Together with her decisive victory on Tuesday, Gov. Janet Mills can now take her place as one of many three most profitable vote-getters in Maine Democratic Get together historical past, becoming a member of Ed Muskie and George Mitchell – not least of their cross-party attraction.

Whereas in at present’s fractured political local weather it’s not attainable to realize the form of margins Muskie and Mitchell did, Mills’s achievement in profitable two successive elections with a majority is spectacular.

Among the many different outcomes is the in all probability everlasting political retirement of her primary opponent, Paul LePage. She battled LePage for years as lawyer basic however had by no means confronted him immediately; it was no contest.

The query, because it all the time is for a candidate reaching decisive victory, is what Mills will do with the political capital she’s amassed. And that, to a big extent, might rely upon how she handles the fragile query of legislative relations, which throughout her first time period had been fraught – typically together with her personal celebration.

To be clear, only a yr after her inauguration, Mills was confronted with a world-changing disaster, the coronavirus pandemic, that upended all expectations. It compelled elected chief executives in every single place to adapt.

Mills’s administration of the disaster is undoubtedly one purpose she gained a second time period; the distinction together with her predecessor’s possible actions was stark. But throughout the pandemic, she developed administration habits that, in impact, centralized energy in her workplace.

When it got here to spending the billions of {dollars} the federal authorities despatched our means, Mills was the principal and infrequently sole decision-maker. Relations with legislators suffered, as one annual session was abruptly shut down, and the subsequent two had been hamstrung by a scarcity of in-person conferences – in distinction with most different states, the place lawmakers went again to work.

The 2023 session, the primary absolutely regular one since 2019, would be the bellwether.

Mills will swear-in a subtly modified group of lawmakers. Democrats all through the state did nearly in addition to Mills; they might even have elevated their majorities within the Senate and Home.

Senate President Troy Jackson will likely be again for a 3rd and remaining time period on the helm, however the Home will possible be led by a speaker new to most individuals across the state – Rachel Talbot Ross, the primary particular person of coloration to preside over both chamber.

Jackson will likely be joined by two black senators, the re-elected Craig Hickman from Kennebec County, and Jill Duson, chosen as certainly one of Portland’s two senators for a primary time period. Two Somali girls will be a part of the Home.

Half the Senate Democratic caucus will likely be girls, and the Home is just not far behind.

In brief, it’s essentially the most numerous legislature Maine has ever seen, with a composition unimaginable when Mills first ran for workplace as a county prosecutor in 1980.

Nobody can predict with precision how any governor will lead over a four-year time period – not even themselves. But when Mills is to have the profitable second time period that’s typically eluded her predecessors, she should shift course to stay in tune together with her celebration, and particularly its youthful members.

There have been conflicts over electrical energy provide, and shortly, Maine’s lengthy quest for public energy, however these will likely be fought out as referendums, and won’t significantly have an effect on the executive-legislative steadiness.

The areas the place work must be achieved considerations felony justice reform – and in Maine, as in most states, that entails racial justice – and the rights, and applicable governance, of Maine’s Indian tribes.

As a former prosecutor, Mills typically took an unnecessarily laborious line on makes an attempt to reform the system. For instance, although she’s now presiding over the phase-out of Lengthy Creek, Maine’s solely youth detention middle, she hasn’t really mentioned that’s what she’s doing.

As an alternative, advocates of speedy closure – nevertheless troublesome that might have proved – nonetheless have the impression the governor doesn’t care about their considerations.

The plain authorized incapacity of the tribes, distinctive among the many 50 states, is that they want state approval, underneath the Land Claims Act, for any change in standing – even the multifold advantages of quite a few federal statutes enacted since 1980 that Maine has by no means allowed to take impact.

The governor’s place appears to be that tribal representatives should come calling, and focus on each single authorized change, in personal, together with her employees – and the reply nonetheless normally appears to be no. A public course of, with full legislative debate, is the plain reply.

There are a whole lot of different issues a governor should do, however these legislative duties would go far to humanize Mills’s stern picture, and typically unyielding positions.

With no extra political opponents to struggle, this could be her finest likelihood to shock us all.

Douglas Rooks, a Maine editor, commentator and reporter since 1984, is the writer of three books, and is now researching the life and profession of a U.S. Chief Justice. He welcomes remark at [email protected]

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