The Weekly Anthropocene: Janet Mills
An Unapologetically Biased Political Endorsement
Since my first interview with then-Attorney General Janet Mills when she was a gubernatorial candidate in 2018 (available here), The Weekly Anthropocene has been a strong supporter of Democratic Governor Janet Mills of Maine1. Since inheriting a deeply dysfunctional political situation in 20182, Janet Mills has led an incredible progressive renaissance in Maine. Some of the highlights:
She’s been a pioneer on climate action,
She’s expanded Medicaid to cover over 89,000 Mainers previously without health insurance,
She’s leading us through the pandemic with among the nation’s lowest death rates and fastest vaccine rollout,
She’s led the passage of strong economic relief to support Mainers after the pandemic, and
She’s using American Rescue Plan funds to invest in building Maine’s infrastructure and workforce for the future with her magisterial Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan.
But the thing is, all of that’s just scratching the surface: there’s so much more awesome stuff that Governor Mills is doing!
From July through early September 2022, I volunteered my services (completely on my own initiative, for free) to the Janet Mills reelection campaign to create an interactive map showing some of her many accomplishments.
The map is now available on the campaign website at https://janetmills.com/map/, and on its own at https://arcg.is/Tjiyn. Some linked photos from it are below to give you an idea. If you’re interested, please check it out-there’s a whole lot of awesome stuff going on!
UPDATE: The Portland Phoenix wrote an article about the Mills Campaign heavily featuring the map that I made, and the official Mills Campaign account tweeted about it!
I’m proud to have co-created “the dorkiest thing ever done by a large-scale campaign in Maine.”
If you’re an American citizen and Maine resident, I profoundly encourage you to vote for Governor Janet Mills for re-election this November, and if possible campaign for her as well. She’s awesome, she’s doing a lot of incredible work (especially on the climate and environmental issues near to this newsletter’s metaphorical heart), and her opponent is awful. This is a really clear choice for the future of the state-let’s not screw it up!
A quick disclaimer: as you’ve no doubt gleaned from the tone of this article, this writer is totally, completely biased in favor of Governor Janet Mills in just about every way it’s possible to be biased. I’ve met and corresponded with Janet Mills and find her to be an extraordinary and admirable person. I’ve voted for Janet Mills, wrote a letter to the editor in her favor in 2018 that got published in the Portland Press Herald, and volunteered with her campaign. Furthermore, I’ve recently started paid work (completely unconnected to the campaign) with a Maine state government climate change action initiative, which would almost certainly be discontinued if Governor Mills loses reelection. So I admire Janet Mills personally, I strongly support her politics, and her leadership creates the conditions for my current job to exist. Instead of trying for any semblance of journalistic objectivity under these circumstances, I’m wearing my heart on my sleeve in this post.
When elected in 2018, Janet Mills was coming in on the heels of eight years of the ruinous, maniacally anti-environment, and utterly crass and disgusting Republican Paul LePage Administration (2011-2018). Paul LePage is best known for actions such as a wide range of profane, racist, and threatening comments, illegally defying a voters’ referendum in favor of expanding Medicaid coverage, attempting to roll back child labor laws and lower the minimum wage, promising to veto every bill proposed by a Democrat in the State Legislature regardless of its merits, and using Maine taxpayer money to fund stays at the Trump Hotel in DC. Janet Mills’ current 2022 opponent is Paul LePage trying for a third nonconsecutive term-let’s not let that happen!
A wonderful endorsement, and so important. Many thanks for your crucial work, as always!