PORTLAND, ME –Hannah Pingree, former Speaker of the Maine House and Democratic candidate for governor, released Maine’s Next Chapter, a comprehensive affordability agenda aimed at lowering the cost of housing, energy, health care, child care, and food for Maine families. Her Housing Affordability Plan, Energy and Climate Plan, Economic and Innovation Plan, and her Health Care Plan for Maine are the backbone of this agenda and her campaign for governor. This plan builds on each of them to address the full cost of living facing Maine families today.
“This campaign and this plan are about making Maine more affordable for families, helping young people stay in Maine, delivering property tax relief, and creating housing people can actually afford. At the same time we need to grow wages with thoughtful economic development,” said Hannah. “This plan is not a wish list. It is grounded in what I have heard from Mainers in every county of this state, what our state has the capacity to actually do, and what I am fully committed to delivering.”
The Trump administration’s reckless tariffs, cuts to health care and food programs, and economic mismanagement have made an already difficult situation worse for Maine families. While Washington hands tax breaks to billionaires, working Mainers are absorbing higher prices at the grocery store, rising health care premiums, and the threat of losing food assistance they depend on.
“What Hannah is proposing — investments in affordable housing, property tax relief, support for regional collaboration, and stronger state partnership with municipalities — this is what cities and towns across Maine have been asking for,” said Auburn Mayor Jeff Harmon. “She does not just talk about collaboration. She practices it. She does not just propose solutions. She follows through on them.”
“Hannah’s commitment to making child care affordable and accessible, to universal pre-K, and to supporting the child care workforce so we can actually recruit and retain good early educators, that is the kind of leadership Maine families have been waiting for,” said Erica Carley Harris, Brunswick School Board member and mother of two. “She is a mom. She is a fighter. And she has spent 25 years delivering results.”
“On Long Island, where I live and work, there are four hundred year-round homes. Only one hundred are actually occupied year-round today. Of the six homes that sold last year, only one remained a year-round residence,” said Steve Train, lobsterman and Long Island resident. “A lobsterman who cannot afford to live near the water he fishes is not just a personal hardship. It is a loss for all of us. This affordability plan is the most serious effort I have seen to keep working families on the coast.”
Maine’s Next Chapter is built on the foundation of Hannah’s existing plans and brings them together into a single, unified agenda to address the full cost of living facing Maine families today. It draws directly from her Housing Affordability Plan, Energy and Climate Plan, Economic and Innovation Plan, and Health Care Plan for Maine — and adds new commitments on property taxes, child care, food security, and tax fairness. The plan addresses the following priorities:
A Maine Where You Can Afford to Live: Invest $100 million per year in affordable housing development and preservation, cut red tape to speed up permitting, take on private equity firms displacing families and driving up rents, and lower energy bills by holding utilities like CMP and Avangrid accountable and expanding efficiency and clean energy programs for all households. Read Hannah’s full Housing Affordability Plan here and her Energy and Climate Plan here.
A Maine Where Families Can Meet Their Basic Needs: Launch a public health insurance option that puts patients before profits, lower prescription drug costs, expand access to primary and reproductive care, make child care affordable and accessible for every working family, provide universal free pre-K, and ensure no Maine child goes to school hungry. Fight federal cuts to SNAP and bolster local food programs so every Maine family can put food on the table. Read Hannah’s full Health Care Plan here.
A Maine With Higher Wages and Expanded Opportunity: Invest in workforce training and apprenticeships, grow good-paying jobs in clean energy, advanced manufacturing, and Maine’s heritage industries, and remove the barriers — from child care costs to housing — that keep workers from fully participating in the economy. Read Hannah’s full Economic Development Plan here.
A Maine Where Property Taxes Are Fair and the Wealthy Pay Their Share: Double the homestead exemption to provide immediate relief to all Maine resident homeowners, deepen the Property Tax Fairness Credit so more low- and moderate-income households qualify, require second homes owned by non-Maine residents to pay a fairer share, and partner with municipalities to reduce their dependence on residential property taxes. Build on Maine’s new millionaire’s tax to advance further progressive tax reform so those at the top pay their fair share while reducing the burden on working and middle class Mainers.
Read the FULL plan at https://hannahforgovernor.com/
Hannah’s campaign has earned endorsements from House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, Auburn Mayor Jeff Harmon, more than 100 current and former elected officials, Maine Conservation Voters Action Fund, housing leaders, fishing community advocates, and supporters across every region of Maine. These endorsements, along with packed community events, house parties, and listening sessions statewide, have fueled record volunteer engagement and growing momentum in every corner of Maine.
For more information on Hannah Pingree’s campaign, visit www.hannahforgovernor.com
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