Vance slams Maine Gov. Mills on welfare fraud during Bangor rally

Vice President JD Vance took shots at Maine's Gov. Janet Mills during a campaign-style rally Thursday. He also advocated for former Gov. Paul LePage's bid for a seat in Congress.

Speaking to hundreds of fired-up Republicans near Bangor International Airport, Vance didn't hold back as he accused the the Mills administration of systematically ignoring welfare fraud. Vance described Mills as being among the least-cooperative governors in the nation in terms of addressing welfare fraud.

The vice president also alleged that Maine only ranks behind Minnesota, California and possibly New York FOR HAVING the biggest welfare fraud problems.

"Maybe Maine is the bronze medalist," Vance said to boos from the crowd. "Because if you look at the fraud that has happened in this state, if you look at the illegal alien immigrant communities that have taken benefits that ought by rights should go to people in this room, what you have in this room is a festering problem where people have been taken advantage of and they have been stolen from. And the people in government haven't done anything about it."

Vance went after Mills personally numerous times, only to say moments later that he wanted to work with her and any other governor on the fraud issue.

In a written statement, Mills said that she has quote "always cracked down on fraud" as governor and as attorney general — and that her administration has often worked with the federal government to improve accountability for MaineCare providers.

“The remarks by the vice president today are nothing but a weak attempt to distract from the Trump Administration’s failing agenda, endless war in Iran, and failure to control crushing costs — including sky high gas prices — that Maine families and businesses are struggling with every day," Mills said. "Maine people deserved to hear about how the Trump Administration is making their lives better by lowering costs, improving health care, building housing, and fixing child care — but we got none of that because the President and Vice President don’t actually care about these issues or the hardships they are causing our state and people."

Welfare fraud has emerged as a top Republican talking point headed into the pivotal 2026 elections in Maine and around the country. The Trump administration has targeted largely Democratic-led states even though waste, fraud and abuse in programs like Medicaid is a nationwide issue.

Late last year, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services suspended payments to a MaineCare provider, Gateway Community Services, that was found to have over-billed the state's Medicaid program by more than $1 million. A recent federal audit also identified roughly $46 million in potentially improper payments for MaineCare services to children with autism.

But Vance suggested on Thursday that was "the tip of the iceberg."

"And we are going to find out how deep that iceberg is," Vance said. "And I suspect — I can't promise but I suspect we are going to find hundreds of millions of more dollars every time we look in the state of Maine because this is not a state that takes it seriously."

But Garrett Martin, president and CEO of the left-leaning Maine Center for Economic Policy, accused Vance of seeking to divide Mainers while the administration simultaneously pursues policies that hurt "everyday Americans" in order to fund tax cuts for the wealthy.

"What the vice president said is a gross mischaracterization of what's actually happening on the ground," Martin said. "Clearly fraud should always be investigated and addressed. But this isn't really about fraud. It's about using isolated cases to attack public programs that help working families and seniors and children and people with disabilities."

President Trump tapped Vance to lead a task force focused on welfare fraud. And his trip to Maine came one day after he announced that the federal government would withhold $1.3 billion in federal Medicaid payments to California because of what he characterized as inadequate anti-fraud efforts.

Vance didn't make any specific threats against Maine and the Mills administration. Instead, Thursday's event doubled as a rally for former Gov. Paul LePage, who is running for Maine's open seat in the 2nd Congressional District.

"The problem is fraud has festered in Maine because this guy is no longer the governor of Maine," said while motioning to LePage. "So we are going to send him to Washington to fight fraud at the federal level."

LePage successfully narrowed welfare eligibility during his two terms as governor and pushed multiple other changes only to encounter resistance from Democrats in the Legislature. But he lost to Mills by 13 percentage points in 2022 when he waged a third, non-consecutive bid for the Blaine House.

LePage pledged to work with Vance and Trump on the welfare issue if he is elected to Congress in November.

"JD Vance being here today is a warning shot to every fraudster, scam artist and corrupt bureaucrat protecting our broken system. It's time to squash it," LePage said to loud applause from the crowd.

Several of LePage's potential Democratic rivals this November, meanwhile, joined the Bangor protests against Vance's visit to the city. Several dozen protestors also gathered across the street from the rally location, holding signs and banners mocking the vice president and denouncing the Trump administration.

"The administration has been taking unconstitutional actions, they are breaking the law, they are corrupt beyond measure," said Deb Leon, a Holden resident and member of the group Indivisible Bangor. "They are stealing money from the social programs ... and doing what they want with it. Social programs are being robbed. They don't care about us. They don't care about us. They care about the billionaire cronies."

This story was first published by Maine Public.