Trump Repeatedly Referred to Maine’s Female Governor as a Man

Former President Donald J. Trump repeatedly referred to Gov. Janet Mills of Maine, the state’s first female chief executive, as a man in a call to supporters in the state on Monday.

During roughly 15 minutes of remarks, the former president used masculine pronouns all six times he referred to Ms. Mills. He never referred to her by name.

Mr. Trump also falsely described an element of the state’s strategy for increasing its work force as an effort to resettle migrants in Maine.

“Whatever is going on with him, radical-left governor, announced the plan already — he wants to resettle 75,000 migrants into Maine,” Mr. Trump said on the call, audio of which was published by The Bangor Daily News. “That’s only because they told him to do so. He’s weak and ineffective and they told him to do so, and he’s saying, ‘Yes sir, yes ma’am, I will do it.’”

The 75,000 figure appeared to refer to a provision in Maine’s 10-year economic strategy that calls for the state to “attract 75,000 people to Maine’s talent pool” — something that could be done, the strategy says, “both by increasing participation among Maine’s existing population, and attracting new people from out of state.” It is not a migrant resettlement number.

Mr. Trump later referred to Ms. Mills again with a masculine pronoun, as he criticized his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris: “Kamala’s turning your state into a dumping ground because they have a governor that’ll do whatever they say, and that’s the next thing — you’d better get rid of him someday in the near future — and if she wins, Maine’s unique character will be lost forever.”

Mr. Trump’s call — which wandered from immigration to inflation and back to immigration and on to numerous other topics, and included false