After Janet Mills, the Democratic governor of Maine challenged President Trump during a White House meeting over banning men from women’s sports, her video of performing at a Halloween drag show resurfaced.
A footage reportedly from October 29, 2022, the Democratic governor of Maine was seen performing at a Halloween drag show at the Pumpkin Bal in Portland, Maine.
In the video Mills is seen enjoying the Maine’s largest LGBTQ+ Halloween dance party.
This video came after Mills, 77, told Trump on Friday that she would not accede to his executive order banning transgender athletes in women’s sports. “See you in court,” she said, while seated with a group of bipartisan governors in the White House State Dining Room.
Who is Janet Mills?
Born in Farmington, Maine grew up surrounded by politics. Her father, Sumner Peter Mills Jr, worked as a lawyer and served as a Republican state legislator, later becoming U.S. attorney for Maine during the Eisenhower and Nixon governments.
Following her education at the University of Massachusetts and the University of Maine School of Law, she pioneered as Maine’s first female criminal prosecutor in the attorney general’s office. In a 1978 interview, she said, “I like prosecuting murder trials the best.”
She achieved another milestone as the first woman in New England to secure a district attorney position, advocating for improved handling of domestic violence cases within the justice system. She won a State Legislature seat in 2002, and by 2009, she had become Maine’s first female attorney general, New York Times reported.
During her tenure as Maine’s chief prosecutor, she opposed Paul LePage, the conservative governor and Trump supporter. When LePage vetoed a bill expanding police access to opioid overdose medication, she allocated settlement funds for treatment. She opposed LePage’s support of Trump’s 2017 immigration ban on predominantly Muslim countries, legally challenging the executive order. LePage’s lawsuit against her proved unsuccessful.
In 2019, after LePage reached his term limit, she won the gubernatorial election.
Her administration has prioritised economic initiatives and healthcare access expansion. She has collaborated with lawmakers to protect transgender individuals from insurance discrimination, authorise gender-affirming hormone therapy for those aged 16 and above under specific conditions, and establish legal protection for gender transition care providers against interstate litigation.
What it was like when Mills had spate with Trump?
Colorado’s Democratic Governor Jared Polis expressed disappointment over Friday’s heated exchange between Maine’s Democratic Governor and President Trump at a White House gathering, noting it failed to meet the National Governors Association’s standard of constructive disagreement, New York Post reported.
Polis told Fox News that whilst disagreements are expected, the interaction did not exemplify the desired approach of elevating discourse towards finding common solutions.
During the meeting, Trump warned of potential federal funding cuts for states not complying with his directive prohibiting transgender athletes in women’s sports, specifically mentioning Maine. This prompted Governor Janet Mills to declare “See you in court,” to which Trump replied, “I look forward to that. That should be a real easy one.”
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt described the atmosphere as “a little uncomfortable” when speaking to Fox News about the confrontation between Trump and Mills regarding her state’s stance on the president’s executive order about school sports.
Stitt admitted to being unaware of the complete background of their dispute, noting there appeared to be previous exchanges between both parties. He acknowledged governors’ rights to pursue legal action against the federal government, suggesting the confrontation might benefit both leaders’ political standings.
Stitt commented on the broader context, mentioning the NCAA and Olympics’ positions on the matter, whilst questioning the legal basis of Maine’s opposition to the directive, adding that the courts would ultimately decide the outcome.
During the same White House session, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey requested direct contact information for cabinet officials to enhance state-federal cooperation under Trump’s administration.