Tom Desjardin (“Maine Voices: The root causes of the 2022 gubernatorial election result,” Nov. 17) sees only three reasons for Governor Mill’s victory over loser Paul LePage, none of which have anything to do with the candidates themselves. I fear he might be biased due to his previous position as a policy adviser to LePage.
Without even stressing my brain, I can easily adduce three more. 1) Janet Mills did a great job as governor during her current term; 2) Paul LePage’s tenure as governor, and the campaign he just conducted, were marked by incivility and slander, breathtaking mendacity and far-right policies that many people just can’t stomach; and 3) the Republican party, since Donald Trump’s presidency, has acquired a reputation for pandering to authoritarian enemies and alienating our allies, actively trying to undermine our democracy by both legal and extralegal means to attain power, and attempting to discredit our elected and appointed officials at federal, state and local levels, who perform their jobs scrupulously in accordance with the law when Republican shenanigans are foiled.
Why would the media want to support a crowd like that? We need ranked-choice voting for all elective offices to ensure our leaders are supported by a majority of the electorate.
Thomas Laurent
Rockport
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