For years, Mainers have been told everything is fine.
If you question the direction of the state, you’re accused of being negative. If you point to declining rankings, you’re told the statistics are misleading. If you raise concerns about taxes, energy costs, education, crime, or the economy, you’re dismissed as being partisan.
Enough.
Maine has real problems, and pretending otherwise won’t solve them.
A policy memo recently distributed by Common Sense for Maine compiles a series of statistics from publicly available sources that paint a troubling picture of where the state stands today. While every ranking has its own methodology and individual statistics can be debated, the cumulative message is impossible to ignore.
According to the memo:
- Maine leads the nation in child abuse rates…roughly double the national average.
- Maine’s infrastructure ranks dead last, receiving an F grade.
- Maine experienced the nation’s largest increase in electricity rates during 2025, with rates rising 36.3 percent.
- Maine ranks last in property tax burden.
- The state is projected to experience zero job growth between 2027 and 2029.
- Maine has the fourth-highest individual tax burden in America.
- Maine ranks 46th in ease of starting a business.
- Maine’s public education system ranks 41st nationally.
- Maine ranks 43rd in overall freedom.
- Maine’s economy ranks 43rd in the nation.
Those aren’t conservative talking points.
They’re warning signs.
And yet, many of the politicians seeking higher office this November appear determined to campaign as though none of it exists.
Instead of talking about skyrocketing electric bills, they talk about Donald Trump.
Instead of discussing why Maine families pay some of the nation’s highest tax burdens, they debate national political controversies.
Instead of explaining why businesses continue to struggle or why young people leave the state after graduation, they recycle the same partisan talking points heard on cable television.
Meanwhile, the problems continue to pile up.
Parents wonder why educational outcomes continue to lag.
Homeowners watch their property tax bills climb year after year.
Small businesses face rising energy costs and increasingly burdensome regulations.
Communities struggle with housing shortages, addiction, child welfare failures, and aging infrastructure.
These are not Republican problems.
They are not Democratic problems.
They are Maine problems.
Yet denial has become the governing philosophy in Augusta.
Rather than acknowledging shortcomings, too many elected officials prefer to celebrate incremental successes while ignoring broader declines. They point to ribbon cuttings while roads crumble. They tout new spending while families struggle to afford groceries, heating oil, electricity, and housing.
Mainers deserve honesty.
No governor creates every problem facing a state, and no legislature controls every economic force. Inflation, federal policy, demographics, and national trends all play a role.
But leadership matters.
After years of one-party control in Augusta, voters have every right to ask whether the policies being pursued are producing the results they were promised.
If Maine ranks near the bottom in economic growth, business climate, tax burden, infrastructure, and educational outcomes, it is fair to ask whether the current approach is working.
That isn’t negativity.
That’s accountability.
Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of this election cycle is that several of the leading Democratic candidates continue to campaign as though Maine is headed in the right direction. They speak passionately about national politics while offering few concrete answers for the issues affecting families in Bangor, Lewiston, Presque Isle, Machias, Sanford, Rumford, or Portland.
The reality facing everyday Mainers is becoming harder to ignore.
Higher taxes.
Higher electric bills.
An aging population.
A shrinking workforce.
Businesses choosing to invest elsewhere.
Young families questioning whether they can afford to stay.
None of those problems disappear simply because politicians refuse to acknowledge them.
The first step toward fixing Maine is admitting that Maine needs fixing.
That requires leaders willing to confront uncomfortable facts instead of explaining them away.
This November, voters should ask every candidate one simple question:
If Maine is doing so well, why does it rank so poorly in so many of the measures that matter most to working families?
Until Augusta is willing to answer that question honestly, the state’s decline will continue, not because Maine lacks potential, but because too many of its leaders refuse to admit there’s a problem.
