AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine Gov. Janet Mills congratulated Hannah Pingree on her election as the state's next governor and pledged a smooth handoff of power, in a statement her office released.

"Tonight, Maine people chose Hannah Pingree to lead our state for the very same reasons I asked her to serve in my administration eight years ago: her deep experience, sound judgment, and relentless optimism for Maine's future," Mills said. She called the result a "decisive victory."

Mills said Pingree "will receive full collaboration and support from my administration as she prepares to be inaugurated in January as Maine's 76th Governor."

Mills has invited Pingree and her family to visit the Blaine House, the governor's official home in Augusta, in November, her office said.

Pingree led the Governor's Office of Policy Innovation and the Future under Mills from 2019 to 2025. She is a former speaker of the Maine House of Representatives.

Mills was elected in 2018 as Maine's first woman governor and was re-elected in 2022. Her office said she received more votes than any governor in Maine history and was the first governor since 1970 to win a majority of the vote in both of her elections.

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