By Michael Shepherd - March 8, 2022
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Good morning from Augusta.

What we're watching today

The governor leaned heavily on her management of the COVID-19 pandemic in a campaign launch video. Let's be clear: Gov. Janet Mills has been running for reelection since the middle of 2019. While Mills has kept most of her public focus on official business since former Gov. Paul LePage launched his campaign to oust her this summer, she revved up her fundraising and campaign apparatus.

The Democratic governor began a traditional phase of campaigning on Tuesday with a video launch that confirmed well-laid plans for another term. These types of set-piece launches are less informative than big kickoff rallies, but they give an early window into Mills' early strategy.

Maine has been spared the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic relative to other states. While Republicans have hammered Mills' early economic restrictions and a vaccine mandate for health care workers, the state is sitting on an estimated $1.2 billion budget surplus through the middle of next year, putting the governor in a position to fund her agenda. She leaned on her record in the video, which featured Mainers reading letters they sent to the governor.

“You deserve every ounce of hard-won progress we have achieved, and you have earned all the progress yet to come,” Mills said in the video.

The first longshot primary hopeful in a top-tier Maine race has made the ballot. That would be Caratunk Selectman Liz Caruso, who said late Monday that she has qualified for the Republican primary in Maine's 2nd Congressional District. She is a bit of a party-spoiler for U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin, a Republican who is mapping out a rematch of his 2018 loss to Democratic Rep. Jared Golden. Poliquin may now be the only one of the current or former officeholders in top-tier 2022 races here facing a primary.

It may not be much more than an annoyance for Poliquin, a strong fundraiser who narrowed his money gap with Golden through the end of 2021 and has support from national Republicans. Caruso raised just $16,000, a total that looks more like a legislative campaign. But the former congressman has struggled to excite the Republican base in the past. Any primary makes for a more uncertain path to November, making it something to watch.

Candidates only have another week to qualify for primaries. Speaking of primaries, Maine party candidates have another week to submit signatures to qualify for the ballot, a formality for well-heeled campaigns. We are still waiting on Mills and Poliquin. LePage and Golden have qualified. There are still longshots running for primary spots alongside LePage and Mills, plus a final round of legislative challengers. Independent candidates have until June to qualify for the November ballot.

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What we're reading

— Members of the Legislature's transportation committee were skeptical on Monday of a Republican lawmaker's proposal to suspend the gas tax through the end of 2022. Sens. Bill Diamond, D-Windham, and Brad Farrin, R-Norridgewock, said they wanted more information on the idea from Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, before issuing opinions on it. Both indicated a desire to keep transportation funding steady. The tax is expected to generate $184 million for the rest of the year as the main state-side source of road and bridge funding. Libby's proposal came on the same day gas prices neared record levels here. See where Maine's highest and lowest prices were as of last night here.

— A Maine man who suffered in isolation told lawmakers on Monday that solitary confinement happens in the state. The comments from Zachary Swain, who was the subject of a Bangor Daily News investigation published this summer and was released from prison last week, estimated he spent 3 1/2 years in solitary confinement under a state definition. Corrections Commissioner Randall Liberty said recently that the state does not use solitary confinement. A state official confirmed Monday that the department uses isolation in some cases.

— Mills' pick for the Maine Supreme Judicial Court would be the first Black justice on the state's high court. District Judge Rick Lawrence, a 22-year veteran of Maine's legal system who typically serves three western counties, was nominated to replace retiring Justice Ellen Gorman on Monday. Lawrence faces a confirmation hearing and must be approved by the Maine Senate.

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Follow along today

9 a.m. The judiciary panel has scheduled a long day of work on a Democratic bill aimed at reviving "buffer zones" around abortion clinics and key tribal-rights measures. Watch here.

9:30 a.m. A bill from Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, that looks to strengthen sexual assault prevention policies at Maine universities will have a public hearing before the education committee. Watch here.

10 a.m. The health insurance panel will work on prescription drug measures from Jackson and other Democrats. Watch here.

The budget committee is set for the last round of hearings on Mills' supplemental budget proposal. The sporting, marine resources and energy panels will join appropriators in that order into the afternoon to hear briefings on their areas of the document. Watch here.

11:30 a.m. LePage holds a news conference to unveil what his campaign is only calling a "policy proposal" at F.O. Bailey Real Estate in Falmouth.

12 p.m. Mills participates in a panel discussion on women in leadership at Eastern Maine Community College in Bangor.

3:15 p.m. U.S. Sen. Susan Collins meets with U.S. Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson. The Republican widely seen as the most likely in her party to back President Joe Biden's pick is expected to take questions from reporters after the meeting.

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📷 Lead photo: Gov. Janet Mills greets the Legislature before delivering her State of the State Address from the State House in Augusta on Feb. 10, 2022. (Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald via AP)

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