Maine

Afraid for her family’s safety, she abandoned her teen daughter at a Maine hospital

Published

2 years ago

November 12, 2024

Afraid for her family’s safety, she abandoned her teen daughter at a Maine hospital

It was a painful decision, but Doris felt like she had no choice.

Staff at Northern Light AR Gould Hospital in Presque Isle called Doris on Feb. 8, 2023, and asked her to come get her 15-year-old daughter from the emergency department, where the girl had been staying after she had started anxiously picking at her skin and writing on the walls with her blood at a nearby behavioral health crisis center.

But Doris did not want her daughter to come home. Her daughter was still in desperate need of mental health care that Doris had been searching for and couldn’t find.

“They told me if I did not come get her, they were going to take her to a homeless shelter and report me as ‘abandoning her,’” Doris said, recounting in a recent interview her conversation with the hospital staff.

“I told them, ‘Go ahead,’” she said.

This experience illustrates an extreme dilemma playing out for parents, children and medical professionals in emergency departments across Maine, where guardians don’t want to take their children home because they don’t have services to support them safely.

A new state dataset offers a window into how often parents and guardians have resisted bringing their children home, as Doris did, giving a sense of scale to a trend alarming families and medical professionals alike.

Hospitals across Maine reported at least 50 instances over the 12-month period spanning August 2023 to July 2024 when guardians said they did not want their children returning home or abandoned them in an emergency room. That’s according to a Bangor Daily News analysis of data that hospitals submitted to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services and that the BDN received through a public records request.

The scenario usually unfolds like this, according to interviews with hospital officials, parents and disability rights advocates: A parent or police officer takes a child in the throes of a mental health crisis to the emergency room, where hospital staff confront a statewide shortage of more appropriate behavioral health treatment options.

Emergency rooms are designed to triage patients who are experiencing a medical emergency, not keep them for long-term, mental-health stays. But in recent years, hundreds of children and adolescents have remained inside emergency departments for days, weeks and even months, waiting for an inpatient hospital bed, a crisis stabilization unit or a plan to go home with community-based services.

In some cases, the primary reason children stay in a hospital for a long time is because their guardians don’t believe it is safe for them to come home or disagree with medical providers about the discharge plan. Medical providers, meanwhile, feel unprepared and ethically conflicted about keeping a young psychiatric patient in a chaotic, windowless emergency department for extended periods. This limbo can be traumatic for kids who have less power to decide what ultimately happens to them.

In interviews, parents and hospital staff framed this conflict as one of the most alarming, challenging situations to emerge from Maine’s continued struggle to offer enough behavioral health services for children, especially in rural areas. The wider crisis prompted the U.S. Department of Justice to sue Maine in September.

While most children in hospitals will eventually go home from the emergency department or find another treatment option, some have nowhere else to go but a homeless shelter. Despite concerns from a social worker on her case, that’s where Doris’ teenager ended up.

Doris estimated that she and her husband have fostered nearly 100 children over four decades. They adopted six, including kids with developmental disabilities. In the years since they fostered and later adopted their daughter, who had been severely neglected as a child, the girl acted out in troubling ways. Their relationship deteriorated.

Doris asked to be identified by her middle name to protect the girl’s privacy; the BDN confirmed the details of the family’s experience using treatment and child welfare records. The BDN was unable to reach the girl.

The daughter got into fights at school, screamed when she didn’t get her way, mistreated her siblings and snuck out of the house at night, once to drink alcohol to the point of passing out, Doris said. She never seriously hurt anyone, but Doris worried she might hurt herself, and later told child welfare officials that she had found knives, razor blades and a hammer hidden in her daughter’s room. Shortly before her hospitalization in early 2023, she threatened to kill her parents and herself, and burn down their house in Aroostook County.

Before arriving at the emergency department in Presque Isle, Doris’ daughter had spent nearly three months at two separate crisis units to address her depression, anxiety and excessive drinking, only to be transferred when they couldn’t meet her needs or she upset other patients.

Meanwhile, Doris had been working with state health officials, a case manager, psychiatrists and a disability rights advocate in an attempt to get the girl a more intensive, long-term mental health service. But, even working together, everyone struggled to find a place that would accept her. At one point, the team considered finding her a foster home because the bond between the girl and her parents had suffered so much.

At the emergency room in Presque Isle, Doris’ daughter denied any desire to hurt herself or others, according to a psychiatric evaluation. Still, Doris worried, especially about her other kids, she said.

“I knew I could not contain her at home. I wanted to. I loved her. I wanted to help her,” Doris said. “But there was no help to be found.”

The main entrance of Northern Light A.R. Gould Hospital in Presque Isle is seen on Aug. 14. Credit: Paula Brewer / BDN

‘Done doing it alone’

In 2021, lawmakers passed a bill that requires hospitals to submit data about children who spend more than 48 hours in the emergency department waiting for mental health care. The legislation aimed to provide state officials with a more detailed picture of how many kids were getting stuck and why.

Hospitals submitted information about children’s length of stay, diagnosis, the primary and secondary reasons that patients had an extended stay, and the discharge location. Proponents of the data collection hoped that capturing a more detailed picture of the problem would build urgency to find a solution, said Lisa Harvey-McPherson, a trained nurse and vice president of government affairs and advocacy for Northern Light Health, which operates Maine’s second largest hospital system.

The BDN reviewed a year’s worth of data that 28 hospitals submitted between August 2023 and July 2024, showing at least 410 prolonged admissions for children needing behavioral health treatment. The figure could include the same child more than once.

The primary reason that 18 individual young patients — 10 boys and eight girls — had an extended stay in the emergency department was because they were “abandoned by guardian.” In another 21 cases, hospitals noted that the patient’s guardian did not wish for them to return home.

The numbers are likely an undercount because not all 33 hospitals in Maine submit data every month, said Jeff Austin, vice president of government affairs and communications for the Maine Hospital Association. Some hospitals also may not have any patients to report.

Hospitals listed abandonment or a guardian’s resistance to bringing children home as a secondary reason prolonging their stay in 12 other instances. All but three of those patients were waiting for a bed in a residential treatment facility or an inpatient hospital.

One 11-year-old boy with autism, whose grandparent felt unable to control his violence, was waiting to be admitted to a secure residential program in New Hampshire. Another 15-year-old boy involved in both the juvenile justice and child welfare systems had been transferred to an emergency department in Lewiston after spending nine days at a smaller hospital in western Maine “despite having no medical reason to be there,” hospital staff wrote.

In more than half of the 51 cases, the hospital had treated the child before. At least eight patients had been seen by the same emergency room on 10 or more previous occasions, the data show.

For cases that included a discharge date, kids spent an average of two-and-a-half weeks in the emergency room. Their time ranged from two to 132 days. (Eight of the 51 cases did not include a discharge date.)

Hospitals recorded children were “abandoned” when emergency department staff believed a child should go home but a guardian disagreed, Harvey-McPherson said. She and others cautioned that the term can be misleading. “Abandonment” often describes parents who have not stopped caring about their child’s welfare despite pushing back against the hospital, they said. In many cases, they likely searched exhaustively for help.

“The term abandonment is tough because it feels like we are blaming someone,” said Dr. Ross Isacke, chief medical officer at MaineHealth Franklin Hospital in Farmington. In reality, the situation more often reflects the desperation of families who are grasping for help when it doesn’t exist, he said.

As for the children caught in limbo, “almost every child I’ve talked to just wants to go home,” said Atlee Reilly, managing attorney for Disability Rights Maine, a legal advocacy group that represents children with disabilities. “What we see generally [are guardians] who do want their child home but are done doing it alone.”

Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. Credit: Linda Coan O’Kresik / BDN

‘So morally injurious to our staff’

The data cast light on the difficulty, anguish and conflict that can unpin these cases.

In the summer of 2023, state police found a 13-year-old boy living in “squalor” after his mother “gave” him away to another family because he had sexually assaulted other young children, according to a submission by Sebasticook Valley Hospital in Pittsfield, where officers brought the boy to be treated.

His mother refused to pick him up from the emergency department, but the state was unwilling to take custody of him, the hospital wrote. The boy remained at the small hospital, while medical staff searched, unsuccessfully, for an in-state residential facility to discharge him to. He ultimately ended up on a waitlist with nearly 70 other children for an out-of-state residential program, according to the hospital. It is unclear when he left.

When guardians don’t want to take their kids home from hospitals due to a lack of services, the hospitals usually call child welfare officials at the Office of Child and Family Services. Jim Bailinson, a lawyer for MaineHealth, the state’s largest hospital system, said hospitals err on the side of making reports, but that doesn’t mean the state always opens an investigation.

Similarly, Northern Light hospitals call child protective services frequently, but it is unusual for the agency to take custody of children when they believe parents are still involved in the decision making around their child’s care, Harvey-McPherson said.

“Calling CPS to report abandonment because parents fear their child. I mean, how bad is our system? How bad has it gotten?” she said.

Meanwhile, the lack of action can be “so morally injurious to our staff because they are watching this child every day deteriorate in the ED,” Harvey-McPherson said.

She and other hospital staff have long decried the conditions children endure when they spend long periods in an emergency room because they have little access to sunlight, recreation and mental health treatment. Some have even likened it to imprisonment.

More clear-cut cases of abandonment do still occur. In legislative testimony last spring, Harvey-McPherson described an instance where a parent refused to answer phone calls from the hospital about their child because they were going on vacation. In that case, the state did not take custody of the child, she said. But it has happened to other children.

After she was admitted to Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor three weeks before Thanksgiving last year, a 15-year-old girl with diagnoses of post-traumatic stress and borderline personality disorder remained there for nearly 78 days because her father “refused” to take her home or engage in her care, according to the state data. She only left when state child welfare officials took custody of her and found her a foster home.

“The decision about whether to seek removal of a child is highly fact specific, not taken lightly,” said Lindsay Hammes, a spokesperson for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees both child protective services and children’s behavioral health programming.

State custody is rarely seen as a solution to these cases, and a recent bill that would have required the state to take custody of children abandoned in hospitals was roundly opposed last spring. State workers confront the same paucity of services that parents do, according to those who testified against the bill, some of whom questioned its legality and impact on families.

The Maine State House is seen at sunrise on March 16, 2023, in Augusta. Credit: Robert F. Bukaty / AP

‘They are desperate’

In February, staff at Franklin Hospital in Farmington confronted a similar situation to what Doris did more than 200 miles away in Aroostook County. They were struggling to find a residential mental health treatment program for a 17-year-old boy with post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the data. After 18 days, he was ultimately discharged to a homeless shelter.

The case was one of four instances in the data where hospitals listed “shelter” as a discharge location. They would likely discharge more kids to shelters if they could. Staff at three homeless shelters across the state — in Portland, Bangor and Mars Hill — said they field routine inquiries from hospitals asking whether they can admit a child with nowhere else to go.

“Sometimes it is the same kid getting referred over and over because they are desperate,” said Kiersten Mulcahy, who manages the Preble Street Teen Center in downtown Portland.

Anecdotally, those calls seem to be growing, she said. In early October, Mulcahy said the shelter had been going back and forth with a hospital for several weeks over whether to admit someone whose parent would only allow their child to come home if intensive, at-home behavioral health support was in place, Mulcahy said. The waitlist for one of those programs is nearly 125 days long, according to a state dashboard.

“The lack of intervention when someone is left at a hospital should not equal homelessness,” she said. In an interview, she urged the Maine Department of Health and Human Services to “step in and prioritize putting a system in place.”

Hammes, the department spokesperson, said that staffing and hiring challenges in the behavioral health field have hindered the department’s efforts to boost programs.

“Despite hundreds of millions of dollars of new investments, including reimbursement rate increases and policy changes for increased support, providers continue to face the same workforce challenges as other sectors,” Hammes wrote in an email.

She also drew attention to a team that is dedicated to coordinating services for especially complex cases, which families can request help from through a case manager or directly through an online request form.

The department is currently leading a work group studying ways to solve the crisis of children getting stuck in emergency departments. Reilly, the lawyer with Disability Rights Maine, sits on the group. He doesn’t suspect it will come up with a solution any different from what he and other advocates have been saying for years.

“We’re looking at it from the hospital perspective, and it’s awful, but there’s not a special solution for that group [of kids],” Reilly said. “Everything gets plugged up if you don’t have a robust community system.”

After Doris refused to take her daughter home from the emergency room in Presque Isle, the hospital discharged her two days later to the Northern Lighthouse, a youth homeless shelter in Mars Hill, documents show. Since it opened in the fall of 2022, the shelter has recorded 18 admissions from an emergency department, said Blake Hatt, the program’s chief operations officer. This year alone, the shelter has denied more than 15 additional requests from emergency departments over concerns that the shelter would not be able to properly care for the children, he said.

Doris believes it was her daughter’s homelessness that finally applied enough pressure to get her into a residential program 11 days later, she said.

By then, their relationship had reached a point of no return. State child welfare officials investigated Doris for abandoning her daughter but did not find that her decision, in light of everything that had gone on, amounted to neglect, records show.

But Doris and her husband ultimately relinquished their parental rights anyway, she said. The girl went on to allege that Doris’ husband touched her inappropriately, in what the woman believed was an act of retaliation. Child welfare officials did not substantiate the allegation, Doris said, but, in the midst of that process, the couple made it clear they would not allow the girl back home, so the state terminated their custody.

Doris believed that decision was also in the girl’s best interest, she said. She couldn’t see how to move forward as a family any longer.

Callie Ferguson is a reporter at the Bangor Daily News. She may be reached at cferguson@bangordailynews.com.

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Maine

A Maine couple known for restoring cabins on TV is opening an inn of their own – The Boston Globe

Published

3 hours ago

May 15, 2026

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A Maine couple known for restoring cabins on TV is opening an inn of their own – The Boston Globe

But something about it felt right. When the former bed-and-breakfast and historic estate in Monmouth lingered on the market, and its price dropped, curiosity turned into a walk-through, and the walk-through into something more.

“It was built super well, built to last,” Sarah says. “The spirit of the place is amazing. We just kind of fell in love with it.”

Now, after months of renovation, the Morrills are preparing to open Waters Run Bed and Breakfast this July — a 12-room property (including newly built cabins) that blends farmhouse charm with what Sarah describes as “rustic luxury,” and a broader mission: inviting travelers to experience a different side of Maine.

Chase and Sarah Morrill, who purchased the property in 2025.HANDOUT

Hospitality wasn’t an obvious next step. But travel has always been a big part of family life for Sarah, Chase and their four kids.

“We’re inspired by travel,” Sarah says. “And having a place where we could now welcome people in their own travels felt full circle.”

Unlike their television work, which often focuses on seasonal camps and cabins, this project required a deeper, more comprehensive transformation. The existing structure was sound, but time had left its mark.

“Not a single room in the existing structure has really been totally untouched,” Sarah says.

The updates range from behind-the-scenes essentials — electrical and plumbing — to reimagined layouts that prioritize comfort, like expanding bathrooms and reworking awkward room footprints.

They also added five new guest rooms between three standalone cabins and converted a former caretaker’s apartment into a commercial kitchen, allowing for expanded dining and future events.

Even as they modernized the property, the Morrills were careful not to erase its character.

A room at Waters Run Bed & Breakfast in Monmouth, Maine.HANDOUT

“I think we tried to preserve every last thing that we could,” Sarah says.

That includes original fireplaces (now decorative), a vintage kitchen believed to have come from a Sears catalog, and even long-hidden elements of the landscape. Beneath overgrowth, they uncovered stone pathways and garden beds they plan to restore.

The philosophy aligns with the ethos fans have come to expect: save what you can, reuse what you can’t, and find new purpose for the rest.

Local sourcing plays a central role. Throughout the property, guests will find work from Maine artisans and craftspeople — a deliberate choice that reflects both aesthetics and values.

“It’s been really fun,” she says. “We’ve met a lot of people who make cool stuff that looks like it just belongs in our bed and breakfast.”

When guests arrive, the Morrills hope the guests feel an immediate connection when walking through the doors.

Outside Waters Run Bed & Breakfast in Monmouth, Maine.HANDOUT

“You finally get there, and you’re like, ‘Yeah, this is where we were supposed to go,’” she says.

Breakfast, prepared by an in-house chef, will lean heavily on local ingredients like eggs, meats, cheeses, and produce sourced from nearby farms, often within a 10-mile radius with a rotating menu that reflects the region.

On the property, guests will find gardens, fire pits, lawn games, and access to nearby water for kayaking and paddleboarding. A historic barn that was once used as a harness racing training facility is slated to become an event space by 2027.

For New England travelers accustomed to heading straight for the coast, Monmouth might not be the first place that comes to mind. That, Sarah believes, is part of the appeal.

“We’re not in a specifically touristy area,” she says. “But there’s a huge opportunity to have the space to discover what’s cool about Maine — and you’re not standing in line.”

A view from Waters Run Bed & Breakfast.HANDOUT

Within a short drive are lakes in nearly every direction, hiking trails, small restaurants, antique shops, working farms, and Kennebec Cabin Company, the gift shop known as “Home of the Maine Cabin Masters.” The coast is still within reach, but it’s not the main event.

“If you can go for a hike and then go for a swim and then get a great meal,” she says, “that’s a great day.”

It’s a vision of Maine that expands beyond the familiar imagery of lobster rolls and lighthouses.

“I think there’s another whole dimension of Maine,” Sarah says. “The lakes and mountains and being outside, but also the artisans and craftspeople who are doing really cool stuff.”

A sunset at Waters Run Bed & Breakfast in Monmouth, Maine.HANDOUT

Sarah’s hope is that travelers feel like they are seeing something they’ve never seen before, or connecting to Maine in a deeper way.

As reservations begin to fill — helped in part by a loyal fan base — the Morrills are preparing for their first full season. While the project may have started as an unexpected opportunity, its direction now feels clear.

“I’m looking forward to meeting the people who are looking for something different,” Sarah says. “Who want to start and end their day a little bit off the beaten path.”

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Maine

Maine Trash Kings turns clutter into cash across Searsport

Published

15 hours ago

May 14, 2026

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Maine Trash Kings turns clutter into cash across Searsport

SEARSPORT, Maine (WABI) – A new Searsport business sees other people’s trash as an opportunity.

Maine Trash Kings got its start at the beginning of April, and with spring cleaning underway, the founders say the business is booming.

“It’s been really good, we started at the beginning of this month, and we just started posting around on Facebook ads and word of mouth. It’s gone really good, just kind of blown up from there,” Alex Dakin, co-founder of Maine Trash Kings, said.

Maine Trash Kings is run by two Searsport High School students. They both say they’ve had to learn how to balance time quickly.

“When we don’t have jobs or something like that, after schools, I get an hour, two hours to myself, but then, I got to post ads. I got to, look at finances, go over that, fix the trailer, work on the trailer and stuff like that,” Isaac Traves, co-founder of Maine Trash Kings, said.

“It can be stressful at times, but you just got to look at the bigger picture and know that all the work you’re putting in now is just going to pay off in the future,” Dakin said.

Traves said he wants to go to college for business in the future. The junior in high school said the business has given him a head start on finances.

“Sometimes there are instances where we have to spend money to make money, and it is scary at first. Some people think oh, I’m going to spend money, that means that I’m going to lose all of that. I’m not going to make that money back. No, it’s not really how it works. You have to spend money to make money, to be honest,” Traves said.

Traves and Dakin’s work hasn’t gone unnoticed. Derek Ginn is a teacher at Searsport Middle School. Ginn said the boys came to him and asked if he could help them get the business started.

“It’s really great to see kids who, 16, 17, starting life not knowing exactly what they want to do, to see, hey, maybe I want to start a business. Let me see if I can fail. Let me see if I can succeed. Let’s see what’s out there,” Ginn said. “These guys did that all on their own. I’m not saying, you guys should go start this business. You guys should go start this business. No, they came to me and are like, hey, how do I do this? And that’s incredible to see for kids their age.”

Ginn said the boys also help him with his students. They serve as mentors to the younger students in the school. Ginn said that’s how he got to know Traves and Dakin.

The young business owners said they are giving the business everything they’ve got. So far, they say they love the work.

“I like working and I actually quit my job to do this full-time now, so I mean, just putting all my effort into this and seeing it grow is just, I love it,” Dakin said.

Maine Trash Kings serves Searsport and surrounding areas.

They give quotes via their Facebook page or by calling 207-323-6984 for junk removal.

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Maine

A top issue in Maine and Oklahoma governors’ races? Tribal sovereignty. – ICT

Published

1 day ago

May 14, 2026

Press Room

A top issue in Maine and Oklahoma governors’ races? Tribal sovereignty. – ICT

This story is part one of a two-part story on gubernatorial races to watch in the 2026 midterm elections as part of the #NativeVote26.

Pauly Denetclaw
ICT

Two of the 39 states with gubernatorial races have tribal sovereignty at the top of their policy agendas: Oklahoma and Maine. The two states where tribal nations have had friction with their state governments. Now Native voters in both states will be electing a new governor, and the results will impact the relationship between tribal governments and the state for the next four years.

Wabanaki Nations in Maine had a challenging time getting state legislation signed into law by Gov. Janet Mills, Democrat, that would strengthen tribal sovereignty. The 38 tribes in Oklahoma had a tumultuous relationship with Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt.

Eighteen of the 39 governor races in 2026 will have incumbent candidates, according to the National Governors Association. Stitt is the 2025-2026 chair of the association.

What’s happening in Oklahoma?

Over the past seven years, tribal nations and the state of Oklahoma had a contentious relationship — especially after the McGirt decision. Current governor, Stitt, who is a Cherokee Nation citizen, has been outspoken against the McGirt decision, tribal compacts for tobacco and car tags, and tribal gaming compacts.

Tribal-state compacts are legal agreements between federally recognized tribes and state governments. It is most commonly used for class III gaming — slot machines and table games.

“There was a time and a day when we used to compact with the tribes. That is not a unique thing across the nation. It wasn’t a unique thing in Oklahoma,” Chip Keating said during an April 6 candidates forum. “We absolutely have to hit the full reset button with the tribes — work together, treat them with the respect that they should have been treated with, and we’ve got to get back to compacting.”

Tribal leaders are looking forward to new state leadership, said Michael Stopp, president and chief executive officer of SevenStar Holdings.

“It’s good for the tribes and the tribal leaders are happy about it,” said Stopp, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. “It has very much been a sticking point with tribal leaders that Governor Stitt has a very different perspective on sovereignty and what role the tribes play in this state. Obviously, we’ve had some big changes with the reservation status here because of the McGirt decision in 2020, but Governor Stitt, who is a member of the Cherokee Nation, has been more of an antagonist when it comes to that, than trying to help with the transition. I can definitely say the tribal leaders are looking for leadership change.”

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin called Stitt the most anti-Indian governor in the state’s history. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond described Stitt as having a “penchant of racism against tribes,” during an April candidates forum. He added that it was unacceptable.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt is pictured during an interview in his office Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022, in Oklahoma City. The Oklahoma Board of Pardon and Parole has recommended clemency for death row inmate James Coddington. Stitt said that he hasn’t been formally briefed on Coddington’s case, but that with any clemency recommendation, he meets with prosecutors, defense attorneys and the victim’s family before making a decision. (AP Photo, Sue Ogrocki) Credit: Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt is pictured during an interview in his office Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022, in Oklahoma City. The Oklahoma Board of Pardon and Parole has recommended clemency for death row inmate James Coddington. Stitt said that he hasn’t been formally briefed on Coddington’s case, but that with any clemency recommendation, he meets with prosecutors, defense attorneys and the victim’s family before making a decision. (AP Photo, Sue Ogrocki)

Tribal nations and state governments have to work together often. As seen in Oklahoma, Stitt vetoed several tribal compacts, despite overwhelming support by the state’s legislature, and this slowed the process for establishing the tobacco, car tag and gaming compacts between Oklahoma and tribal nations.

“Governor Stitt came in thinking that he could renegotiate this contract, and quite frankly, it just doesn’t work that way. Instead of listening and coming to the negotiating table, (Stitt) tried to come in with a really strong stance and ended up losing, honestly,” Stopp said. “I think that was unfortunate for him and for the tribes. Again, missing out on the chance of negotiating and I think the tribal leaders are definitely looking forward to having someone on the other side of the table to negotiate with.”

Oklahoma governor candidates

There are nine Republican candidates on the ballot for Oklahoma’s primary election set for June 16:

Gentner Drummond: 20th Attorney General for Oklahoma
Chip Keating: Former highway trooper and former Oklahoma Secretary of Public Safety
Mike Mazzei: Former Oklahoma state Senator and former Secretary of Budget
Charles McCall: Longest-serving Speaker of the House in Oklahoma history
Jake Merrick: Local radio host and former Oklahoma state Senator
Kenneth Sturgell: Local, small business owner
Leisa Mitchell Haynes: Former marketing director and former city manager
Calup Anthony Taylor
Jennifer Domenico-Tillett

Three Democratic gubernatorial candidates are also running for the primary election:

Cyndi Munson: Oklahoma House Minority leader
Connie Johnson: Former Oklahoma state Senator
Arya

Candidates will have to get more than 50 percent of the votes to avoid a runoff. If there is no outright winner, the top two candidates for each political party will head to a primary runoff election on August 25.

An additional three Independent candidates will automatically head to the general election this November.

Two important issues this election in Oklahoma are tribal sovereignty and a commitment to working with tribes.

During an April 6 Republican candidates forum, Gentner Drummond, Charles McCall, Chip Keating and Mike Mazzei, were asked to raise their hand if they shared Stitt’s perspective on the McGirt decision. Stitt was quoted as saying that the McGirt decision has torn Oklahoma apart and has created two justice systems based on race. None of the four candidates raised their hand.

“For three and a half years I’ve been working with every tribal leader in the state of Oklahoma, and I recognize them as unique among themselves, just like France is different from Germany,” Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said during a candidates forum. “We have to honor and respect the culture of diversity that they bring to the table and the needs that they have. We have been working with tribal law enforcement each of the last three years to take the fight to organize crime in our rural communities. They are a great partner.”

All four candidates promised their administration would work with tribal nations and negotiate tribal compacts.

Mazzei said at two different candidate forums that he would be a strong negotiator with tribal nations.

In a recent interview with KOCO 5 News, local small business owner Kenneth Sturgell said tribal nations are their neighbors and should be treated as such. He also said that the state and tribal nations have to work together.

Jake Merrick, local radio host and former Oklahoma state Senator, was pleased that the state Supreme Court affirmed tribal nations’ right to hunt on their own lands, during a March 30 candidates forum.

Democratic candidate Cyndi Munson, Oklahoma House Minority leader, said in a recent press release that her caucus supports tribes.

“The Oklahoma House Democratic Caucus supports tribal sovereignty and acknowledges that our tribes fill important gaps in our education and healthcare systems, as well as other areas throughout our state,” Munson said. “I am extremely grateful for the work our tribes have done and continue to do despite vicious attacks on them by the Governor.”

A respectful working relationship between tribal nations and the state has shifted significantly since the last gubernatorial race in 2022.

“I think every one of them [Oklahoma governor candidates] has said something about it,” Stopp said. “[It’s] different than four years ago. It was an issue in the governor’s race, but it wasn’t a good issue. Here everyone’s saying yes, we want to change the tone and start the conversation differently. So I think as far as Indian voters go, that conversation is going to change regardless of who wins.”

Dawnland

In Maine, Gov. Mills repeatedly refused to sign a law that would strengthen tribal jurisdiction and recognize Wabanaki Nations right to access federal Indian laws. She vetoed the bill twice despite overwhelming support from state legislators.

“We’ve had multiple opportunities to send [legislation] to the governor’s desk and not just party line votes,” said Maulian Bryant, executive director of the Wabanaki Alliance and former Penobscot ambassador. “We generally have Democratic support, but we have gotten Republicans voting on these issues too. So, the governor has seen some great bipartisan work reach her desk and has still decided to veto some of these efforts.”

In order for tribes to access federal Indian laws, the state has to approve it. The Wabanaki Alliance, created to educate the people of Maine about tribal sovereignty, has been working diligently to amend the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980.

Through the settlement, tribal nations ceded land in exchange for $81.5 million. However, it also drastically limited tribal sovereignty, and brought tribes under the jurisdiction of the state. Tribal nations that predate the state, are subjected to state jurisdiction and treated more like municipalities. The act was meant to be a living document but the state resisted changes for decades.

The Wabanaki Alliance has been able to increase tribal sovereignty and self-governance one legislation or amendment at a time. Throughout her two-terms, Mills has resisted a complete overhaul of the 1980 act and this created tension between the governor and tribal nations.

“If we had a governor that came in and fully embraced the inherent rights and inherent sovereignty of our people, and fully recognized that, it would strengthen our communities and it would also uplift the entire state of Maine,” said Bryant, who is Penobscot. “Our tribal communities are near rural places that could really use economic opportunities and could really use tribal businesses that are able to grow without all of these bureaucratic restrictions. We really are coming from a place of friendliness and we want to be good neighbors and we want to uplift the communities around us.”

The Wabanaki Alliance held a gubernatorial candidates forum in March where nine governor candidates participated:

Shenna Bellows, Democrat
Rick Bennett, Independent
John Glowa, Independent
Troy Jackson, Democrat
Derek Levasseur, Independent
Hannah Pingree, Democrat
Nirav Shah, Democrat
Angus King III, Democrat

None of the eight Republican candidates participated.

Most of the gubernatorial candidates generally supported increasing tribal sovereignty, recognizing inherent rights and working with tribal nations. Angus King III said he wasn’t educated on the topic enough to make any commitments and would have to look into it. This sentiment was shared by John Glowa and Derek Levasseur.

Hannah Pingree, Rick Bennett, Shenna Bellows and Troy Jackson firmly supported tribal sovereignty for Wabanaki Nations.

“If a governor comes in, and isn’t afraid of recognizing tribal sovereignty and sees it as an opportunity, I think we could see some real progress for everyone,” Bryant said.

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