Maine’s Economy Didn’t Just Stall — Eight Years of Mills-Era Policy Helped Put It There

AUGUSTA, Maine – After nearly eight years of Janet Mills in office and years of Democratic control in Augusta, Maine’s economy is no longer merely trailing by perception. The latest federal data shows Maine posted just 0.3 percent real GDP growth year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2025, one of the weakest performances in the country and the weakest in New England. Neighboring New Hampshire came in at 2.7 percent, Massachusetts at 3.3 percent, and Connecticut at2.8 percent.

https://www.bea.gov/news/2026/gdp-second-estimate-4th-quarter-and-year-2025

That is not a small gap. That is a glaring warning sign.

For years, Mainers have been told that bigger government, higher spending, aggressive regulation, and politically managed economic planning would produce stability and prosperity. Instead, Maine has ended up with sluggish growth, rising costs, and a government that keeps asking taxpayers to shoulder more while getting less in return. The Mills administration argues its economic program has delivered results, pointing to job gains, business filings, credit upgrades, and more than $1 billion in the Budget Stabilization Fund.

But those talking points do not erase the harder truth now visible in the data. An economy can post low unemployment and still be fundamentally weak. Maine’s Department of Labor reported the state’s unemployment rate at 3.3 percent in January 2026, unchanged for 13 months, while nonfarm jobs had been near 660,000 for the last 21 months. That is not the profile of a booming economy. It is the profile of a state treading water.

And while the economy has sputtered, the cost of living has kept climbing. Maine’s Office of the Public Advocate reported that CMP’s standard electricity rates rose about 20 percent to12.72 cents per kWh in 2026, while both Versant territories also saw sizable increases. For families already stretched by housing, fuel, food, and taxes, that is not a policy abstraction. It is another monthly hit.

That is where the fraud issue becomes even more politically toxic.

When the economy is strong, taxpayers are still angry about waste and abuse, but the burden can be partially masked by rising incomes and broader growth. In a state barely growing at all, every dollar lost to fraud, waste, and improper payments hits harder. It means honest taxpayers, employers, and workers are being asked to prop up a bloated system at exactly the moment Maine can at least afford it.

That concern is no longer hypothetical. In January, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General said Maine made at least $45.6 million in improper fee-for-service Medicaid payments tied to rehabilitative and community support services for children diagnosed with autism. The OIG said those payments were improper because Maine did not always meet federal and state requirements for documentation and service eligibility.

That kind of finding lands differently in a state with 0.3 percent GDP growth. It means taxpayers are being told to accept economic underperformance while also footing the bill for government failures that should have been caught, prevented, or clawed back. It means families struggling with higher power bills and employers facing tighter margins are effectively subsidizing mismanagement. And it means every Democratic promise about “investment” deserves far more scrutiny, because too often in Augusta, “investment” has looked a lot like spending first and accountability later.

The Mills administration, of course, will argue that Maine has added jobs, seen strong business creation, and weathered national economic headwinds better than many states. That is their case, and those numbers are part of the record. But after eight years, the governor and the Democratic majority also own the full balance sheet. They own the spending choices. They own the regulatory climate. They own the affordability squeeze. And when Maine is sitting at the bottom of New England on growth, they own that too.

Mainers do not need more polished press releases about how government is “working for people.” They need an economy that grows. They need energy costs that do not keep climbing. They need a state government that treats fraud as a crisis, not a public relations problem. And they need leaders who understand that in a stagnant economy, every wasted tax dollar matters even more.

The latest GDP numbers should end the spin. Maine is lagging. The bills are getting higher. Fraud and improper payments are draining confidence and public money. And after years of one-party control, Janet Mills and Augusta Democrats can no longer blame anyone else for the mess.