PORTLAND (NEWS CENTER Maine) — Governor-elect Janet Mills took little time to bask in her historic win as Maine's first female governor Wednesday as she attended a Medicaid expansion hearing just hours after she won.
Mills said implementing the Medicaid expansion voters passed last November is a top priority.
Patrons at Becky's Diner in Portland stood up and applauded when Mills walked in Wednesday morning, shaking her hand and hugging the Democratic winner.
"Health care is the number one priority. I'm going to work very hard on Medicaid expansion, number one and looking at small business and self-employed individuals, bringing down the health insurance premiums across the state of Maine," Mills told reporters outside Becky's Diner.
Another top priority for Mills' administration she said will be tackling the opioid epidemic that has killed thousands of Mainers in the last several years.
"We have got to tackle that now. No more waiting." After greeting supporters at the diner, Mills went to a Medicaid expansion hearing and is heading later in the day to her hometown of Farmington for a celebration.
Mills is no stranger to being the first. To her name, she has the distinction of being Maine's first female district attorney, Maine's first female attorney general and now first female governor of Maine.
The midterm elections proved to be one for the record books, not just in Maine but the nation, for women.
The number of women heading to the House of Representatives, including Maine's incumbent Rep. Chellie Pingree, is up to a record-shattering 95 as of Wednesday at noon, breaking the current session's record of 84 women.