Hey, everybody, welcome back to the find out podcast. We have a very, very big show for you today. We have the governor from the best state in the country, Governor Janet Mills of Maine governor. Thank you for joining us today. Where's your applause button, Tim? Oh, I know, I should. Don't get him started with everybody knows that I'm from Maine too. So but like it is the best state, we don't have to talk about anymore. Governor, thank you again. So I want to start with some breaking news, which is relevant to Maine. We just heard that there were at least four Republicans who have joined with all of the Democrats in the House to sign a discharge a discharge petition to extend the ACA tax credits were obviously very important to Mainers. We'd love to get your first reaction to that and and you know, sort of talk about how if the what happens to Mainers, if these tax credits actually do expire. Great. I mean, look, I wrote to Congress a month and a half ago and said, you've got to extend these tax credits. They're so critical. Tens of thousands of more than 60,000 people in Maine that we know of are using those tax credits. People who've gone out on a limb to start a new business, a small business, people who are self employed gig workers, they all depend on those tax credits to stay healthy, stay insured. And without those tax credits, I mean, I can tell you, there are tens of thousands of people who probably will probably will have to drop the insurance because they can't afford it. It's going to triple in some cases quadruple the monthly premiums for people in Maine. And you know, we're an older state, people need health insurance. Look, we've got people who are going to drop the insurance. What's that mean for the rest of people, people who work in large employer with large employers who have continued to have health insurance? It means the insurance rates are going to go up even further, even higher for them as well, because the cost of uninsured is huge too. So I've worked my tail off in state government as governor to expand health care in Maine and reduce the uninsured rate down to about 5%. We did it on day one, I expanded health health care Medicaid for 100,000 people in Maine. Now we're a small state, mind you, that's a big number for us, you know, and 100,000 people have health care, didn't have it before. So they've done two things recently in the federal government, cut back Medicaid in the big bad bill they did, and then let the ACA tax credits expire as they apparently are doing. I'm delighted that there are four Republicans who finally figured out that their constituents too need health insurance. Because I know, and you know, health care is a human right. And universal health care, health coverage is where it's at ultimately. But right now we've got to do what we can to restore the Medicaid cuts, Medicaid funds, and to continue the ACA tax credits for all those businesses and individuals who rely on them so much. So Governor, I want to talk about that. I would refer to it as the big bullshit bill, but you're a politician, so you should say big bad bills. So that's totally fine. But I kind of want to hear a swear before we get out of this. Oh, you'll probably at least once. So Governor, there you go. So I want to talk a little bit about that, the big, the big bullshit bill that the Republicans passed through. And obviously the ACA tax credits expiring were part of it. But talk to us a little bit also about the effect on Maine and rural communities, because Maine is one of the most rural states in the country. And there is a talk of roughly 300 hospitals nationwide that would have to close and even more nursing homes because of this bill that Republicans passed. How is that going to affect Mainers over the next few years? Right. Look, I wrote to the Congress about the big bad bill as well. They don't listen sometimes, you know, that's why I figured we got to change Congress. That means changing who's in the Congress. That's why I'm running for US Senate. I don't know if you notice, I'm running for the US Senate. You are? But really. Look, I am. You mentioned Maine is a rural state. We are actually the most rural state in the country because we don't have cities. I mean, Portland is about 65,000 people. That's our biggest city. It's not huge. And we're nine tenths wooded, as you probably know. But our small hospitals in the rural areas are really struggling and nursing homes because we're the oldest state in the country right now trying to reverse that. But because we're an older state as well, nursing homes are very important. Assisted living is very important. And to the extent that Medicaid is covering most of those entities, they're hurting too. The big bad bill depletes the Medicaid accounts. It you know, the so-called work requirement, just kind of a fiction, is going to hurt Maine people across the board at of all ages. And the nursing homes and hospitals and prestanding clinics are going to be are going to shut their doors. We've heard from clinics. We've heard from counselors, people who have offices, healthcare providers, that they're going to have to close their doors. They don't have the reimbursements from Medicaid. So that's going to hurt. And we're going to fight like hell when I get to the US Senate to restore those funds and to bring back healthcare for the hundreds of thousands of people who are going to be missing out on it if these cuts go through, if they're not reversed. Right. So, oh, go ahead, Richard. I was going to add in some numbers for our audience because I had this up from a video I did recently. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities looked at every state and how much their premiums would go up without their calling them enhancements, but without all of the benefits of the Affordable Care Act. And in Maine, for a family of four with two kids on the second cheapest plan, their annual cost would go from $11,000 to $27,000 per year. I don't know how many of you guys have $16,000 lying around to put into healthcare so that you can get the second cheapest coverage, 147% increase in premiums for a first second. And that's with a high deductible. Right. It's probably $5,000, $6,000, $7,000, $8,000 deductible usually on those high deductible plans. So, that's what we're talking about here. This is not skip your daily Starbucks and make it and break even. This is like a whole second house or having two more kids in daycare for the full year. That on top of the whole cost of living problem, the affordability issue that we're all facing right now, I'm not a wealthy person. I go to the grocery store and I see the hikes and prices of everything on the shelves. I see the hikes and prices for car repairs very simply and construction costs which went up about 10% in Maine over the summer. Why? Because of Donald Trump's idiotic economic policies, including tariffs that go one day, come on another day, go up, go down. They're erratic and irrational. They're affecting the cost of steel and aluminum, which is affecting the cost of construction. We have a housing crisis. We're trying to do everything we can on the state level to address that, to provide affordable, accessible housing for all people. And it's almost impossible when the price of aluminum and steel and softwood and even maple spikes because of these tariffs. It's insane. And so, we've got to address that. So, healthcare is one big issue. Healthcare drives the economy, the cost of healthcare, the cost of health insurance, but it also helps drive the affordability crisis that we're seeing all over the country right now. Well, on that, you did mention, which we are aware that you are running to be the next United States Senator from the great state of Maine. Did I say that yet? You did. You did. You got it in. You got it in. We're going to say it a bunch more times as well. But like one, so something that, yes, we see, yes, we got the, for those on audio, we got the signs in the background. She's all set up. So, one of the things that has really bothered me over years being a Democrat from Maine, but living out of the state, is how the current senator, who you are running, are going to run against, Susan Collins, has projected this sort of moderate approach to governing. Yeah, I see. We'll get some swearing from us. But like these bills pass, she voted for the first version of the BBB before she voted against it. She hasn't done anything on tariffs. And just being there means that there's an extra vote for John Thune to be majority leader. So what is your message to Mainers who I'm sure come up to you sometimes and say, well, she's a moderate. So like, you know, she's kind of on both sides. What's your answer to that? Susan Collins is very concerned. She was concerned the other day when she voted on both ACA bills, one of which would have banned the money used for abortion or gender-firming care. And then she voted for the Democratic version when they didn't need her vote anyway. She was very concerned about healthcare. Concern is one thing. Courage is quite another. She's failed to show courage. She failed to show courage when she had a chance to stand up to Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch before that horrible Dodds decision. She could have shown courage when she instead voted for Linda McMahon, who's down there tearing apart our education infrastructure federally. She could have shown courage when she voted instead for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who's tearing apart our public health infrastructure and discouraging people from using life-saving vaccines. Well, I'm working with the Northeast governors, Maura Healy and Ned Lamont and the others to retain, to keep our infrastructure, our public health infrastructure, and make sure people do have an ability to use vaccines and have their kids have vaccines so they don't get the measles and die. You know, these are struggles. We're having these struggles on the state level because people like Susan Collins have failed to stand up to Donald Trump and his administration. I think one of the things that we need to also talk about is the way that leadership in the Republican Party allows both Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski to essentially vote against legislation that they want once they know that the passage is guaranteed. And I think a lot of people don't understand that. Yeah, exactly. They can always count on her vote when they don't need it. But at least Lisa Murkowski got a deal out of the big bad bill. She gets a 35% error rate and stamp, snap benefits. What do we get? Less food stamps, less snap benefits for Craig Sigg. She got paid off. I think that's the most frustrating is outside of Maine, outside of that whole region. What I hear from the Beltway is that she's a moderate and she voted against Pete Hegseth. What? Right? Yeah. But she voted against Pete Hegseth. And there are times, to your point, when she's made the correct vote, but it's always when there are enough votes to allow, like to allow the thing go through. And they keep up this charade that they've got these, well, these are good, centrist people. They're really not because John Thune is where he is, Donald Trump is where he is, the Supreme Court is what it is. Our laws are what they are because of, to your point, the lack of courage from people like Stephen Collins. She voted against the resolution on the War Powers Act just a couple of weeks ago, which would have addressed this crazy Venezuela situation, bombing boats in the Pacific and in the Caribbean, boats you can't even identify, killing 95 people in the last few months. She voted against the resolution that would have reigned that in. She fails to stand up to him anytime it counts. Look, we've sent people to the US Senate who are worth something. We sent Edmund Muskie, George Mitchell, others of, you know, we have a legacy there, people who stood up for their Margaret Chase Smith, who stood up for their country when it counted. I stood in the Kennedy Caucus Room a few months ago to receive the Robin F. Kennedy senior Human Rights Award, and it was very, very moving. And I realized standing there, that's the room where they held the Army McCarthy hearings in 1954, when the US Senate finally stood up to Joseph McCarthy. Four years after Margaret Chase Smith had stood up to him on the floor of the Senate. It took that one woman of courage. Susan Collins is not a person of courage. Those were tough times, but I'm running for the Senate now because I just looked at the news, I follow stuff, and I thought to myself, I can't look my grandchildren in the eye and not tell them that I did everything I could, go down there and change the chaos, the insanity, and stand up to the powers that be in Washington, D.C. and stand up to this bully in the White House as I did once in February in the White House. So I want to talk about that. I'll do it again. I want to talk about that because that was a national moment. And, you know, I obviously, I have followed your career and know that you have been a strong advocate for the people of Maine and for democratic causes. And when Donald Trump, for those of you who don't know, I think this was this in the East Wing before they bulldozed it, I think, was that where you were or wherever? You were in the White House somewhere and he turned to you. I know. I'm sure you were thrilled to be there regardless. But so Donald Trump turns to you. I want to go back. So when he turns to you and he starts going after you about this ridiculous issue with trans athletes and everything, before you spoke, what was going through your mind when he turned and looked right at you or was looking around for you? Like what's going through your mind before you gave the retort that you did? Yeah, there's the swear. She didn't say it out loud. Yeah, I didn't say that, but I felt like saying that. What? Right. No, but the astonishing thing was, Tim, he said, you're going to follow my executive order. And I said, I'm going to follow state and federal law. When he said then, he then said, I, we are the law. That was a jaw dropping moment for me as an American lawyer and as an American. No, you're not. That's when I said, I'll see you in court. What else could you say? But the surprising thing, and they did see him in court a few weeks later and we won. But the surprising thing to me was the headline in, I think the New York Times the next day was something surprising. Something happened in the White House today that has never happened before. Somebody stood up to Donald Trump to his face. I thought, that's never happened before. Why not? I think it's not equal to engage. It's supposed to be a dialogue. We're not supposed to be a dictatorship. He's not the law. The Constitution, as you know, says, the president shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed. Right. He can't make up a law or appeal a law by executive order, press release or Facebook post or tweet. That's not his job. The Congress annexed the laws. He executes them. Well, we know that's going. Well, right. Well, I think in that moment, you know, that was, I think you're right. There are not any people maybe, maybe early on in the prime, like the primaries in 15 and 16, like a little bit, but he owned them. And like that there, you very rarely see anybody. And I think that's the thing for Susan Collins. And I think that's the thing I want to communicate to Maynard's. She's never done that. Yes, she voted for impeachment on one of the occasions. But again, one before she knew, or she knew that the vote was going to fail. But like, she does not stand up for Maynard's. It is time. Like you said, how many hospitals, how many nursing homes are going to close? And she voted to advance that bill. And this, these illegal activities in the Caribbean on these boats that literally couldn't get to the United States, even if we let them. And she has done, she has done nothing about that. So I want to pivot a little bit. So obviously, you're still in the race, but your race has gotten a lot of attention for a lot of different reasons. I run a New York Senate. Did we say that? Yeah. Wait. Oh, Janet Mills, did you just announce that we just break news? So, but there has been a lot of talk, especially after last year's election with everything around Joe Biden, that if you are elected and you defeat Susan Collins in November, you will be the oldest freshman senator in United States history. Obviously, we saw what happened with Biden and with Harris. And there is concerns. I'm going to take a little bit of Susan Collins and say some concerns. Talk to the audience and our listeners here about why, why, why that should not concern them. Well, it's pretty clear. I'm not running for this job. I'm running for the U.S. Senate, by the way. I'm not running for the Senate to climb a career ladder or go down there and become a millionaire the way so many congressmen have done. I'm not going down there to build a resume. I'm going down there because I know that the times are so urgent. And the next few years are the most dangerous in our country's history. Going back to the civil war, the most urgent years in our country's history. And I know I could beat Susan Collins, take back the Senate and change the course of history. And that is why I'm doing this. I'm running for one term. I'm not crazy. I'm running for one term because I got a pretty powerful voice when I want to. And I will use my voice to make things happen in the next few years because these are the most critical years in our nation's history. I want to find myself going down there and start dialing for dollars and running for reelection on day one. On day one, I'll be there working for the main people instead. I don't want to find myself down there six years from now, running for reelection when I'm Bernie Sanders age. Okay. I know I'm like eight. I also know I'm in pretty good shape. I can do this job. And I'm there. I'm running for the US Senate. Did I say that? I did see a video of you doing shots off of a ski not too long ago. Can you explain something about that? Yeah, governor. The other two guys that messed it up. On the edge of the book, they screwed it up, not me. I hadn't practiced. I have an important question since we're talking about the Senate race. Of course. Since we're talking about the Senate race, I have a question I think probably everyone in the Senate race. She's running for Senate. She's running for Senate. I have a question. I think everyone in America is wondering maybe because we were recently shocked. I want to give you an opportunity right now to answer this question. Do you have any secret Nazi tattoos? Not today. You don't have any scheduled appointments between now and election day, right? No, I'm not a Tepoli kind. No. If I had a tattoo, it wouldn't be Grateful Dead probably. It wouldn't be a toky talk, to a cough. No. Well, not that. It's unoriginal. I don't have a tattoo to hide. I don't have any secret Reddit accounts that I have to put down. My life's been a pretty open book. And I think that's why I can win this thing too. I don't have those liabilities, the things. I've run two statewide campaigns and won two statewide races. And that's the difference between me and anybody else who's run against Susan Collins in the past. We've run good people, smart people, but we've run untested people. People who never won a statewide election. Sarah Gideon, lovely person. She never won a race outside her house district, which was like 7,000 people. Right. I've won two statewide races with increasing margins. I took on Paula Page and beat him by 13 points. Oh, I can be Susan Collins. Governor, you have to you have to be honest. How good did it feel when you saw that margin in your reelection? It felt damn good. And I saw him. He hasn't conceded. Really? He hasn't conceded. He says the election was stolen from him. He's never going to concede. He said it was all those illegals. Really? What? 86,000, 69,630 votes. Illegal votes would have been noticed somewhere in Maine. That's like three cities worth of Maine. I was going to say, how many undocumented immigrants are in Maine, like 47 or something? How many immigrants in Maine? 89,630? No, we don't have, but anyway, so look, I'm running for Senate. Did I say that? I'm running and I could beat Susan Collins because I have a track record of delivering things for Maine people. We put the largest investments in state history behind housing. We provided free school meals for all school kids. We elevated teacher salaries. We provided health care to 100,000 people. Did I say that before? Of course, five times. No, we've done all this stuff and it's hard work. And at the state level, we're losing out because the federal government is dropping the ball. And I can beat Susan Collins because I'm the only one who's delivering for Maine people because I actually want a race, a number of races, but two statewide races. And because I'm the only one in this primary who stood up to Donald Trump and I'll do it again. Right. Well, I want to make sure people know. I'm running for Senate. Did I say that? Yeah. Everybody, Governor Mills, is running for the United States Senate. I've heard of that. But I want to explain a little bit about the Paula Page thing and why that's such a big deal because he actually was a two-term governor and he was what a lot of people would say is was Donald Trump before Donald Trump. He was said horrific things constantly. He won because of a three-way race, a three-way race with another person that was an independent that we will not talk about. But then, you know, then he was term limited. Then he came back and Governor Mills beat him by over 13 points in that. And one of the things that I think is important about this that people also don't understand about Maine is the difference between the first and the second district. So I am from the first district from the great city of Bath and the greatest city in the state. And so I like from the southern part, but the governor, you are actually from the second district. Talk a little bit about your ability to reach out and work with rural voters because obviously like I mean, that's at 9000. So I'm not we're not talking metropolises like you said, but like the second district is very rural, which tends to and has voted for Donald Trump because we split the electoral votes, right? Three times. How do you get at least some of those people to vote for you? Well, I've also I'm from Farmington, the heart of the second district. I would say, but look, I ran for a legend. I ran for the legislature four times in one, always had an opponent. And I won in a rural district. I ran for attorney, I ran for governor in a seven way primary. And one, I ran in a four way general election and one, I ran against Paula Page and I beat him in his hometown of Lewiston. I beat him in the Oh, you're really losing the water. I beat him. Every year. Everywhere. So and I did very well in Bangor, Lewis and Auburn, the major towns in the second district. I'm still doing well in the second district. And the minor star is the people of Maine. And I've always tried to sort of say first district, second district, we're one main. When I work on housing, I talk about housing for everybody. We have a rural rental relief program doing housing in the rural areas of the second district. When I talk about health care, I talk about rural health care. When I talk about school funding, which were the first person to fully fund schools, history of the state, we talk about rural schools and rural kids needing school meals and whatnot. And when we talk about energy, we talk about wind power, solar power, and we talk about the rural areas. It's all about Maine as a whole. We talked about we worked on I worked on gun bills. Six years ago, sort of a so called yellow flag bill, we're for hundreds of hours on this bill that was, we got people around the table, pro gun, anti gun, sports people, forensic psychologists, law enforcement. We put a bill in the legislature. That bill got a unanimous vote in the state senate 35 to zip. And it went down to the house and it got a vote of I think about 136 to nine. Who does that on a gun bill? That was a second district and first district bill. And then two years ago, we did the same with background checks, limiting them to commercial sales, such and making it a felony to provide a gun to somebody who knows not pre who was prohibited. And we did that. Big votes. Those are controversial issues. I've worked to bring people around the table and workers comp on social justice issues on gun bills and whatnot. And that's the way I sway I roll. I tell you, I'm running for the Senate. I think you have and I think you've made a compelling, compelling case. We do have I do have one final bit. And actually, I would I should tell people the main legislature, in particular the Senate, I just want people to know the main legislature is very split. There are not huge margins on the Democratic and Republican side, especially in the Senate. So that 35 to zero is a lot of Republicans and that vote in the house is also a lot of Republicans. And I think it's important to tell people that how significant it is, especially since in 2016, the state voted down a background checks bill. So that I think is an important distinction. And another another thing in your cap for running running for Senate. Rich, you have a question. I've got some very important ones to wrap us up. Yeah, I just I have to know this. So there are two people on the call right now from Maine, neither of you are my favorite Mainers. I'm so sorry. Oh, I mean, you know what's coming. If you know Maine, you know what's coming. Stephen King is the greatest Mainer who ever lived. And so my question is a two parter. One is, are you going to have a chamber? Yeah, Joshua Chamberlain's up there. I got I put him above Stephen King. But go ahead, Rich. Hmm. We'll talk about that later off camera. Will you have Stephen King's endorsement going into the Senate election? And then to what is your favorite Stephen King book? Oh, number two first. If you if you haven't read a short story, he wrote called Mrs. Todd's Shortcut. It's one of his it's one of his early anthologies. I think it's a night watch or something like that. And it's a 1215 page short story about Rhodes in Maine. And it really describes Maine. All right, sign me up. I don't even know that one. I've read 30 of his books and half of his short stories, but I haven't read that one. I've read everything he's ever written. That is a niche pick. That's his writing, although it is a really good he's a great writer. Of course. I love reading about how he tells other people to write. He says, get rid of adverbs. They're like dandelions in your in your garden. You stop one, they go all over the place. It's so true. I don't know if you'll endorse. I'd love to have his endorsement, but I haven't talked to him recently. So there you go. But Mrs. Todd's Shortcut. Got it. Mrs. Todd. All right. So we have had we have had both well, two of your challenges, one of which has said, dropped out and endorsed you, which was Dan Kleban and who also makes me my favorite beer. And of course, it comes from Maine lunch. We've also had grand fighters. So lunch is lunch is the best. Anyways, I'm not going to ask you your favorite beer in Maine because you're going to get in trouble because there's too many good ones. So I'm not going to do that to you. But I've got a couple of two breweries right up. Right. Right. So I've got some some main questions for you. Question one, lobster roll, butter or mayonnaise? Hellman's Mayo. Yes. Yes. You're the first person to get that correct. Okay, you're up. Next one. Next one. We're going we're going further. Moxie, delicious or disgusting? Oh, no. I don't like it. Okay. I'm sorry. I've got a moxie parade. I've had a moxie recipe contest. It was one of the worst days of the year. An egg dish with moxie sauce, who would deserve with moxie crea- it was okay. Okay. Anyway, you know, it's it's highly controversial and it has a very bitter flavor. I like it, but I had my wife who's from California try it. She's with you. Absolutely not. It's between root beer and gasoline. Yeah. With some dirt thrown in. I'm just going to take the root beer, honestly. Okay. Okay. We're going to. So this one, this one is very, very important. Where, what city do the best shipbuilders in the world come from? Oh, come on. I see. Is it Topsum? Oh, Governor Sears? Bath. Yes. Yes. You are also the first one to get that correct, Governor. And I'm only going to, I'm going to ask you the last one, the last one that will stop because I know we're over. I'm not going to make you do it, but could you sing the 16 counties song if you had to? Oh, Jesus. No. I can recite it, but I can. I can't. I can't either. I can't do it. I can't. 16 counties in our state. Many, many times. I've been to almost every town in Maine at least once and I have campaigned with younger candidates all over the state of Maine. I know every road, every school, every Grange hall, every barber shop and beauty salon, every main street in the state of Maine. Thanks for running for Senate. I think you did. I think you did a couple of times, but if people want to support you, where do they go online? There we go. Mills for Maine. Mills for Maine. Mills for Maine. So go there and support the governor. Thank you very much for agreeing to do this and with this clown show of guys. And happy holidays to you. And I just want to say one more thing before we go. What's that? I like guys. I was married to a... Yeah, it's all you home with us. But in all seriousness, though, I also want to just say thank you for your response during COVID. My parents were both in their 60s living in Bath at the time. And I think that Maine and your leadership on COVID was some of the best in the country. And I don't think you guys got enough credit for all the things you do. And as having parents that were in that sort of danger zone, I won't say how old my mom is now because she'll get mad at me. But I just want to thank you because I know you got a lot of pressure from Republicans and conservatives to not do the things that you did, which did in fact keep Mainers safe. And I just want to thank you and I want to make sure people know that because there's been a bit of whitewashing about COVID. But that was really, really important. So I just want to thank you for that. And I think the country thanks you for that as well. So with that, Governor, thank you very much. There's a book about... Oh, really? There's a real quote. In other words, lead... Yep, just came out in paperback. In other words, leadership. Anyway, thank you guys too. I love it. Well, thank you, Governor. Governor Mills is running for the United States Senate. And no matter where you are in the country, you can support her at Mills for Maine. Thank you again, Governor. We may do... Next year, we may do a show live in Maine. So we're going to invite you. So we may see you again sometime soon. So thank you very much. And have a great weekend and everybody. We'll talk to you soon.
