The comment marked the first time Gov. Mills has spoken to the press publicly since her tense exchange with President Trump.
AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Janet Mills called Maine’s current policy of allowing transgender athletes in women’s sports “worthy of a debate” in the Legislature, adding that it is not something the executive branch has the power to change.
The response Monday marked the first time the Democratic governor has spoken publicly to reporters since her tense exchange with President Donald Trump last month over his threats to withhold federal funds if the state does not adhere to the White House’s executive order banning transgender athletes from girls’ sports.
The clash plunged Maine into the national spotlight and reinvigorated a debate over gender and sports.
In the time since, the Democratic majority in the Maine House of Representatives has voted to censure Republican State Rep. Laurel Libby over a controversial post she made before the showdown between Mills and Trump, showing pictures of and naming a transgender athlete competing in a girls’ track and field competition in Maine.
Under the terms of her censure, Libby cannot vote in the chamber or speak on the floor of the House until she apologizes. She has vowed not to, and on Saturday, hundreds of protesters gathered at the Maine State House in support of keeping transgender athletes out of women’s and girls’ sports, the cause Libby has championed.
On the same day, protesters gathered elsewhere in Maine to signal their support for the governor and rally against the Trump administration.
In her back-and-forth with reporters on Monday, Mills also doubled down on her stance that Trump’s threat to withhold funds to the state over its executive order is unconstitutional.
“I’ve never heard any president say this before that he is the law, or ‘we are the federal law,’” Mills said, quoting the president during their exchange. “It’s like Louis the 14th. That’s not the authority of the president. You can’t create laws by thinking them, by tweeting them, by issuing press releases, by issuing executive orders. Congress makes the laws.”
Mills also explained her decision to engage with the president in the first place. “What I did was respond to some pretty offensive, aggressive statements he made about the state of Maine. It’s unfortunate that he chose to do that and to change the dialogue.”
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