(orchestral music) (audience applauds) (audience applauds) (audience applauds) - The House will come to order.

(gavel bangs) The chair is pleased to introduce the president of the Maine State Senate, Senator Troy D. Jackson of Allagash and honorable members of the Main State Senate.

(gavel bangs) (audience applauds) - The convention will come to order.

(gavel bangs) The chair recognizes the Senator from Aroostook, Senator Carpenter.

- [Carpenter] Mr.

Chairman, I present a convention order that moves passage.

- The Senator from Aroostook, Senator Carpenter, presents a convention order and moves its passage.

The secretary will read the order.

- [Secretary] Ordered that a committee be appointed to wait upon the honorable Associate Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court, the chief justice and justices of the Maine Superior Court, the chief judge and judges of the district court, the chief judge of the district court and the federal judges inviting them to attend the convention which was convened for the purpose of administering to the Honorable Janet Trafton Mills, governor elect, the oaths required by the Constitution to qualify her to enter upon the discharge of her official duties.

- Is it the pleasure of the convention that the order receive passage?

It's a vote.

(gavel bangs) The Chair will appoint the following.

The Senator from Aroostook, Senator Carpenter.

The Senator from Kennebec, Senator Bellows.

The Senator from Oxford, Senator Keim.

The Representative from Saco, Representative Bailey.

The Representative from Kennebec, Representative Babbidge.

The Representative from Bangor, Representative Cardone.

The Representative from South Portland, Representative Reckitt.

The Representative from Portland, Representative Talbot Ross.

The Representative from Gardiner, Representative Harnett.

The Representative from Vasalboro, Representative Bradstreet.

The Representative from Caribou, Representative Deveau.

The Representative from Hampden, Representative Haggan.

And the Representative from Friendship, Representative Evangelos.

The chair would ask that the committee form to discharge its duties.

The Sergeant at arms will escort the committee to discharge their duties.

(audience applauds) - Mr.

Chairman, Mr.

Chairman.

- [President] Chair recognizes Senator from Aroostook, Senator Carpenter.

- Mr.

Chairman, we have delivered the message with which we are charged and are pleased to report that the honorable members of the judiciary will attend forthwith.

- The chair hears the message and thanks the messenger.

(audience applauds) (audience applauds) (gavel bangs) The chair is pleased to welcome to the joint convention members of the clergy and tribal representative.

The Reverend Ken Lewis, senior Pastor, Green Memorial African Methodist and Episcopal Zion Church in Portland, Ambassador Mauilan Dana of the Wabanaki Tribes of Maine, Rabbi Erica Asch of Temple Beth El in Augusta and Father Frank Murray, Pastor St.

Paul the Apostle Parish in Bangor.

(audience applauds) The chair is also pleased to recognize the nominees of the governor's cabinet and their guests.

(audience applauds) The chair is pleased to recognize the constitutional officers elect and the state auditor of the state of Maine, the Honorable Matthew Dunlap, Secretary of State.

(audience applauds) The Honorable Aaron Frey, attorney general elect, the Honorable Henry Beck, treasurer elect, and the Honorable Pola Buckley, auditor.

(audience applauds) The chair is very pleased to welcome former Governor John Baldacci and his wife Karen Baldacci, Governor Joseph Brennan and his wife Connie Brennan.

(audience applauds) And Governor Kenneth Curtis and Pauline Curtis.

(audience applauds) The chair is pleased to welcome to the joint convention family members of the governor elect.

(audience applauds) - Mr.

Chair.

- The chair recognizes the Senator from Cumberland, Senator Breen.

- [Breen] Mr.

Chair, I present a convention order and move its passage.

- The Senator from Cumberland, Senator Breen, presents a convention order and moves its passage.

The secretary will read the order.

- [Secretary] Ordered that a committee be appointed to wait upon the Honorable Janet Trafton Mills, governor elect, and inform her that the two branches of the legislature are in convention assembled, ready to administer to her the oaths required by the Constitution to qualify her to enter upon the discharge of her official duties and receive such communication as she may be pleased to make.

- Is it the pleasure of the convention that this order receive passage?

It's a vote.

(gavel bangs) (audience applauds) The chair will appointment the following, the Senator from Cumberland, Senator Breen.

The Senator from Oxford, Senator Hamper.

The Senator from Androscoggin, Senator Libby.

The Senator from Sagadahoc, Senator Vitelli.

The Senator from Lincoln, Senator Dow.

The Senator from Androscoggin, Senator Timberlake.

The Representative from Eagle Lake, Representative Martin.

The Representative from Waterford, Representative Millet.

The Representative from Portland, Representative Moonen.

The Representative from Biddeford, Representative Fecteau.

The Representative from Oxford, Representative Dillingham.

And the Representative from Presque Isle, Representative Stewart.

The chair would ask that the committee formed would discharge its duties.

The Sergeant at arms will escort the committee.

(gavel bangs) Convention may be seated.

- [Woman] Thank you, thank you.

(crowd coos) (crowd laughs) (audience applauds) (women laugh) - [Breen] Mr.

Chairman.

- The chair recognizes the Senator from Cumberland, Senator Breen.

- Mr.

Chairman, we have delivered the message with which we were charged and are pleased to report that the governor elect will attend forthwith.

(audience laughs) (audience applauds) - The chair hears the message and thanks the messenger.

(audience applauds) (audience applauds) - Hear ye, hear ye.

Make way, make way, make way.

Her excellency, the Honorable Janet Trafton Mills.

(audience applauds) (gavel bangs) (martial music) (audience applauds) (audience cheers) (audience cheers) (audience cheers) - Please remain standing for the presentation and the posting of colors by the Maine National Guard, followed by Alain Igirneza of Portland who will sing the national anthem.

- Present hut.

One, two, halt.

Present arms.

♪ Oh say can you see ♪ By the dawn's early light ♪ What so proudly we hailed ♪ At the twilight's last gleaming ♪ ♪ Whose broad stripes and bright stars ♪ ♪ Through the perilous fight ♪ Oe'r the ramparts we watched ♪ Were so gallantly streaming ♪ And the rockets' red glare ♪ The bombs bursting in air ♪ Gave proof through the night ♪ That our flag was still there ♪ ♪ Oh say does that star spangled banner yet wave ♪ ♪ O'er the land of the free ♪ And the home of the brave ♪ The brave (audience applauds) (audience cheers) - [Woman] We have music left.

- [All] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

- We'll.

(audience applauds) We'll now have the invocation by the Reverend Kenneth Lewis, Ambassador Mauilan Dana, and Rabbi Erica Asch.

- I rise and stand before this August body to offer prayer on the cusp of the bicentennial of Maine's statehood, the dawning of this historic inauguration of Janet T. Mills, the first woman elected governor in Maine's 199 year history of statehood.

(audience cheers) I pray at this historic moment as an African American man, Chappaquidick Wampanoag Native America citizen, I pray as an ordained elder of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in America founded in 1792, the church home of James Varrick and Alexander Walters, of Steven Gill Spotswood, the church of Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Tubman.

I pray with earnest hope and expectancy that the promises of Maine's constitutional preamble be fulfilled, that we the people of Maine in order to establish justice, ensure tranquility and provide for our mutual defense promote our common welfare and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of liberty acknowledging with grateful hearts the goodness of the sovereign ruler of the universe and affording us an opportunity.

Heavenly father, source of all life, freedom and authority, we come before you in solemn prayer on this inauguration day of Janet T. Mills, the 75th governor of the state of Maine.

We thank you for the many blessings you have bestowed upon our state, from its shores to its mountains to its farms, towns and cities.

We ask that you continue to watch over this free state, its citizens and its leaders now and for many years to come.

You are with us in every transition and in every change and as we enter into this new era with excitement, and even some anxiety, we recall your deep compassion, your presence and your abounding love.

We thank you for the gifts, talents and skills which you have blessed us with.

We thank you for the experiences that has brought us to this moment.

We thank you for the work of others that gives breadth and depth to our own work.

Almighty God, bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning and pure manners.

Save us from discord, from violence and confusion and the frailty of our own hearts.

May wisdom and compassion be the stability of our times.

And our deepest trust in thee in whom we live and move and have our being.

Come fill us with generosity as we are challenged to let go and others allowed to share with us the goods and beauty of the earth.

The Old Testament prophet Micah reminds our elected leaders and reminds us all of the requirements associated with leadership, he has shown you, oh mortal, what is good and what does the Lord require of you?

To act justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Now Lord, open unto us light for our darkness, open unto us courage for our fear, hope for our despair, peace for our turmoil, joy for our sorrow, strength for our weakness, wisdom for our confusion, forgiveness for our sins, love for our hates, thyself for ourself.

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou who has brought us thus far on the way, thou who has by thy might led us into the light, keep us forever, on the path, we pray, in the name of our Lord and savior Jesus who is our Christ, amen.

- Good evening.

I am not a religious leader, per se, but I thought it made a lot of sense to have the voice of an indigenous woman in the room tonight and I am happy to be here and share in hopes of a new era maybe and not because I've forgotten what's in the past but because I'm very hopeful for the future.

(audience applauds) Thank you.

Thank you.

To Governor Mills, to the state of Maine and to honored guests, (speaks foreign language).

My name is Mauilan Dana, I am from the Penobscot Nation and I am so thankful to be here.

(audience applauds) Thanks.

(laughs) I find it humbling and a true honor to be here at this event tonight, as a woman of Maine and as a mother of two daughter, hi, Carmilla, hi, Leila, I love you.

(laughs) The excitement I feel of a woman holding this sacred office is both inspiring and well overdue.

Maine means a lot to me.

I grew up on Indian Island, the Penobscot Nation, nestled in the center of our beautiful state.

The Penobscot River not only surrounds our island but gives us life with both the way it holds our history and protects our future.

We hold ceremony at Katahdin, our sacred mountain, which watches over us and reminds us that the ancestors are always with us and ready to give us advice when we need it.

Nobody can own these elements.

We believe that we are from them and to them we shall return.

Taking care of Mother Earth means taking care of one another.

The Wabanaki Nations of Maine, the Maliseet, the Mikmaq, the Passamaquoddy and my home, the Penobscot, are not just the indigenous people of Maine but also the carriers of truth of these lands and waters.

This place is not just our homeland, it is our whole existence.

When we see the terrors of environmental distress, disease, poverty, addiction, suicide and illnesses in our communities, it spurs us to action to protect the sacred and connect with those around us to find solutions to these things that truly plague us all.

There is power in unity, when tribal nations are seen as sovereign bodies, we can work better with our relationship with other governments.

When indigenous people are seen as people and not stereotypes or mascots, we can build on shared humanity.

(audience applauds) You're really gonna like this next one, then.

(audience laughs) When cities and towns take the true and honorable step of celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day on the second Monday in October.

(audience applauds) We find truth and love in our neighbors and a foundation of trust and understanding.

It is all about respect, all of it.

I want to thank Governor Mills for a genuine desire to listen to me during her campaign, for insight and conversation, for laughter and for some advice and I want to thank her for taking a stand on behalf of our people when it comes to Indian mascots in Maine before she even took office.

I have hope, yeah.

(audience applauds) I do have great hope for continued efforts to reach common ground and attempt to mend the bonds between the indigenous nations of Maine and the governing entities.

This will take time, not an easy fix, it takes motivation to listen to one another, it takes a meaningful seat at the table and it takes open hearts and minds.

I come here tonight with a genuine desire for all these things and I believe in the potential for reciprocity.

In her book Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer, a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, says transformation is not accomplished by waiting at the edge, I see a lot of people in here ready to take a big plunge.

I wish you all blessings on this very significant new year and may all your transformations be the light of tomorrow.

(speaks foreign language) Thank you so much and all my relations, thank you.

(audience applauds) - Tonight in this room and across the state the citizens of Maine gather to witness a change of leadership, from the new immigrant trying to learn English to the small business owner who worked through the holidays, from the parent who hoped that education is a way for their child to get ahead to the child wondering how to afford care for aging parents, from the lobstermen hoping for a good day to the small town mayor and school superintendent trying to balance the budget.

Mainers are looking forward with hope and optimism and some trepidation to this new year.

We have work to do, in the text (speaks foreign language) a collection of rabbinic stories, we read of a parable told by Rabbi Simon Baryoshi, a group of men were on a ship far from land, one of them took a drill and started drilling underneath him.

The others were shocked.

They said, what are you doing?

He replied, what do you care?

Is it not only underneath my area that I am drilling?

They replied, but the water will rise and flood all of us on this ship.

I pray in the Jewish tradition, (speaks foreign language), our God and God of our ancestors, may we the citizens of the state of Maine remember we are all on the same ship, we are a diverse-- (audience applauds) We are a diverse community with many stories and passions but we rise or fall together.

We ask your blessing on our governor elect.

May the one who blessed the daughters of Zalophahad with the vision of a just society and the tenacity to fight for that vision bless her with the patience and will to stick to her principles.

May the one who blessed Batya with compassion for a supposed opponent bless her with the spirit of curiosity and caring for all people, no matter what their background, may the one who blessed Esther with the courage of her convictions and the ability to stand up for her people bless her with the power to speak her mind and stand up for the people of Maine.

May the one who blessed Miriam with a dancing spirit bless her with moments of joy and love and may the one who blessed Burya with the wisdom to be the only female scholar in a study hall run by men bless her with insight, toughness and humor as she becomes our first female governor.

(audience applauds) (audience cheers) I close with a beautiful prayer that we in the Jewish tradition recite on special occasions or for new experiences.

We recite this prayer tonight for the first day of the new administration, a new day for the state of Maine and a historic first for women.

(speaks foreign language) Praised are you God, ruler of the universe.

(speaks foreign language) Who has given us life, the most precious of all gifts.

(speaks foreign language) Who has sustained us, who has kept us whole on our journey.

(speaks foreign language) And who has brought us to this time of joy and of hope, amen.

(audience applauds) - It is my pleasure to introduce Wesley McNair, former poet laureate, to read an original work created for the inauguration to the joint convention.

(chair laughs) - On behalf of all Maine's poets, I want to begin by thanking Janet Mills for bringing poetry to this inauguration.

(audience applauds) The Song for the Unsung.

Let us sing a song for the unsung, for the Maine muskrat whose name misunderstands the beauty of its sleek tail and its small delicate ears.

And for the ground moss that brings forth tiny red blossoms each summer that we do not see, though they are right there at our feet.

Let us sing for what we have overlooked.

The simple faith of the gardener in an overcoat, opening the barren ground of October for tulip bulbs and of the teacher who finds in the student's failure the opportunity to start again.

And let us sing for the hopeful starting again of the doctor who sits with the repeat patient in recovery and for the single mother who begins each day by leaving her children behind for the job that will support them.

And for the immigrant father with two jobs and a dream of bringing his family to a new life in Maine.

Already a Mainer himself in his perseverance.

For the song we will sing is not only about faith and hope but persistence in spite of the odds.

Like the tenacity of the Maine town moderator who read the warrant article so forcefully that he spit out his upper plate (audience laughs) then caught it in midair, popped it back into his mouth and carried on.

(audience laughs) That unsung moderator deserves a song.

(audience laughs) As does this gathering of public servants tonight, including a legislature with 72 women who have themselves persisted against the odds.

(audience applauds) And a female governor also a poet, whose most sustained and inspiring song in the service of teachers and students, doctors and patients, parents and kids, new citizens and Mainers everywhere is about to be sung.

(audience applauds) - It is my pleasure to welcome Shy Paca, Natalia Mbadu, the Franklin County Fiddlers and the Portland String Quartet to offer three musical selections for this joint convention.

(orchestra tunes up) (fiddle music) (man cheers) (man cheers) (man cheers) (man cheers) (audience applauds) - Stand up, give a bow, ready?

(audience applauds) (stately music) ♪ She's just a girl and she's on fire ♪ (audience applauds) ♪ Hover like a fantasy ♪ Longer than a highway ♪ She's living in a world and it's on fire ♪ ♪ Feel the catastrophe ♪ But she knows she can fly away ♪ ♪ Whoa ♪ She got both feet on the ground ♪ ♪ And she's burning it down ♪ Whoa ♪ She got her head in the clouds ♪ ♪ And she's not backing down (audience applauds) ♪ This girl is on fire ♪ This girl is on fire ♪ She's walking on fire ♪ This girl is on fire ♪ Everybody stares as she goes by ♪ ♪ Because they can see the flame that's in her eyes ♪ ♪ Watch her when she's lighting up the night ♪ ♪ Nobody knows that she's a lonely girl ♪ ♪ And it's a lonely world ♪ And she's gonna let it burn, baby, burn, baby ♪ ♪ This girl is on fire ♪ This girl is on fire ♪ She's walking on fire ♪ This girl is on fire ♪ Whoa ♪ Whoa ♪ Whoa (audience applauds) ♪ Whoo (audience applauds) (string music) (audience applauds) - Time do to the oath.

(audience laughs) (audience cheers) Bible is being held by the governor elect's grandchildren.

Will the governor elect please step forward.

Raise your right hand and repeat after me.

I, state your name.

- I, Janet Trafton Mills.

- Do swear.

- Do swear.

- That I will support the Constitution of the United States and of this state.

- That I will support the Constitution of this state and of the United States.

- So long as I shall continue a citizen thereof.

- So long as I shall continue a citizen thereof.

- So help me God.

- So help me God.

- I, state your name.

- I, Janet Trafton Mills.

- Do swear.

- Do swear.

- That I will faithfully discharge.

- That I will faithfully discharge.

- To the best of my abilities.

- To the best of my abilities.

- The duties incumbent on me as governor of the state of Maine.

- The duties incumbent on me as governor of the state of Maine.

(audience applauds) (audience cheers) Wait, wait.

(laughs) - According to the Constitution and the laws of the state.

- According to the Constitution and the laws of the state.

- So help me God.

- So help me God.

(audience applauds) - One more, right there.

Now it's yours.

- Three of 'em.

- That's all right.

(audience applauds) - Oh, I'm so proud of you.

(laughs) (audience applauds) (audience cheers) - The Secretary of State, Matthew Dunlap, will come forward and read the proclamation.

(audience cheers) - It is my solemn duty, distinct privilege and one of the great honors of my life.

(audience cheers) To present this proclamation given under my hand the second day of January in the year 2019.

To the joint convention.

The votes given on the sixth day of November last in the cities, towns and plantations of the state of Maine for governor, the returns of which have been made to the office of the Secretary of State having been examined and counted by the legislature which has declared that a plurality thereof was given to Janet Trafton Mills.

That she is duly elected and that she having in the presence of the two branches of the legislature in convention assembled taken and subscribed the oaths required by the Constitution to qualify her to discharge the duties of that office, I therefore declare and make known to all persons who are in the exercise of any public trust in this state as well as all good citizens thereof that Janet Trafton Mills is governor and commander in chief of the state of Maine and that due obedience should be rendered to all her acts and commands as such, God save the great state of Maine!

(audience applauds) - It's hard for me to top the Secretary of State, but.

(audience laughs) It is my true honor and privilege to present the honorable governor of the great state of Maine, Janet Trafton Mills.

(audience applauds) - Thank you.

(audience applauds) Thank you.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Thank you.

(laughs) Thank you so much.

Madame Chief Justice, Madame Speaker, Mr.

President, members of the 129th legislature and members of the state and federal judiciary, former governors, honored tribal members and chiefs and members of the military, friends and family, honored guests.

And those 4346 friends of mine on Facebook.

(audience laughs) I also draw your attention, in more serious vein, to the empty chair and empty seat in the military section which recognizes and honors all Maine service members who are currently deployed.

(audience applauds) It is with humility and gratitude that I stand before you this evening.

I welcome you to a ceremony that represents both a change in the individual who occupies the office of the chief executive and-- (audience cheers) And the peaceful passing of the torch of progress.

(audience applauds) There are many in this state who are the unsung as poet Wes McNair has called them.

They are the firefighters and teachers, the techies and hotel workers, the farmers and fishermen, the waiters and loggers and barbers and millworkers of our towns.

They are our friends, our neighbors, they are immigrants and laborers, veterans, people with disabilities, people from away, people we rely on on every day and many who rely on us, this governorship is about them, the men and women of the state of Maine.

(audience applauds) This year, you know, for the first time in our state's 198 year long history, after 74 men from York, Cumberland, Penobscot, Androscoggin counties, finally, you have elected a governor from Franklin County.

(audience applauds) I am from the foothills of Maine, western Maine, which bred Margaret Chase Smith and Carrie Stevens and Cornelia Crosby, known as Flyrod Crosby, who was the first, Maine's first registered guide in 1897, first registered guide, male or female and who famously said, I would rather fish any day than go to heaven, sorry.

(audience laughs) In recent weeks, I've received many letters, eight year old Lucy wrote, quote, now I feel like I could become governor someday.

(audience applauds) And the morning after the election, one mother left a note in her daughter's lunchbox.

It said Janet Mills won last night, it said, she's the first woman to be the governor in Maine ever.

Think about all the things you can do, love Mom.

(audience applauds) I do think about al the things they can do along with their brilliant brothers, uncles and fathers.

But truly, this milestone, this year, this milestone, this one day will all be commonplace, like drinking milk or eating toast.

When future generations read of this day they'll wonder what all the fuss was about.

Sometimes our culture moves slowly in the stream of change, streams, like the people of Maine, change direction on occasion to find the best way forward.

(audience applauds) Many days I awake to see the mist rising from the Sandy River as it steers its course down to the Kennebec The winter's breath unveiling a new day in my hometown, a new day in this state.

Then I hear the familiar sounds of chickadees, church chimes and jake brakes.

(audience laughs) This is home in Maine.

(audience laughs) The Sandy River pours out of Rangely Lake and meanders through my town and gains momentum on its way to the Kennebec and there it joins other tributaries to become a powerful waterway, a loud home to eagles and salmon, stripers and sturgeon on its course to Merry Meeting Bay.

The Sandy River connects my town to those upstream and downstream and we become one with the rest of Maine, linked by water, woods and land.

Former Governor Joshua Chamberlain described this link back in 1876, he said, this great and wide sea, these beaches and bays and harbors, these things invite the brave, the noble, thought comes here and dwells, they will love the land, he said, and the land will give back strength.

The Wabanaki people know this bond, their wisdom was passed along by people like Joseph Attean, legendary governor of the Penobscot Nation.

A brave openhearted and forbearing individual, who guided Henry David Thoreau in his first moose hunt through the vast and primitive wilderness to Chesuncook Lake.

The plaque that overlooks Attean Lake named for him reads rise free from care before the dawn and seek adventure.

Today, we rise, a new day before us and seek adventure.

(audience applauds) But today our connection to the land is endangered.

After 80 years of studies warning that carbon emissions are destroying our environment, the danger is now at our doorstep, the Gulf of Maine is warming faster than almost any other saltwater body in the world, driving our lobsters up the coast.

Our coastal waters are growing acidic.

Temperature's fluctuating, the sea level's rising, endangering our shellfish industry.

While our forests are less suitable for spruce and fir and more suitable for ticks.

Climate change is threatening our jobs, damaging our health and attacking our historic relationship to the land and the sea we love.

Tonight I say enough, enough with studies, talk and debate, it is time to act!

(audience applauds) Our administration will embrace clean energy, change our modes of transportation, weatherize homes and businesses and reach a goal of 50% of our electricity coming from Maine renewable resources.

(audience applauds) These actions will create good paying jobs, preserve our environment and welcome young people to build a green future here in Maine.

And by the way, when you drive by the Blaine House in the coming weeks, look for some new solar panels that we're gonna install.

(audience applauds) Why not?

(audience applauds) We need a healthy environment and we need healthy people.

Maine voters agreed which is why they voted to expand Medicaid.

(audience applauds) Hospitals, nurses, doctors and businesses all agree as well.

Healthcare is for everyone, not just the well to do.

It is for the small businesses struggling to pay high health insurance bills, it is for the family on the brink of bankruptcy because of one illness, accident or medical mishap.

It is for the community that takes up collections in a jar at the corner store to pay for a neighbor's medical costs, it is for people like my friend Patty.

My friend Patty was a vibrant, intelligent and charitable woman, an athlete and mother of three wise children, loved by all and uninsured.

She died needlessly from breast cancer, a disease that could have been diagnosed easily early, treated and cured.

And Patty's story's not unique.

Many of you have friends like Patty.

This is unacceptable.

(audience applauds) In the memory of Patty and thousands of others, our new administration will expand Medicaid and pay for it sustainably.

(audience applauds) We will work to ensure that every person has primary care.

(audience applauds) We will control the cost of health insurance and rein in the cost of prescription drugs.

(audience applauds) A major part of the healthcare crisis is the opiate epidemic History will note that we have abandoned an entire generation of people to this preventable disease.

The allure of opiates can fill a hole in the human heart caused by loneliness, stress, hopelessness.

Even as I speak, there is someone within the sound of my voice about to consume a deadly drug, jeopardizing themselves, their friends, their families, their communities, if that person is listening, please know that I and many others are here for you.

You are not alone.

We will confront this disease together.

We will offer a helping hand, not pass judgment.

We want you to succeed and to survive.

We want to welcome you home again.

(audience applauds) It is time for action, narcan widely available, medication assisted treatment, recovery coaches, these things will be a reality and in sad memory of the 418 Maine people who lost their lives to drug overdose in 2017, our administration will create the Director of Opiate Response, a person who will marshal the collective power and resources of this state to stem the tide of this epidemic.

(audience applauds) And part of that effort will be to fully engage with people in our own communities.

Take it outdoors as one of our favorite retailers puts it.

(audience laughs) Renewing the healing bond we have with the land and our environment.

In addition to protecting the medical health of our people, we will also advance the economic health of our people, to employers, entrepreneurs, and innovators with new ideas for forest products, aquaculture, recreation, renewables and everything in between, I say you are welcome here.

(audience applauds) We will offer a world class workforce.

You know, fewer than half of Maine people, Maine adults, now hold a post secondary credential, a college degree or a professional certification, yet two out of three jobs require such credentials.

This imbalance is why we have at the same time employers saying they can't find workers and workers saying they are stuck in dead end jobs.

Education is the key to helping our people achieve their full potential.

(audience applauds) Attracting talented young people to move here and make Maine their home will be a top priority of my administration and from now on, yes, a sign will greet all those arriving in our state at the Kittery Line.

And it will say simply, welcome home.

(audience applauds) If I have to get permission from the turnpike, though.

(audience applauds) They tell me I have to get permission from the turnpike.

(audience laughs) I'll work on it.

(audience laughs) I will work with the new administration, the new legislature to achieve the best education for our people, from preschool through college and beyond, beginning with full and fair funding for our schools including our career and technical centers.

(audience applauds) And we will treat our teachers with the respect and dignity they deserve.

There's a few teachers here.

(audience applauds) Are there any teachers?

(audience applauds) McCray.

There is no higher priority than our children and with so many people still at Long Creek, with children waiting for critical mental health services and some even losing their lives to violence in their own homes, it's high time we put children's health and safety first.

(audience applauds) I'm gonna start with one simple step.

Calling together the children's cabinet for the first time in years to tackle these issues.

(audience applauds) Simple.

(audience applauds) Well, these are some of the challenges we know about but we must also be prepared for the unexpected.

We know that a recession is possible in the next few years, it is, we know that someday, robots, drones, driverless cars, broadband and 3D printing will radically alter the way Maine people live, learn and work, and so we need to be ready.

Now I made my own predictions back at the turn of the century, the last century.

(audience laughs) In the year 1999, I wrote down a journal, a list on a journal, a list of things I thought I would stay in the new millennium and things I thought might go away.

I predicted for instance in 50 years, there would no longer be the following things, cash money, paper bags, spare tires.

Lint.

(audience laughs) Dust.

And pantyhose.

(audience applauds) But in 50 years I said there would likely still be Stephen King bestsellers.

(audience cheers) Baxter State Park.

(audience cheers) People from away.

(audience laughs) And Strom Thurmond.

(audience laughs) Anybody remember him?

As you can see, I can't rely on myself too well to predict the future, that's why I'm enlisting help.

I'm following the advice of writer Kurt Vonnegut who said, quote, he said a lot of things, but he also said, quote, every government ought to have a Department of the Future.

(audience applauds) So my administration will create an office of innovation and the future, this office will dive into major policy changes, foster collaboration and propose concrete, workable solutions, let's look ahead for a change.

(audience applauds) Now here's how I want to govern.

Because we're all in this together.

We all want Maine to have a beautiful environment and happy people and prosperous communities and although we all agree on a goal, we sometimes differ on how to get there.

We have Republicans, Greens, Democrats, Libertarians, independents and so many more besides.

But this is something I know well myself.

I mean, every Mills family reunion is like a meeting of the United Nations.

(audience laughs) Everyone has an opinion and everyone wants the microphone.

But these differences are what make my family strong, they make every family strong, they make Maine strong.

(audience applauds) Our diversity is a virtue, one that we should harness to advance good public debate and good public policy.

We welcome the voices of newcomers also to the public conversation, the young, the immigrants, people of different cultures, people of color, people of different orientations, all are important members of the Maine family.

(audience applauds) My town, like many of yours, my town has always had a commons where everybody would graze their sheep and cattle in the old days and sell produce and open a farmer's market now and where we'd all enjoy a concert on a summer evening, our state needs to find its common ground, expand our horizons, become one Maine again.

(audience applauds) From the tree streets of Lewistown to the rolling fields of the county, from the bold coast to the height of land, from Crossrock and Allagash, to the Portland's promenades, our people will once again find unity of purpose, we will bring back Maine's tradition of civil discourse expressed by Governor Israel Washburn, a friend of Abraham Lincoln's, in his 1861 inaugural.

He said, waving aside petty schemes and unseemly wrangles, let us rise if we can to the height of the great argument which duty and patriotism so eloquently address to us.

You know, I have fallen in love a few times in my life.

There are those in this audience whom I have loved for long and for years, friends and family, and some newly loved.

But it is the bond we all share for our state, our children longing for security, newcomers seeking to belong, for all those who feel left behind, who long for respect and dignity, one thing we all love is our great state and when a family, a community, a state, believe in each other, help each other, love each other, great things can happen.

(audience applauds) Maine people have greatness within them, Maine is our home, we are connected by the rivers and the land, the forests and the mountains.

We are connected by love, we are strengthened by those connections, we are one Maine, undivided, one family, from Calais to Beth El, from York to Fort Kent.

And so we meet this evening free from care, the heirs of Joseph Attean, Joshua Chamberlain, Flyrod Crosby and Israel Washburn and tomorrow, we rise before the dawn like the mist over the Sandy River and seek adventure.

With hope in our hearts and love in our souls for the brand new day and to all of you and to all the people of Maine I say, welcome home.

Welcome home!

(audience applauds) (both laugh) (audience applauds) - The benediction will be given by Father Frank Murray.

(gavel bangs) - It's a great honor to be with you here this evening for this historic night so let us conclude in prayer.

Let us pray.

Loving God, we thank you for this night in which Janet Mills begins her tenure as our governor.

We ask you to watch over her and guide her over the next four years, we also thank you for the many gifts which you have given Governor Mills, especially the gift of her willingness to share her gifts with us, the citizens of the great state of Maine, we ask your blessings on her and on the team of administrators she is forming to work with her to face the challenges of our state.

Compassionate God, we ask you to shower an openness on all of us as citizens of Maine to do our individual part in cooperating and addressing with the new Mills administration budgetary, environmental, health, educational, economic, justice, and infrastructure issues.

May all of Maine government, executive, legislative and judicial know their clear roles and cooperate for the common good of all citizens.

Our ancestors have known for a long long time that we are people who can lead.

As our motto claims.

As the next four years unfold, almighty God, keep us focused on the big picture which includes all people, your will, your willingness to help us and Governor Janet's important role.

May all of us be more focused on our supportive role and the greater good than our own personal desires.

Loving God, thank you for Governor Mills.

Thank you for the good state of Maine, thank you for self government, thank you for this new administration.

And thank you for this night.

Bless all these realities and we make this prayer in your name, amen.

(audience applauds) - Thank you.

(man laughs) - Thank you very much.

- Thank you.

(laughs) (audience applauds) (audience cheers) (audience applauds) - [President] The purpose for which this convention was assembled having been accomplished, I now declare the same dissolved.

(gavel bangs) (audience applauds) (orchestral music)