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.
And the democrats will keep voting for this, why because they do not care. These stats should be hung around every single democrat in Maine running, from local elections to federal elections. Hannah, Troy, Shah, etc have all played a role in where we are today and punishing the successful with higher taxes will only make it worse.
Vote Republican so we don’t have to move. Vote Bobby Charles along with a straight Republican ticket.
Trump is casing a huuuge global economic crisis right now. Catch up!
Great job, unrefutable data. This will all be denied.
In 30 years. Major industries closed and gone.
GREAT NORTHERN PAPER, STATLER TISSUE, PEJEBSCOT PAPER, GEORGIA PACIFIC,LINCOLN PULP & PAPER, OTIS, I.P., SCOTT, MADISON, GARDINER, CHAMPION, EASTERN FINE, SD WARREN
DEXTER SHOES, BASS SHOES.
PRIDE SPORTS, LUMBRA LUMBER, SYLVANIA.
BATES, BIDDEFORD TEXTILES, SUNBEAM
TOO MANY SMALL, “MOM & POP” SHOPS THAT SIMPLY GAVE UP.
TAKE A LOOK A BANGOR…EMPTY.
TAKE A LOOK AT LEWSITON-AUBURN, SOMALI WELFARE STATE..
TAKE A LOOK AT PORTLAND, DRUGS AND BROKEN FOLKS AT EVERY CORNER AND SMALL BUSINSSES CLOSED. BARS, RESTAURANT COFFEE SHOPS, TOURIST ATTRACTIONS. CLOSED AND BOARDED UP..
OOB IS EMPTY ON THE FOURTH OF JULY WEEK…EMPTY.
LUMBER STRUGGLING, BOATBUILDERS CLOSING AND/OR STRUGGLING. NO WORKERS. THEY ARE DESPERATE AND CANNOT FILL ORDERS.
THOSE FIRMS THAT REMAIN OPEN, CANNOT FIND WORKERS. THE STATE IS NOT TRAINING, THE KIDS ARE NOT STAYING. HIGHEST FLIGHT OF YOUNG KIDS IN THE NATION. WHY STAY?
THESE ARE SIMPLY FACTS. CANNOT BE REFUTED OR DENIED. WITHOUT MASSIVE PUBLIC ASSISTANCE, THESE TOWNS AFFECTED WOULD BE GHOST TOWNS. THEY PRETY MUCH ARE NOW.
MILLINOCKET, LINCOLN, JAY, BUCKSPORT…DEAD!
THERE IS NO INTEREST IN BUSINESS RELOCATING TO MAINE OR EXPANDING IN MAINE. WHY? TAXES, ENERGY, INSURANCE, LACK OF YOUNG AND TRAINED WORK FORCE. TRANSPORTATION. POOR EDUCATION WITH TEACHERS WHO SIMPLY DO NOT CARE. WORKING TO RETIRE.
REALITY SUCKS. THE DENIERS WILL CONTINUE TO DENY. THE LIBERALS WILL CONTINUE TO MAKE POLICY THAT DRIVES WEALTH OUT OF THE STATE. BLAME WILL FIND A HOME, IT ALWAYS DOES.
“LETS TAX THE BILLIONAIRES”. STAND ON THE STREET CORNERS AND THE OVERPASSES AND SPEW THIS SHIT.,THERE IS ONLY ONE BILLIONAIRE IN MAINE. SUSAN ALFOND. A GREAT WOMAN, FROM A GRAT FAMILY WITH GREAT SIBLINGS WHO DO NOTHING BUT GIVE AWAY THEIR HARD EARNED WEALTH TO SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS, COMMUNITY CENTERS, ELDERLY HOUSING, TONWS, ETC. SURE BEAT UP UP ON THE WEALTHY. THAT IS THE ANSWER TO ABJECT FAILURE OF OUR STATE LEADERS. FIND FAULY, CAST BLAME, AVOID THE PROBLEM,, MOVE ON, LEAVE THIS MESS TO SOMEONE ELSE?
OUR LEADERS ARE NOT SMART, NOT WELL EDUCATED, NOT EXPERIENCED AND ARROGANT TO THE CORE. THEY ARE CLUESS, LOST IN THE FOREST AND HAVE NO WAY OUT. THE HOSUE OF CARDS IS COLLAPSING, “MOORES LAW”? AND THEY CANNOT STOP IT. THEY ARE ALOS VERY GOOD LIARS AND LOSE THEIR INTEGRITY IN AUGUSTA. HONESTY IS SUCKED OUT OF THEM ALL FOR THE SAKE OF THEIR OWN INTERESTS.
LETS FIND MORE TAXES. TAX THE WELTHY, TAX THE TOURISTS, TAX THE FOLKS FROM AWAY, TAX BIG HOUSES, TAX ON TAXES. JUST KEEP TAXING. AN AWESOME SOLUTION AS WE RUN OUT OF PEOPLE AND TALENT.
THIS WILL NOT CHANGE…REALITY SUCKS. MAYBE THERE ARE SOLID REBUTTALS OUT THERE CAN BE SHARED WITH REASON AND THOUGHT. I DOUBT THAT. ATTACK, DISCREDIT, LIE, DENY, DENY, DENY.
WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER. WE PROSPER OR WE DIE TOGETHER. THE ELECTED FOLSK WILL CONTINUE TO PIT US AGAINST EACH OTHER…DIVIDE AND CONQUER.
PLATNER IS SIMPLY A FINAL DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO VALIDATE THE FAILURE OF THIS GOVERNMENT. TOTALLY UNQUALIFED ON EVERY LEVEL. ONCE THE LEADERS REALIZED THIS FACT, THEY DUMPED HIM AND ARE NOW LOOKING FOR THE NEXT LYING HERO. THERE ARE PLENTY OF THEM, THE GOOD FOLKS ARE HONEST OR HAVE LEFT THE STATE.
AT THE END OF THE DAY, CAN THOSE WHO STAND WITH STUPID SIGNS AND BANNERS TURN OF THE LIGHTS?
Massholes and rabid environmentalists (but I repeat myself) have destroyed this state.
Prove me wrong.
Ma$$ho!es and rabid enviroterrorists have destroyed this state.
Prove me wrong.
338.00 dollars for last months electric bill. Just two seniors in a modest ranch house.
This is what the jackass party does, they destroy everything they control. Those who vote for them are complicit in that destruction. Treat those people accordingly.
What the democrats are masters of is deflecting and distracting from the real issues at hand.
An example in my community is state Senator Dan Sayre who puts out a monthly newsletter stating all the issues that he is working on to make our community and Maine better. It all sounds great but he doesn’t mention that all these ills were caused by and made worse by his parties solutions. A solution is not solving a problem if it creates more problems that then demand more useless solutions. You see an endless pattern here? That’s what ungrounded democrat leadership has been doing and will continue to do until voted out.
By the way, Sayre always ends throwing is a solid dig about Trump.
This cycle of dishonesty and deceit while catering to special interest in Maine needs to end.
Today begs for grounded principled leaders who are focused on serving every Mainer and not primarily special interest.
The manipulation of preying on people’s emotions needs to end.
We’ve vacationed in Maine every year for the past 30 years. It’s truly sad at the level of decline we’ve witnessed in every area of the state. Liberal and progressive leadership has destroyed the state to a level I don’t see how it recovers. They now have the welfare state they wanted.
Maine is the North Korea of the US. The Hermit Kingdom.
@Phil, the unions drove out more than a few of those businesses, add in more and more regulations and taxes, why wouldn’t they close or move.
I know I would close or move if the company I owned wanted to unionize. Maine is not a business friendly State.
Don’t worry about losing our younger or aged skilled workers. Janet Mills has a crap load of non- english speaking asylum seekers to replace them.
Ephesians 4:14
And the truth is WE THE PEOPLE DONT ENGAGE AT TOWN, COUNTY OR STATE LEVELS. We, I, am good at bitching. But we all should say shame on me for allowing government to dictate how to use money they dont earn. Your and my money.
Get off your ass and go to meetings. Help get everybody to the polls.
Dem spenders count on Repubs to be complacent…get in the game.
Just got my new propety tax bill. Houise payment going up over $1,000 per year. When does it end? It will not so long as we keep paying for those who do not contribute, care nothing about our country, do not speak english and do not to want to learn.
The system is totally broken and we vote for the same fools, same liars, same grifters.
Spend, spend and spend some more. Save nothing, redcue nothing, embezzle everything. Give it away to “the needy”. Keep it up, Maine is running out of time.
The national ranking on infrastructure is not surprising. In one example, Maine DOT is insisting on raising a bridge over the railroad track here in Freeport, but the rail freight traffic will never require a higher bridge. We need to start taxing EVs (I drive one!) and DOT should concentrate on preserving existing infrastructure.
It’s a race to the bottom. Wake up people vote for a change not the same old Dem song and dance.
One correction: Maine ranks first not last in property tax burden.
In the democupts sick warped minds everything is just jim dandy. They simply don’t live in reality. The fact that these morons believe men can give birth. Is a big tip off.