Maine Democratic leaders praised President Biden after he announced Sunday that he was leaving the presidential race and said they share a sense of hope and excitement leading up to the November election.

Gov. Janet Mills said in a statement that she would do “everything (she) can to elect Vice President Kamala Harris, a friend and former colleague as Attorney General and a fighter for the people, as our next president.”

Biden endorsed Harris to top the Democratic ticket in November.

Mills said Biden has been one of the best presidents of her lifetime and has been a “true friend to the State of Maine.”

“In stepping aside, the President is putting the interests of the American people first,” Mills said. “He is demonstrating that the office of the presidency is not about a single person, but, instead, is the manifestation of the hopes and dreams of millions of Americans across the country.”

Bev Uhlenhake, chair of the Maine Democratic Party, thanked the president in a statement Sunday for the service “he has delivered for the people of Maine.” She said the party is excited for “this newfound opportunity to showcase the next generation of Democratic leadership” in pursuing its goal of defeating Republican Donald Trump and running mate JD Vance.

But state Republicans criticized Biden’s performance in office and said what they described as the president’s failed policies would continue under a new Democratic nominee.

Maine Republican Party Chair Joel Stetkis said in a statement Sunday that Biden has been a “terrible president for Maine” and encouraged Mainers to vote for former President Donald Trump in November, to “avoid having President Kamala Harris continue Biden’s destruction of Maine.” He did not go into detail about which of Biden’s policies he feels have harmed Maine.

House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor, said Biden was forced to drop out because of declining poll numbers.

“The Democrats are going to put a new face on the same policies and try to market it as something different,” he said in a phone interview Sunday. “It won’t be different. It’ll be the same policies with a new face.”

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said in a statement Sunday that Biden’s decision will “cement his legacy among some of the greatest statesmen in our country’s history.”

He quoted George Washington’s farewell address and said “like our first president, Joe Biden recognizes that the presidency is not about one person, or one party.” A spokesperson said that as an independent, King tries to avoid weighing in on Republican or Democratic campaign strategies.

Sen. Susan Collins, the only Republican among Maine’s congressional delegation, said in a statement Sunday that she appreciates Biden’s service and recognizes that leaving the race must have been a difficult decision, but did not weigh in on Harris as a potential replacement because “she is not involved in the Democrats’ decision making process of who should be the Democratic presidential nominee,” a spokesperson said in an email.

Collins has said previously that she will not vote for Trump in November and plans instead to write in Nikki Haley, who dropped out of the Republican primary in March.

U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, said in a statement Sunday that Biden’s “careful decision” was “putting what’s best for the American people and our country first and passing the torch to the next generation of leaders.”

U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, D-2nd District, said in a statement Sunday that Biden’s decision is the “right decision for the good of the country.”

Golden said recently that he believed Trump will win in November, and that “I’m OK with that” – a statement that stunned many Democrats at the time.

A campaign manager for Golden’s opponent, Austin Theriault, challenged him in a statement released Sunday.

“Is Jared Golden voting for Kamala now? We know he is not voting for Trump,” the statement reads.

Maine’s Democratic delegates – activists chosen by the party to attend the national nominating convention next month – who had been pledged to Biden will now help decide who will replace him as the Democratic candidate.

Democratic convention delegate Eric Best said he first heard Biden speak in 1978 when working as a reporter in California.

“I went back to the newsroom to write the story, absolutely on fire, saying ‘I think this guy could be president someday,’ ” he said in a phone interview Sunday. “So here we are, 50 years later, and in my opinion, Biden has been the most competent president of my lifetime and the most prepared to do it again, even if he forgets a name or stutters.”

He said he supports Harris because she’s been learning from “a master of domestic politics in the U.S.,” and thinks she has the potential to bring together women and young people with a platform of “equality, access and equity.”

Holly Sargent, a Democratic state representative from York and a delegate to this year’s national Democratic convention, said it’s a “very exciting time” to be a Democrat. But she said she’s not endorsing Harris until she learns “the whole picture.”

“I’m pleased that we’ll be able to preserve the president’s legacy,” she said in a phone interview Sunday. “He’s done a great job and I think the country has moved forward.”

Democratic delegate Marpheen Chann said Maine Democrats will have to work “extra hard” and rally behind the nominee, whom he hopes will build the economy and address housing in the state, especially in Portland.

“I think that the Biden-Harris administration has started some really good work on that issue … so Democrats in Portland … and Maine and across the country really need to work three times as hard to win in November,” Chann said in a phone interview Sunday.

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