Gov. Janet Mills went after her upcoming opponent, former Gov. Paul LePage, and made her case for reelection on day two of the Maine Democratic State Convention Saturday in Bangor.Mills touted what she believes has been her biggest accomplishments during her speech, and contrasted her four years in the Blaine House with the previous eight, when it was occupied by LePage.“I don’t know what he was thinking about, but it wasn’t Maine people, and we won’t go back,” Mills said of LePage.The governor pointed to education funding, which reached the legally required 55% benchmark for K-12 schools for the first time in state history this year. She also touted her administration's pandemic response, with Maine seeing the sixth-lowest COVID-19 death rate among states throughout the pandemic despite being the nation's oldest state.Mills also touted the state's budget surplus, which reached a record $1.2 billion in 2022, which she says was reached without raising taxes."We recorded historic budget surpluses because of good management," Mills said. "We rejected tax increases on Maine people and instead delivered tax relief, including an income tax cut for retirees."Mills chided LePage for vetoing Medicaid expansion while he was in office, and claimed he ignored the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, which saw close to 25% of its positions vacant during his administration.She also criticized her predecessor for his economic policies, claiming that LePage had raised taxes on Mainers during his tenure."Under Paul LePage, Maine consistently ranked as one of the worst states in the nation for economic growth," Mills said. "And for all the Republican bluster on taxes, there's only one candidate in this race who saw taxes go up on their watch, and his name is Paul LePage."Mills also affirmed her support for abortion rights, saying that Maine will not go back to the time before Roe v. Wade."You can bet as long as I am your governor, we will protect the right to safe and legal abortion for women in Maine," Mills said. "Unlike Republicans, and unlike the apparent majority of our Supreme Court of the United States, I do not believe that a woman's rights are dispensable."Republicans responded to the convention rhetoric with a news conference outside the convention hall, where they blamed Mills and state Democrats for the current inflation and high cost of everyday items."Maine Republicans are focused on what Maine voters are really worried about: Costs, costs, costs, in other words, inflation," said Maine GOP Chair Demi Kouzounas.The news conference was interrupted by Democratic supporters chanting "we won't go back," a line which State Rep. Joshua Morris (R-Turner) saw as ironic."They keep saying they don't want to go back," Morris said. "What they don't want to go back to is when we had cheaper gas prices and we didn't have double-digit percent inflation. That's the number one issue that I'm that I hear from my constituents every day, is how much things cost now because of inflation, the high cost of gasoline because of the policies of Joe Biden and Janet Mills."Mills blamed the rising costs on the pandemic and Russia's war in Ukraine and cited the upcoming $850 relief checks as relief for inflation."While no governor can control the international forces at play that contribute to inflation, what this government can do is provide relief directly to Maine people," Mills said of the checks, an idea that had also been championed by Republican leaders in the legislature.When asked about Mainers' concerns over reproductive rights, Republican leaders said the will of the people would be reflected in their policies."I think any policy that we would enact would be reflective of what the Maine people want," Morris said. "We believe all people are struggling right now with higher costs thanks to the policies of Janet Mills and Joe Biden." Both Republicans and Democrats indicated that they are ready to contest an election cycle that stands to be one of the closest watched in the nation on both the Gubernatorial and Congressional sides."We're going to be talking to every Mainer that we can," Morris said. "We've got a great volunteer program to get out and talk to as many Mainers as we can and let them know about the agenda that Republicans have.""I've never backed down for a fight, and I'm damn sure I won't do so now," Mills said.