Democratic gubernatorial candidate Nirav Shah is criticizing Vice President JD Vance’s visit to the state this week, saying Mainers deserve explanations, not a campaign rally.
“Frankly, the Maine Republicans who are excited to welcome Vice President Vance here this week should be willing to explain why they are celebrating an administration whose policies are making life harder and more expensive across the state of Maine,” Shah said during a press conference in Freeport on Tuesday.
Shah cited tariffs and cuts to safety net programs that he said will increase hunger and push rural hospitals to the brink. He also criticized U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations that dehumanize immigrants and violate constitutional rights.
Vance will speak at the Bangor International Airport on Thursday.
During the press conference, Shah, the former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, also weighed in on the hantavirus outbreak on a Dutch cruise ship that has killed three people and infected at least 10 others.
Shah said the likelihood of hantavirus arriving on Maine’s shores from a cruise ship is unlikely. He said disease outbreaks on cruise ships tend to be illnesses that are also common on the mainland.
“Of the many things in public health that’s keeping me up at night, this is not on the top of the list,” Shah said. “It’s absolutely something that we should know about. But we already have norovirus on shore. We already have pneumonia on shore.”
Shah said that the Maine CDC is well-equipped to handle outbreaks.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
