maine Senate candidate
Mar 10, 2018
Janet Mills:
We are not Washington; we are Maine
Tariffs and trade wars, threats of terrorism and partisan fighting paralyze the nation's capital. But here in Maine, we are doing what Mainers have done for more than two centuries:
putting our shoulder to the wheel and working across the aisle to get things done for Maine people. Because we are not Washington. We are Maine.
Source: 2020 Maine State of the State address
Jan 21, 2020
Janet Mills:
Brother, a State Senator, ran for governor in 2010
Peter Mills, a state senator from Cornish, was the only primary candidate other than LePage to have held elected office. A moderate, Mills had voted in favor of same sex marriage and had been the only Republican senator to vote for a
2009 tax reform proposal that his fellow Republicans had labeled a tax hike. The new law faced a repeal referendum as part of the same election as the primary, shining a spotlight on mills vote.
Part of a political family (which also includes her sister Janet, a Democrat and Maine's attorney general), mills had also run for the Republican nomination for governor in 2006. In that primary he lost to the more conservative
Chandler Woodcock, who went on to lose the Democratic incumbent John Baldacci in a multicandidate general election.
Source: As Maine Went, by Mike Tipping, p. 29
Jul 14, 2014
Paul LePage:
Tea Party dominance over New England Republicanism
Maine offers a unique case study of the Tea Party movements. In 2010 the state's moderate to progressive voters split their votes between the Democratic nominee and her chief independent competitor in a three way general election.
This allowed the Republican nominee Paul LePage to win election with just 38% of the popular vote, largely with Tea Party support. LePage is without question the most conservative and controversial governor in modern Maine history.
His rise signaled the end of a hundred years of New England style Republicanism in the state. In its place, LePage created a new Maine conservative coalition, one based on hard right economic and social views and primed for political combat rather than
legislative compromise.The 2010 election also installed Republican majorities in both houses of the Maine legislature for the first time in decades, many of the new lawmakers having likewise been elected with Tea Party support.
Source: As Maine Went, by Mike Tipping, p. 7
Jul 14, 2014
Paul LePage:
First language is French; grew up in Little Canada region
Some of LePage's most thorough public recollections about his childhood came on the occasion of his first visit back to his hometown of Lewiston after becoming governor."Merci beaucoup, c'est avec plaisir de retourner a la ville de mes ans," said
LePage, whose first language is French, to the crowd at the Franco American Heritage Center a few months after the election. He reminisced about growing up in the part of town known as Little Canada, named for French speaking immigrants who came from
Quebec to work on the local mills. He talked about the tenement building where his family shared space with eleven others, together raising a family of 83 children. He also joked about the mean streak that he developed living on the streets.
LePage's French ancestry gave him an entree with a voting block in Maine's elections. Franco American Mainers of Quebecois or Acadian ancestry compromise a potent political force in Maine. One in four Mainers claims French or French-Canadian heritage.
Source: As Maine Went, by Mike Tipping, p. 37
Jul 14, 2014
Sara Gideon:
Public service is about improving the lives of people
Gideon said, "My core belief then is still really my core belief now about public service. And that the idea and the belief that public service is really essentially about one thing. It's about how you improve the lives of people around you and how you
lift people up.""If you are willing to listen and if you are willing to sit around the table, sometimes especially with the people who you think you disagree with the most, it is still really possible to get things done," Gideon said.
Source: Portland Press Herald on 2020 Maine Senate race
Dec 8, 2019
Sara Gideon:
Courts pushed to the right, favors independent judiciary
On the judiciary: "Sen. Susan Collins has voted during Donald Trump's first two years of his presidency for every single nominee that Mitch McConnell put forward," said Gideon. "And totaling, as of today, 181 judicial nominees that has pushed the
Supreme Court very far to the right and made it very ideological." Gideon added that she wants to focus on having a judiciary that is independent.
Source: WMTW Portland ABC-8 on 2020 Maine Senate debate
Sep 29, 2020
Shenna Bellows:
Head of Maine ACLU, and community organizer
Shenna Bellows has served as the Executive Director of the Maine Civil Liberties Union since March of 2005.
She returned home to Maine, where she grew up, after spending two years as a National Field Organizer at the ACLU Legislative Office in Washington, D.C.
In Washington, Shenna was a leader in post-9/11 issues, developing a field program around the Patriot Act, as well as working to defeat several constitutional amendments that would have undermined the criminal justice system, freedom of speech,
and LGBT rights.In 2001 and 2002, Bellows was a Program Associate at Community IMPACT! in Nashville, TN, launching neighborhood-based, youth-centered programming in economically and racially diverse neighborhoods.
Source: Maine Humanities Council biography, mainehumanities.org
Nov 14, 2013
Shenna Bellows:
Calls herself a progressive libertarian
Labeling herself as a progressive libertarian, the crowd seemed intrigued by Bellows' earnest and knowledgeable responses. How her stance on the global concerns will further her candidacy is somewhat of a question.
By representing and meeting at the small-town, local level, she hopes that her message will spread. As federal [actions] effect local issues, it is important, she believes, to talk to those being directly effected.
Source: Machias Valley News Observer on 2014 Maine Senate race
Dec 4, 2013
Susan Collins:
Focuses on seniority & forging bipartisan solutions
Two-term incumbent Senator Collins touted her experience and seniority in the Senate and her efforts to forge bipartisan solutions to the country's problems by co-sponsoring legislation with Democrats.
Six-term Rep. Allen took aim at the Bush administration by saying it has failed middle-class Americans and put the nation deep into debt.
Source: 2008 Maine Senate debate reported in Kennebec Journal
Sep 21, 2008
Susan Collins:
Nine is good number for seats on Supreme Court
Collins said she is opposed to increasing the number of justices on the Supreme Court while Gideon said the Senate should not hold a confirmation vote on nominee Amy Coney Barrett until January. "Nine is a good number," said Collins. "It's the number
we've had since 1869. It would make the court a political organization, which the framers of the Constitution never intended, if we were to expand the size." Collins also pointed out that the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg said 9 is a good number.
Source: WMTW Portland ABC-8 on 2020 Maine Senate debate
Sep 29, 2020
Susan Rice:
Fierce love of country should override disagreements
We can't take the view that, because you and I disagree over politics or religion, or whatever it is, that we're dismissing each other as Americans. If that happens, our country's going to fall apart. There are people who are benefiting politically
from pulling us apart. We, as Americans, can't allow that to happen. We have got to have the same sort of fierce love of our country and tough love that we try to apply in the family context, challenging as it sometimes is.
Source: PBS Newshour on 2020 Maine Senate race
Oct 11, 2019
Tea Party:
2010 Tea Party victories grew to 2014 Republican dominance
It has been almost four years since November 2010, when a host of grassroots conservatives won local, state, and federal elections across the board in the United States in an unambiguous sign of strength for the new Tea Party movement.
Maine offers a unique case study of the Tea Party movements. In 2010 the state's moderate to progressive voters split their votes between the Democratic nominee and her chief independent competitor in a three way general election.
This allowed the Republican nominee Paul LePage to win election with just 38% of the popular vote, largely with Tea Party support. LePage created a new Maine conservative coalition, based on hard right economic and social views and primed for political
combat rather than legislative compromise.
The 2010 election also installed Republican majorities in both houses of the Maine legislature for the first time in decades, many of the new lawmakers having likewise been elected with Tea Party support.
Source: As Maine Went, by Mike Tipping, p. 7
Jul 14, 2014
Paul LePage:
2020 election was clearly stolen, and so was 2018
Maine Republican nominee and former governor Paul LePage, who is challenging Democratic incumbent Gov. Janet Mills, falsely claimed in a local radio appearance the week after the 2020 election: "This is clearly a stolen election." He proceeded to
make baseless claims about voter fraud and baselessly declare that Democrats don't want fair elections. LePage has not limited such claims to the 2020 election. This April, he claimed that out-of-state voters bused into Maine to vote in a
2009 referendum on same-sex marriage, though there is no evidence for that either. And in 2018, upon certifying a Democrat's victory in the first congressional election in US history ranked-choice voting, LePage wrote the words "stolen election"
next to his signature.
Asked for comment, the LePage campaign responded by asking CNN to cite the source for his claim that 2020 was a "stolen election." When provided a link, the campaign did not respond again.
Source: CNN on 2020 Election Denial in 2022 Maine Governor race
Sep 9, 2022
Demi Kouzounas:
Donated time for dental care for children, needy, elderly
Along with church and community volunteering, Demi was a co-founder of 'Dentists Who Care for Maine' and facilitated the start of 'Bright Smiles,' a children's dental program. She also donated her time, making nine trips to the Dominican
Republic with the Saco Baptist Church to treat the Haitian migrant workers. Demi is still involved with a non-profit out of Mass General to improve oral care for our elderly population in nursing homes.
Source: 2024 Maine Senate campaign website DemiForSenate.com
Mar 3, 2024
Demi Kouzounas:
Former chair of Maine GOP
Former Maine Republican Party chairwoman Demi Kouzounas says she'll challenge independent U.S. Sen. Angus King this year and that she was asked to run by Republican Sen. Susan Collins. Kouzounas said she decided to run because no other Republican had
stepped forward. "To have a senator go unopposed I think is terrible," she said.A spokesperson for [Independent Senator] King said the senator was disappointed that [fellow Senator] Collins actively recruited his opponent, but that he would continue
to work with her as he has since winning his first term.
A spokesperson for Collins said the senator routinely talks to prospective candidates and that, while she won't be making a formal endorsement, she thought it was important that Republicans have
a quality candidate in the U.S. Senate race.
Kouzounas headed the Maine GOP for six years before getting removed from that role last year following Republicans' poor showing in legislative, gubernatorial and congressional contests in the 2022 midterms.
Source: Maine Public Politics on 2024 Maine Senate race
Jan 22, 2024
Ed Crockett:
Never held a party position; I do not answer to party bosses
I have never held a party position and I do not answer to party bosses. I listen, I put constituents first, and I vote for what works. As a socially conscious, fiscally conservative business executive and four-term
State Representative, I have built a record of solving problems and delivering results. If doing the right thing means frustrating those who put party above people, then I am proud to stand as an Independent.
Source: 2026 Maine Governor campaign website EdCrockettForMaine.com
Dec 19, 2025
Janet Mills:
Pope Francis inspired millions of people--of all faiths
[On passing of Pope Francis]: "Pope Francis inspired millions of people--of all faiths--through his humble leadership and his courageous calls for world leaders to uplift the poor, embrace peace, and take action to care for the planet we all share,"
Mills said. "In Maine, we will never forget his blessings of peace and strength for the people of Lewiston in the wake of the October 2023 tragedy. On behalf of the people of Maine, I extend our deepest condolences to Catholics across the world."
Source: WMTW (ABC-8), "Francis," on 2026 Maine Gubernatorial race
Apr 21, 2025
Robert Charles:
Teaching the divine beauty of the universe is dismissed
Rather than celebrate a family's history of achievement, service, hard work, lifetime faith--the divine beauty of the universe,
sacrifice, family values, gender, and God are dismissed. Children raised with these values often face merciless and insidious discrimination.
Source: The Maine Wire, "Schools," on 2026 Maine Gubernatorial race
Feb 14, 2025
Shenna Bellows:
Maine is the best place on earth
[Campaign announcement]: "Today, I'm proud to announce I'm running for governor," said Bellows. "I love Maine. I know that we have the power to lead this country, quality education, and economic development and climate resilience."
"Maine is the best place on earth," said Bellows on Wednesday morning. "Maine values and our way of life are worth fighting for."
Source: Ellsworth American, "Announce," on 2026 Maine Governor race
Mar 26, 2025
Shenna Bellows:
We the people do have the power to make change
[At "Hands Off" rally]: "We don't have billions or millions here in Maine, we're just regular Mainers speaking up, but we the people do have the power to make
change and to stand up for our communities and to help each other," explained Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who attended the rally as a guest speaker.
Source: FOX Bangor (Fox News) on 2026 Maine Gubernatorial race
Apr 5, 2025
Page last updated: Feb 07, 2026