Maine GOP Candidate Bush Says Voters Tired of Current Governor
Republican gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Bush claims Maine voters are ready for change after decades of political shifts, criticizing Democratic rivals for extreme policies.
Speaking with Breitbart News Saturday host Matthew Boyle, Bush pushed back against perceptions of Maine as a solidly blue state, characterizing it instead as purple and trending Republican.
According to Breitbart News, Bush emphasized that Maine has alternated control of the governor’s mansion every eight years for the last eighty years. With current Democratic Governor Janet Mills term-limited, the Republican candidate argued that voters are ready for change but face a field of Democratic candidates drawn entirely from the Mills administration.
Democratic Field Competing on Radical Positions
Boyle referenced reporting from the Maine Morning Star highlighting how several Democratic gubernatorial candidates have embraced extreme policy positions, including promises to grant full sovereignty to the Wabanaki Nations. Bush responded by pointing to what he sees as a Democratic focus on tax increases without corresponding economic growth.
Bush described what he calls the Bartender List — a collection of policy positions that sound reasonable in Maine’s left-leaning political environment but would be considered absurd elsewhere in the country.
Crime, Addiction, and Quality of Life Concerns
The Republican candidate painted a stark picture of conditions in Portland, Maine, describing scenes of open drug use and public disorder he witnessed while walking through what he termed the city’s Zombie Alley with a reporter. Bush stated that law enforcement officers are prevented from making arrests in these situations.
Among the policy proposals from Democratic frontrunners, Bush cited a plan to ban gas stoves as an example of the party’s disconnection from practical concerns of Maine residents.
Fiscal Record and Economic Vision
Bush pointed to fiscal mismanagement under Democratic leadership, noting that the state has doubled its budget without matching economic growth. He stated that Maine recently raised taxes again despite already ranking as the fifth highest taxed state in the country and the fifth poorest state.
The state responded to this combination by making itself the third highest taxed state in the nation, Bush said, comparing the approach to a business raising prices on a product that is not selling.
Drawing on his business background, Bush stated he has brought 1,000 jobs to Maine and knows how to replicate that success statewide. He outlined a vision centered on reducing taxes, cutting bureaucracy, and changing the state’s attitude to capitalize on what he described as outstanding people, landscape, available space, and heritage industries.
With information from Breitbart News
