MILLER: Jim Melcher teaches political science at the University of Maine in Farmington, a rural college town where Mills has lived for decades. Melcher describes Mills as a scrappy former prosecutor who doesn't back down in court or on a political stage.

During a recent meeting of governors at the White House, Maine Gov. Janet Mills and President Donald Trump clashed over Trump’s executive order banning transgender athletes from women’s sports. Still, Mills did not say Maine would stop paying federal taxes if Trump stopped federal funding.