There's only one day left before two of Maine’s political titans find out who voters will choose as the state’s next governor.
Competing against independent candidate Sam Hunkler are the state’s former governor, Paul LePage, a Republican, and the state’s current governor, Janet Mills, a Democrat.
The major party candidates are arch-rivals with long records, which has led to a fiery campaign that is now down to the wire.
From telling each other to pause for "a minute" on debate stages in order to avoid one talking over the other to fierce ads criticizing each other’s handling of state energy policy and Maine’s economy, both Mills and LePage have tried to make their case to the state’s voters as to why they are the correct person to get another term as governor.
LePage has highlighted his experience implementing economic policy as governor for eight years shortly after the Great Recession, along with his time as mayor of Waterville, Maine, and as a private sector businessman, as reasons he is the right choice over Mills.
Mills has touted her record leading Maine through the COVID-19 pandemic and coinciding economic uncertainty while protecting reproductive rights and avoiding the divisiveness that defined LePage as a politician during his time in office.
With less than 24 hours to go until Election Day itself, LePage’s campaign said he had spent Monday meeting with veterans before holding a public event, an evening rally in Scarborough.
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Meanwhile, Mills met with students at Southern Maine Community College in South Portland before attending a rally with supporters in Lewiston.
A University of New Hampshire poll conducted between November 2 and November 6 shows Mills carrying 52% of the vote, which is a one point slide for Mills from the school’s similar poll conducted in September.
LePage, on the other hand, jumped from 39 to 44% of respondents supporting him, with two percent of those surveyed still unsure who they’ll vote for.
In South Portland on Monday, Mills told NECN/NBC 10 Boston that she does not believe President Joe Biden’s approval rating, which NBC News pegged at 53% in a survey last week, is hurting her.
"I don’t think that affects my race at all," she explained.
However, the final say lies with Maine voters, who will decide this race without the state’s ranked choice voting system, because Maine’s constitution stipulates that the winner of the race for governor be determined by a plurality.
After months of campaigning, there is also a glimmer of unity on one particular issue on the campaign trail.
Both Mills and LePage have said in recent days that they are dismayed at the content of attack ads being run against them.
"This has been a horrific campaign," said LePage in reference to the ads at a Saturday event in Lewiston.
Asked during her Monday visit to South Portland what has surprised her about the campaign since its beginning, Mills replied, "some of the commercial ads from my opponent and the Republican Governor’s Association."
