Janet Mills

Janet Mills is the Democratic Governor of Maine, in office since January 2019 and the first woman to hold the post. Born in Farmington in December 1947, she was Maine's first female district attorney (Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties, elected 1980) before serving as state attorney general and a member of the Maine House of Representatives. Her current term runs to January 2027. She governs as a moderate Democrat in a competitive swing state, balancing rural economic development against energy and environmental pressure.

Mills vetoed LD 307 on 24 April 2026, rejecting what would have been the first statewide data centre moratorium enacted in the United States. The bill would have paused permitting for data centres of 20 megawatts or more until 1 November 2027 while a new coordination council prepared recommendations. Mills said she would have signed the bill had it carried an exemption for the $550 million Androscoggin Mill redevelopment in Jay, a shuttered paper mill site being rebuilt as a data centre expected to create over 800 construction jobs and at least 100 permanent ones. The Maine House failed to override the veto on 29 April 2026, falling short of the two-thirds threshold at 72-65. Hours later, Mills signed an executive order establishing the Maine Data Center Advisory Council to examine the sector's impact, the alternative she had proposed in her veto message.

The Council held its first meeting in early June 2026 and must report its findings, covering ratepayer protection, grid reliability, environmental impact and appropriate siting, to Mills and the Legislature by 29 January 2027, ahead of any renewed statutory push.