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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Graham Platner is sharing more about post-combat struggles. Has it made his campaign more resilient?Deleted Reddit posts and tattoo controversies blunted the Democrat's U.S. Senate candidate's surge of early momentum. Now the oyster farmer and military veteran is talking more about his battle with PTSD and reconciling his part in "stupid foreign wars." The people showing up to his town halls are still curious, some even more devoted. -
The longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history is over. But with little to show for it, the mostly Democratic politicians who ended the standoff now face intense backlash. -
Wood leaves a Democratic Senate primary dominated by Gov. Janet Mills and oyster farmer Graham Platner. His decision follows last week's announcement by U.S. Rep. Jared Golden that he won't seek reelection. -
Ben Chin of the Maine People's Alliance will become U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner's new campaign manager. He arrives as the campaign has been beset by staff upheaval. -
Jared Golden made the announcement in a lengthy column published in the Bangor Daily News in which he lamented the increasing hostility in the nation's politics and threats against him and his family. -
Mainers have enacted a red-flag gun law at the ballot box, with 58.8% of the vote. The Associated Press called the race at 9:55 p.m. on Nov. 4, 2025. -
For nearly two months, Graham Platner’s bid for the U.S. Senate was marked by momentum and bravado as the political newcomer drew big crowds to his town halls and he channeled Democratic voters’ hopes for a newer, brasher kind of candidate. During an interview in late September, he said, “I’ll just say, it’s been very surreal.” Reality has arrived over the past week. Now comes a test of Democratic primary voters' risk aversion. -
Platner says he didn't know about the Nazi affiliation when he got the tattoo as an 18-year-old rifleman in the Marines. -
In the posts he criticized police and wrote that white rural Americans “actually are” racist and stupid. Platner said the posts were a result of loneliness and disillusionment after he left the military, but don't represent who he is today. -
Proponents of Question 2 argue that the existing law — often referred to as Maine’s yellow flag law — is a failed experiment that was not used to stop a gunman in Lewiston from killing 18 people and injuring and traumatizing countless others in 2023 despite warnings about his deteriorating mental health.
