Nirav Shah is not the best choice for governor

A lot of poeple like Nirav Shah for the democratic gubernatorial candidate, but there are a lot of red flags in his background and platform that don't seem to be apart of the daily conversation. For what it's worth, I respected Shah's leadership during the pandemic and think he did a good job by Mainers. I'm sure he is a good person, but I do not think he is the person to serve as our next governor. Here are some things that give me pause about Shahs campaign.

1. Donors: The donations to his campaign suggest that he will not be answering to the people of Maine. His donors are largely out of state, law firms, even a PAC that has some links to AIPAC (314 PAC is linked to AIPAChttps://readsludge.com/2025/12/30/house-dems-gave-millions-in-dark-money-to-aipac-linked-314-action/, https://www.pressherald.com/2026/04/04/troy-jackson-is-committed-to-rejecting-dark-money-opinion/). His contributions from rural counties of Maine are literally in the single digits. AIPAC or not, politicians end up pleasing the people that pay for their campaign. Troy Jackson and Shenna's campaign are funded largely by small (<$50 donations from Mainers) while Shah's campaign is funded by law firms and wealthy individuals from out of state. This should be a big red flag. You can see all of this information for yourself here: https://mainecampaignfinance.com/index.html#/explore/candidate

2. One of his campaign's biggest donors is the law firm that he used to work at. This is a corporate law firm that "excels in M&A, shareholder activism defense, capital markets, and complex corporate governance, representing major public companies, private equity firms, and financial institutions (from their google overview). Much of this seems antithetical to what Shah's platform. You can't do this type of law and praise this type of company and also take on insurance companies and big pharma. One might argue that he doesn't work there anymore and might have changed, but he is on the record praising this place (https://www.sidley.com/zh-hans/sidley-pages/conversations/a-conversation-with-alumnus-nirav-shah).

3. His career before Maine and specific issues around supporting veterans.

Maybe you remember this drama from when Shah came to Maine, but he was FIRED from his fjob in Illinois because he did not react in time to a Legionnaires outbreak in a veteran’s home and 12 veterans died. https://themainemonitor.org/litany-of-controversial-decisions-follows-new-cdc-chief-to-maine/ 

He also illegally denied medical cannabis as treatment for veteran PTSD. 
https://www.injusticewatch.org/archive/2016/state-director-wrongly-denied-pot-for-ptsd-judge-rules/ You can read about how everyone else in the sphere was recommending that he make a different decision but he went rogue.

I do not like that both of these major missteps involved veterans, a group that we need to be supporting as much as possible.

Overall, Shah does not have any qualifications that show me he knows how to build the broad coalitions and partnerships that we need to get things done in Augusta. He has an elite background, and I just can't imagine that he really understand the heatbeat of a rural, working class state like Maine.

There has been a lot of conversation on here about how Mills has done a bad job, vetoing too many bills, blocking state workers from getting a contract, etc.. Shah does not have the background or platform that suggests he will 1) listen to his constituents and the legislature (he went again everyone's recommendation for the medical cannabis situation) and 2) fight for state workers (he probably hast he least pro-labor working class experience of any candidate except Angus King III).

I recommend ranking Troy Jackson #1 (check out his record as Senate President-- free lunch for public school children, robust reproductive justice protections when roe v. wade was overturned, labor bills that the governor vetoed, support for tribal soveriengty-- and his platform) and Shenna Bellows #2 (Shenna is great, I personally think Troy has the statewide support to win a general election and really buoy working class Mainers).