Democrat Janet Mills will be sworn in today as Maine’s 75th governor. The 71-year-old from a prominent Farmington family becomes Maine’s first female governor. Watch the swearing-in and her inaugural speech here.
Thank you for being with us this evening. Click here to read a draft of Janet Mills’ inaugural address. We will have more analysis of the speech on Thursday. Welcome home and good night.
Of the more than a dozen attendees I spoke with before the ceremony started, Gov.-elect Mills’ inauguration is the first inauguration most have attended. One woman caught a ride by herself from Cushing to witness history, she said. Others invited friends and family to come with them. As Carol Locke of Portland said, “I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.”
Maulian Dana, the tribal ambassador for the Penobscot Nation, is one of those introducing Mills tonight. Tribes have long had a difficult relationship with the state and the Penobscot Nation joined progressive groups in a letter critical of Mills during her primary campaign. However, Mills recently backed the tribe in its campaign to retire Skowhegan’s “Indian” mascot.
Offering a prayer before Mills’ inauguration is the Rev. Kenneth T. Lewis, the pastor of Green Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church in Portland, which traces its roots to the Abyssinian Society, a congregation that began in 1828 after 22 black residents successfully petitioned the Legislature to let them start their own church because of discrimination at other…
