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Home ยป News ยป News ยป Midgley Fires Back at Nirav Shah, Touts Business Experience and Economic Agenda During Lewiston Press Conference
News

Midgley Fires Back at Nirav Shah, Touts Business Experience and Economic Agenda During Lewiston Press Conference

Jon FetherstonBy Jon FetherstonJune 4, 2026Updated:June 4, 20269 Comments4 Mins Read
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LEWISTON, Maine – Republican candidate for governor Ben Midgley held a press conference Wednesday at Valโ€™s Drive-In in Lewiston, where he pushed back against criticism from Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dr. Nirav Shah and outlined his vision for rebuilding Maineโ€™s economy.

Speaking before supporters and members of the media, Midgley accused Shah of dismissing his economic proposals without understanding them, saying the former Maine CDC director had referred to his plans as โ€œfantasy mathโ€ despite never hearing the details.

โ€œI am the detailed guy,โ€ Midgley said, contrasting his own economic platform with what he described as โ€œChat GPT fluff plansโ€ reliant on more taxpayer spending.

Midgley said he has spent the last 10 months traveling across Maine, putting more than 68,000 miles on his truck while meeting with people in more than 50 industries and discussing issues affecting the state.

โ€œI listened to the struggles of people all over the state,โ€ he said. โ€œI have had people break down in tears in my arms on numerous occasions.โ€

Throughout the press conference, Midgley repeatedly contrasted his background in the private sector with Shahโ€™s career in government and public health administration.

โ€œI spent mine building businesses and creating jobs,โ€ Midgley said. โ€œHe has never met a payroll, heโ€™s never built a company, and he has never created a job.โ€

Midgley detailed his personal history, saying he had once relied on unemployment benefits and food stamps before building a company โ€œfrom the ground upโ€ into an operation spanning 500 locations in 46 states and six countries, generating more than $1 billion in revenue and creating over 15,000 jobs.

The speech focused heavily on the economy, government spending, and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Midgley sharply criticized Gov. Janet Mills and Shah for their handling of the pandemic, arguing that shutdown policies damaged Maine businesses, schools, and industries while expanding the size and cost of government.

โ€œWhile families and business owners struggled to survive, the government grew, spending exploded, and Augusta became even more disconnected from the people that it serves,โ€ he said.

Midgley pointed to Maineโ€™s state budget growth under the Mills administration, noting that it took Maine roughly 200 years to reach a $7 billion state budget before growing to approximately $12 billion in just seven years.

โ€œThat is $5 billion more of taxpayer money taken from hardworking Maine families,โ€ he said.

He also cited state economic forecasts showing little or no projected job growth through 2029, blaming what he called failed policy decisions from Augusta Democrats.

โ€œYou canโ€™t do that bad if you are trying to do that bad,โ€ Midgley said.

Energy costs, healthcare challenges, welfare dependency, drug overdoses, homelessness, and workforce shortages were all highlighted as symptoms of broader economic decline.

Midgley argued that state energy mandates and subsidy programs have driven electricity prices higher for families and businesses, while regulatory burdens and delayed reimbursements have contributed to financial strain on hospitals, particularly in rural Maine.

TONIGHT: Join @LocalPoliticsis, @Ben_Midgley4Gov, and many others for a community conversation aimed at ending gun violence in Lewiston.

๐Ÿ•› 7:00 PM
๐Ÿ“777 Main Street, Lewiston

Let's all join forces and engage in dialogue on how to restore peace to the city ๐Ÿ™ pic.twitter.com/1Is0glXXnP

— The Maine Wire (@TheMaineWire) June 3, 2026

He also criticized the scale of Maineโ€™s welfare system, claiming more than 400,000 people receive state benefits while approximately 750,000 residents pay taxes.

โ€œThese folks on the welfare system have no way off the system because thatโ€™s how the Democrats set it up,โ€ he said.

The speech turned personal at times as Midgley referenced losing a nephew to a drug overdose and condemned Maineโ€™s continuing struggles with addiction and overdose deaths.

โ€œBeing in the top 10 for drug overdoses and drug deaths still, after all this time, is shameful,โ€ he said.

Midgley framed the race as a choice between what he called the โ€œstatus quoโ€ of Augusta Democrats and a private-sector approach focused on cutting spending, lowering taxes, reducing fraud, and creating jobs.

โ€œMaine does not need another lawyer, lobbyist, or government bureaucrat,โ€ he said. โ€œWe need a CEO.โ€

Closing the press conference, Midgley said Maine residents should not accept rising costs, economic stagnation, and social problems as inevitable.

โ€œWe can have affordable energy, we can have safer communities, we can have lower taxes,โ€ he said. โ€œWe can stop these drug deaths, we can stop the fraud, we can fix homelessness, we can address our mental health needs, and we can grow this economy.โ€

โ€œThatโ€™s not fantasy,โ€ he added. โ€œThatโ€™s leadership.โ€

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Jon Fetherston

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Gardiner Schneider
Gardiner Schneider
8 days ago

Perhaps the Maine Wire could do an article on Shah’s time in the running of a large VA hospital in Illinois where he misdiagnosed an epidemic of Legionaire’s disease that severely sicken something like 75 Vets and killed 15 of them. I have read that he ran away from that disaster as fast and far as he could….and ended up being hired by the democrats here in Maine. As a ‘Nam era U S Navy vet, I do not want this man in charge of anything in my State of Maine.

12
Bingo
Bingo
8 days ago

Shah is a carpetbbagger, with a whole lot of blood on his hands.

10
Louisewoods
Louisewoods
8 days ago

Midgley and Shaw .
Soon to be TINY ( Microscopic ) footnotes in the history of Maineโ€™s political elections .

1
Islander
Islander
8 days ago

It is nice to have more than one successful business owner running. Guys that built their own business, met a payroll, not big government people from DC. Ben will be a good governor for Maine.

7
sandy
sandy
8 days ago

Mills and Shah shutting down of the State during covert hurt the the tourist industry in Maine to a point that it still has not recovered.
The Democrat’s non science approach and their support of China drug farms (pot) has sickened our population.

12
LuntersHaptop
LuntersHaptop
7 days ago

Vote Midgley

Charles is a career politician/ deep state

-1
Kafir2022
Kafir2022
5 days ago

The Covid scamdemic was โ€œDemocideโ€ and it was deliberate. Both Nimrod Shah and Jackboot Janet were in on it and should be in prison.

1
Irish Girl
Irish Girl
5 days ago

If Shah is the Democrats’ nominee, we need someone who will attract Democrats and Independents to the Republican side. We need a highly motivated self-starter like Bobby Charles – NOT milquetoast Midgley.

-1
Irish Girl
Irish Girl
4 days ago

Only “We the People,” with our votes, can put a leader in the Maine governor’s office who knows how to clean up the corruption that has ravaged our state and can address as well the economic, education, immigration and many other issues plaguing Maine. Normal Democrats and Independents won’t see any difference between Shah and Milquetoast Midgley – but they will see Bobby Charles as an energetic leader with the experience, determination and integrity to bring back the Maine we’ve known and loved.

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