Maine's Political Pulse

The Maine Legislature wrapped up this year's session on Wednesday night. Here's what they got done and still have left to do.

This week we're gonna catch up on the latest from the State House where the Legislature is racing toward the end of the session. There's a lot going on. But we're going to focus on a few highlights, starting with a conflict between Democrats and Republicans over a "red flag" bill that will appear as a ballot measure in November.

Nearly one year after President Donald Trump's supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in the hopes of stopping certification of the 2020 election, the Maine House of Representatives debated a resolution commemorating the assault on Congress that ultimately led to the conviction of more than 1,270 rioters.

Some members of Congress, including most of Maine's delegation, are increasingly uneasy with President Donald Trump's tariffs — but efforts to curtail his power are likely going nowhere.

Welcome to April and a political news cycle that never stops. This week we're going to focus on a few developments with the goal of providing a little clarity and context that isn't always achievable when news breaks and deadlines loom.

Trump has said repeatedly he wants Canada to become the 51st state. It's a statement sometimes laughed off in the U.S., but viewed as deadly serious in Canada.

Maine's new, three-day waiting period on gun purchases passed the Legislature by the slimmest possible margin last year and narrowly averted a veto from Democratic Gov. Janet Mills. Now, gun rights advocates think the law could become the vehicle to erase waiting period laws in Maine and roughly a dozen other states.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has continued to push the long debunked claim that childhood vaccines cause autism. He has also argued that the COVID-19 vaccine was part of an elite plot to prolong the pandemic and shun other unproven or debunked remedies.

Democrats' response this week to President Donald Trump's attempt to freeze all federal grants and loans already approved by Congress was a rare moment of swift, unified and urgent condemnation.

The tax and fee changes that Gov. Janet Mills put forward last week in her budget only add up to about $150 million in a two-year state spending plan that tops $11.6 billion. But new taxes and fees are always controversial, even when they are narrowly “targeted,” as Mills argues in this case.

A look back at Tuesday's results and what they mean.

Tuesday is primary election day in Maine (again) as voters head to the polls to select party nominees for Congress, the Legislature and local offices.

While lawmakers will return to the State House next week to take up the governor's vetoes, the 131st Legislature has already left its imprint on some of the issues and challenges confronting the state.

Republicans have described the proposal as a late-session ambush designed to catch gun rights groups and the public off guard.

Maine lawmakers are plodding toward a mid-April adjournment with a slew of contentious issues to resolve, including gun safety and a new spending plan. Meanwhile, a divided Congress continues its obsession with the November election in its quest for historically unproductive governance.

Next Tuesday, voters in Maine and more than a dozen other states will cast ballots during the single-largest primary day of the 2024 elections.By presidential primary standards, this year's Super Tuesday contests are relatively anti-climactic because the Republican and Democratic tickets are pretty much set at this point. Absent some ground-shaking legal or political developments, the nation appears headed for a Biden-Trump rematch this November.But electors are still at stake in Maine. And for the first time this year, thanks to Maine's switch to a “semi-open” primary, independent voters can join the proverbial party without literally having to join a party.

Bowing to pressure from former President Donald Trump, a majority of Republicans in the U.S. Senate this week helped torpedo the bipartisan immigration bill that would have restricted and overhauled the asylum process while giving the president clear authority to close the border.The failure to advance the bill after four months of negotiations ensures that immigration will remain a key campaign issue in the 2024 presidential and congressional election with possible implications for down ballot contests in state legislatures.Maine's Political Pulse was written this week by State House correspondent Kevin Miller and produced by digital news reporter Esta Pratt-Kielley. The theme music was performed and recorded by Rob Holt.

Gov. Janet Mills reset the political debate over guns in Maine on Tuesday by unveiling a suite of policy proposals that she says were shaped or inspired by conversations since October's mass shooting in Lewiston.

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows has decided to keep former President Donald Trump off the state's Republican primary ballot. Here's why.

Chief political correspondent Steve Mistler joins Morning Edition host Irwin Gratz to discuss Tuesday's election results in Maine.

Question 3 in November proposes a dramatic overhaul of who is responsible for delivering electricity to the majority of Mainers. In this state and across the nation, it's unmatched in manner, scope or known outcomes.

Supporters say Question 1 is a necessary “safety valve” to prevent electric customers in Maine — who are already paying some of the highest rates in the country — from being saddled with massive amounts of debt. But opponents say it's just another attempt to sabotage the push toward what they contend would be more reliable, lower-cost electricity for most Maine residents.

Maine would become the second state in the nation to require automakers to make onboard repair and diagnostic information available to independent mechanics if voters approve Question 4 in November.

Question 2 aims to close a loophole in state law that currently allows companies and organizations owned by foreign governments to spend money to influence voters on state referendums. In doing so, it taps two populist sentiments about U.S. elections: first, that money plays an outsize role in determining outcomes, and second, that entities controlled by foreign governments should not be allowed to influence voters.

Here's a look at the four proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot this November — we'll tackle the four citizens initiatives separately in later editions of the Pulse.

The $50,000 donation from The Concord Fund, formerly known as the Judicial Crisis Network, appears to be the first publicly disclosed contribution to a Maine PAC from the group, which is associated with a network of nonprofits connected to Leonard Leo, the chairman of the Federalist Society.

The 2023 legislative session here in Maine finally wrapped up this week, more than a month later than originally planned.

Democrats controlling the Maine Legislature are securing key policy victories during the halting and chaotic close to the legislative session. However, they've also left questions about intraparty comity and whether they've sown the seeds for a minority Republican comeback in next year's election.

The Maine Legislature is headed into what is supposed to be its final few days of the 2023 session. But lawmakers still have a long list of major issues that they've yet to resolve.

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills will likely be forced to choose between allowing a paid family leave bill to become law or risk a statewide referendum on the issue next year, financed by progressive megadonors.

The Mills administration says it's preparing for the possibility that the U.S. government will default on its debt, an outcome that it says will have “serious implications” for the state economy and Maine residents.

A group of Maine lawmakers has called on Quebec Premier Francois Legault to “help dispel the myth that Quebec has so much power that it doesn't know what to do with it all, which is clearly not accurate.”

There are no proposed tax cuts in the governor's proposal — and the omission, while not surprising, isn't sitting well with Republican leaders in the Legislature.

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills' bill expanding abortion access beyond the state's current fetal viability restriction appears poised for passage in the Maine Legislature. But it has also energized abortion opponents, who might test voters' willingness to overturn it if it passes.

When Democratic legislative leaders announced two weeks ago that they had hired a private firm to conduct a “workplace assessment” following the controversy over Attorney General Aaron Frey's romantic relationship with a subordinate, they left out many details about the manner, scope and purpose of the review.

The odyssey of the $1 billion transmission project through western Maine has been playing out in painstaking detail this week during a jury trial that could determine whether the project is ever completed.

Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey's romantic relationship with a subordinate employee continues to generate questions about his sudden decision to publicly disclose it and how the state's top lawyer navigated policies designed to insulate workers from harmful office dynamics.Maine's Political Pulse was produced this week by Kevin Miller. Esta Pratt-Kielley is the digital producer. The theme music was performed and recorded by Rob Holt.

One week after budget negotiations suddenly broke down, Democrats in the Legislature passed a $9.8 billion spending plan late Thursday that will keep government offices open after July 1 but that left Republicans fuming.

News out of the State House has been increasingly dominated by discussions over the state's next two-year budget, and more specifically, whether Democrats will use their majorities to enact a spending plan without Republican support.

In many ways the address mirrored the first one that took place 21 years ago. This time, however, the tribes addressed state lawmakers who are far more receptive to their main goal — greater self-governance — than the legislators who preceded them.

The address comes after several years of what tribal leaders say has been measurable progress on issues important to their communities. But those leaders could also use the address to continue their push for greater self-government and state recognition of tribal sovereignty.

“Concept drafts” are essentially placeholder bills that are often little more than a title and a vague description of what the sponsor hopes to achieve. Two examples: “An Act to Reform Education” or “An Act to Reduce Electricity Rates.”

Notwithstanding independent U.S. Sen. Angus King's inclusion in the very online “Twitter Files” hullabaloo, the final full week of February was relatively quiet in Maine politics. For that reason, this week's edition of the Pulse will be brief as we empty the notebook.

There were a few hot topics that the governor did not mention despite her potentially pivotal role in the policy outcomes.

In this week's Pulse: the debate on paid family leave, Mills to address the state next week, Penobscots ‘open for business' as Biden emphasizes American-made, and a ballot battle update.

Maine lawmakers have started the 2023 legislative session by introducing an unusually high percentage of placeholder bills that purport to tackle big issues, but are void of any details that might inform the public of their purpose, price tag or impact.

The calendar will soon flip to February. It's time to empty the notebook with a look back and ahead.

Gov. Janet Mills and Democratic legislative leaders this week previewed a slate of priority abortion bills that expand and further safeguard access to the procedure. Among the proposals is one that would waive Maine's current abortion restriction after fetal viability — about 24 weeks — if approved by a medical professional.

As expected, Gov. Janet Mills didn't propose sweeping new initiatives or massive expansions of existing programs as part of her two-year budget proposal. Instead, it was the total dollar figure of the governor's budget proposal — $10.3 billion — that drew the most initial attention.

Gov. Janet Mills, all white in suffragette-style and wearing a pair of iconic “Bean Boots,” gave an aspirational inaugural address, front loaded with accomplishments and backfilled with a to-do list for her next four years in office.

A wild year in Maine politics is coming to a close, setting the stage for 2023 that isn't expected to feature any big candidate elections but plenty of legislating and ballot campaigns.