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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Platner, a Democrat who served as a Marine in Iraq and the Army in Afghanistan, says the "oligarchy is the enemy." -
Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat representing Maine's Trump-friendly 2nd Congressional District, reiterated his support for releasing files related to the government's investigation into Jeffrey Epstein scandal that has been amplified and nurtured by the president and other Republican politicians. -
Shah, who says he would run as a Democrat, would join a crowded field of nearly 20 candidates. As director of the Maine CDC, he became a household name during the COVID-19 pandemic. -
The 2026 gubernatorial election is 16 months away, yet Republican hopeful Bobby Charles has already managed to break through the mostly routine campaign rollouts by the rest of the ever-growing field of candidates. -
Chief Matthew Clancy was arrested Friday after and charged with misdemeanor assault and resisting arrest. The Department of Public Safety says Clancy is on leave pending a review of the incident. -
Matt Dunlap, Maine's former Secretary of State and current State Auditor, says he's gathering feedback for his prospective challenge against U.S. Rep. Jared Golden. The four-term congressman has said Dunlap has a "small" chance of beating him and "zero" chance of beating former Republican Gov. Paul LePage in 2026. -
Gov. Janet Mills, a top recruitment target for Democrats, has effectively frozen the field of prospective challengers to Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins. Mills says she has no timetable to make a decision. -
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.
