Steve Mistler
Chief Political Correspondent and State House Bureau ChiefJournalist Steve Mistler is Maine Public’s chief politics and government correspondent. He is based at the State House.
Steve has been a journalist for nearly two decades, specializing in the coverage of politics and state government. His work has been recognized by the Maine Press Association, Gerald Loeb and regional Murrow awards for investigative projects and accountability journalism. He was named the MPA’s Journalist of the Year in 2011 for his coverage of municipal and state government. He later received a Public Service in Radio from the Society of Professional Journalists and a writing award from the Public Radio News Directors for his retrospective of former Gov. Paul LePage.
He joined Maine Public in 2016 after a career in newspaper reporting. He and his family live in Maine.
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King, who caucuses with Democrats, has a long record as a defender of abortion rights. His vote this week to confirm Missouri Solicitor General Josh Divine puzzled abortion rights advocates. The independent senator says he wasn't fully aware of Divine's record on the issue. -
Private attorneys assigned to defendants who can't afford an attorney take on about 40% of federal cases, but they stopped getting paid July 3 because of systemwide funding shortfall. Public defender offices around the country say that could create a backlog of cases and infringe on defendants' constitutional right to a speedy trial. -
The bill contains nearly $460 million for Maine and is among the least contentious spending proposals Congress will consider this year. But it was closely watched after the Republican majority last week voted to claw back $9 billion in spending on foreign aid and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting previously enacted on bipartisan votes. -
Maine is required by law to have balanced budget and the Trump domestic policy bill is expected to result in billions in lost federal aid for Medicaid and food assistance. It's unclear when state lawmakers might have to patch such a hole because Republicans delayed implementation of some cuts until after the 2026 midterm elections. -
The New Markets Capital Investment Program touts several splashy successes, but it's drawn scrutiny when projects fail. Gov. Janet Mills will soon decide if a bill sending it $100 million over an eight-year period is worth it. -
Collins, a key vote in advancing the proposal over the weekend, was one of three GOP holdouts on Tuesday that forced Vice President JD Vance to break a tie. -
Sen. Angus King, an independent, argued that one person should not have ability to commit the U.S. military to war. Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, said she supports Trump's ordering of airstrikes against Iran's nuclear facilities and that they were designed to protect the U.S. and its allies. -
Gov. Janet Mills has vetoed five bills enacted by the Maine Legislature and lawmakers have been unable to muster the two-thirds support needed to override her. -
State Sen. Rick Bennett announced Tuesday that he's unenrolling from the Republican party to run for governor as an independent, an entry that could shake up the 2026 contest. -
Democrats who control the legislature passed the $320 million bill along party lines. Mills says the package contains compromises and tradeoffs.
