Maine voters in November will set the course of the state for the next four years, choosing a governor at a time of economic uncertainty and social upheaval over divisive issues like abortion.

On one side is Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat who took office in January 2019 and led the state through the COVID-19 pandemic that’s claimed more than 2,600 Maine lives, disrupted schools and upended businesses.

Yet Mills, 74, insists she accomplished much, including expanding MaineCare to cover more than 93,000 Mainers, increasing state funding of local schools to 55%, restoring financial support for cities and towns, socking away nearly $900 million in the state’s rainy day fund and issuing $850 inflation relief checks to nearly all Mainers.

“The state budget is in the best shape it’s been for more than 20 years,” Mills said. “Federal money aside, we are able to pay our bills, with revenues meeting expenses, for the next four years.”

On the other side is former two-term Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican who served from 2011-2019. He instituted the largest tax cut in state history, slashed the number of state workers and tied some welfare benefits to work requirements.

LePage, 74, said he cut short his retirement in Florida to seek a third term as governor. Since deciding to run two years ago, he’s grown concerned about the number of children who have died despite the involvement of state child welfare workers and the difficulty local police departments are having in hiring new officers.

“It’s just one thing after another,” he said. “The only thing I’m seeing happening is we’re throwing money at the problem. We need someone who’s built businesses.”

Voters on Nov. 8 will see one other choice on their ballots. Dr. Sam Hunkler, a semi-retired physician from Beals, says he wants to give voters who are disenfranchised by the two major parties an independent choice.

Hunkler, 65, offers few concrete policy positions, saying that he would defer to experts and that his criteria for decision making is to consider whether policies are good for children.

How much any governor can accomplish will largely be determined by the make-up of the Legislature, with voters also deciding next month who will fill 151 House seats and 35 in the Senate.

Mills, a former legislator, attorney general and district attorney, vows to be someone who can work with both parties to get things done.

“I am all for working across the aisle to fight problems, not people,” she said.

For his part, LePage, a former Waterville mayor who has worked in the forest products industry and as a Marden’s executive, said six of his last eight years in office were difficult because Democrats in the Legislature refused to work with him.

With 642 vetoes, LePage holds the record for the most ever issued by a Maine governor. He made headlines from the start of his tenure to the end, telling the NAACP to “kiss his butt,” leaving an expletive laden voicemail for then Rep. Drew Gattine, a Democrat, and saying that drug dealers were coming to Maine and impregnating young white girls.

LePage says he has changed and learned from his prior experience and wants to continue work he started as governor by meeting with constituents on Saturdays to solve their problems.

“I just want good, public policy,” he said.

With less than a month until Election Day, here are the key elements of the candidates’ positions on major issues.

BUDGET AND TAXES

A recent state report shows Maine has enough money in its rainy day fund to last 15 months, something Mills says shows her fiscal leadership. She hasn’t raised taxes as governor and pledges she will not raise them in the second term.

And although LePage has criticized Mills for handing out billions in federal pandemic funds, she responds by saying he turned away millions of federal dollars, particularly when it comes to health care spending on MaineCare.

“For eight years, he turned away federal money for Alzheimer’s, cancer, MaineCare expansion,” Mills said. “I don’t think any state has turned away federal pandemic funds whatever their politics are.”

LePage said he wants to cut the income tax, starting with people on fixed incomes. But his plan would take a while to implement because it relies on surplus state revenue funds.

“We’re going to do it through exemptions rather than lowering the tax,” he said. “The last man to pay income tax is going to be the richest man in Maine.”

EDUCATION

LePage speaks frequently about the need to bring vocational and educational programs to middle schools and his interest in providing free after school care for children so parents can put in a full work day.

But his biggest goal to transform the state’s education system is to consolidate schools.

“We’re going to look at all 16 counties and see where we can make some gains on reducing the bricks and mortar to right-size the number of classes to our students,” he said.

Hunkler opposes efforts to consolidate schools, describing them as the “hub of the community” for many small towns. In Beals, the K-8 school has only 60 students, but is worth keeping open even though it’s costly, he said.

Mills increased state education funding to 55%, fulfilling a directive approved by voters in 2004 but never before achieved. She also touts an initiative to give pandemic-affected community college students a free ride, an increase in teacher salaries, and universal free school meals as improvements to the state’s education system.

At an event in Gorham this week with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Mills said she and the Legislature approved spending $27 million to provide free breakfast and lunch to all Maine children, regardless of income.

“We know children can’t learn on an empty stomach,” Mills said. “Research shows children consume up to half their daily calories at school.”

ABORTION

After 50 years as settled law, the U.S. Supreme Court in June ruled that states should now set policies with regard to abortion. Mills spoke to more than 1,000 people at a Portland rally just hours after the decision was announced, vowing to stand in the way of any attempt to change state law.

“I ask you, will we stand by while the lives of women are threatened?” she said, as the crowd yelled “no!” “Will we stand by while our rights are taken from us? Hell no, we won’t.”

The state law, adopted in 1993, protects a woman’s right to an abortion up to the point of viability, generally interpreted to mean about 24 weeks.

LePage has said he doesn’t want to change that law, but his previous statements on the issue and appearances at anti-abortion rallies has led to repeated questioning. At an Oct. 4 debate, a Portland Press Herald reporter asked him for specifics, including whether he would support a ban on abortion after 15 weeks, similar to legislation passed in other states.

After a bit of back and forth, LePage said he would veto it, disappointing supporters who are hoping to restrict abortion, according to the Associated Press.

“This is the bottom line,” LePage told Spectrum News. “The law we have in the state of Maine protects the woman against rape, incest and the health of the mother and it protects viability. I will not accept anything less or anything more. It’s not my gig. I’m an economics person.”

Hunkler said he supports women’s reproductive rights, saying that the decision to end a pregnancy is often gut-wrenching.

“Abortion is an unfortunate reality of our society,” he said. “It will continue to happen whether it’s legal or not. I would defend the current statutes as they are.”

OPIOID EPIDEMIC

In 2021, a record 636 Mainers died as a result of a drug overdose, most of which involved fentanyl.

In her first month in office, Mills named a director of opioid response to lead the state’s efforts. She has expanded treatment facilities and hired recovery coaches in each of the state’s 16 counties. She also dramatically increased access to the overdose-reducing drug naloxone, distributing more than 238,000 doses, according to her office.

“I would love to create more detox beds across the state,” she said. “I want to do more with schools and communities to educate people and inform people and helping young people make better choices. It’s unfortunate the opioid problem has gotten to be multigenerational and it’s really sad to see.”

LePage said he would support administering one dose of naloxone, but then charging for additional doses. He said those with substance use disorder need treatment and he would offer to expunge their criminal records if they stay clean for one year.

He said his opposition to methadone clinics and naloxone is that they are not always accompanied by counseling.

“It’s all of the above,” he said. “We have to have better policing for the trafficking. We have to have better detoxing, more counseling, more therapies.”

Hunkler, who has treated patients with substance use disorder, said one of the state’s prisons should be turned into a recovery center and that drugs used to break opioid addiction, such as suboxone and methadone, are just substituting one drug for another.

“Most of the addicts I have dealt with have huge psychological, mental, spiritual issues,” he said. “They come from abuse, they come from trauma, they come from neglect. That’s the underlying problem.”