BANGOR, Maine (AP) — Republican Donald Trump confused the gender of Democratic Gov. Janet Mills during a phone call with supporters in Maine, The Bangor Daily News reported Tuesday.
The newspaper obtained a recording of the phone call in which Trump attacked Mills on immigration, saying the governor is turning Maine into a “third world country.” Trump sought to energize voters Monday, the first day of early voting in the state.
Trump referred to the state’s first female governor as “he” several times as he accused her of wanting to “resettle 75,000 migrants” at the behest of the Biden administration. “He’s weak and ineffective, and they told him to do that, and he says ‘Yes, sir. Yes, ma’am, I will do it,” Trump said, referring to Mills, who is serving a second term.
Conservatives have merged a 2019 economic plan that called for a 75,000 workforce growth with a separate Office of New Americans created by the governor last year, portraying her as only looking to foreign-born people.
Mills referred to Trump’s opponent, Democrat Kamala Harris, in a brief response to X: “He better get used to recognizing women. He is about to be defeated by one.”
There was no immediate response from the Trump campaign.
Maine is important to Trump. The state is one of two states that divide electoral votes by congressional district, and Trump won a single electoral vote in the state’s 2nd Congressional District in 2016 and 2020.
Trump also merged two different parts of the Gulf of Maine: a disputed 717-square-mile “gray zone” near Canada and a 12,910-square-mile national maritime monument that he opened to lobsters while president. The ‘grey zone’ is the subject of a long-standing territorial dispute, while the national marine monument is located far offshore – too far for most lobster fishermen to exploit.
“The Canadians can fish there, but the Americans cannot. We’re going to open it up,” Trump said. “You get Maine lobster and it’s near you. Just think: 5,000 square kilometers.”
