AUGUSTA, ME — The Bobby Charles for Governor campaign today released a new digital ad contrasting Maine families with the Augusta political machine of Governor Janet Mills and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Hannah Pingree — and making the case that after years of higher taxes and higher costs, it is time to pick the bad apples out of the barrel.

The 30-second ad, titled “Mills + Pingree: Augusta’s Bad Apples,” features Charles walking a Maine orchard with his daughter, Sophia — identified on screen as “a good apple.” They stop at a decaying tree marked AUGUSTA. Fallen fruit litters the ground. When Sophia holds up a piece of fruit that looks sound, Charles delivers the punchline: Augusta will “find a way to tax it.” The ad closes on Charles as the only candidate for governor not taking money from Augusta lobbyists.

View the ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu4nInZzbwc

“Mainers know a bad apple when they see one,” said Bobby Charles. “Janet Mills and Hannah Pingree have had their run in Augusta. Taxes keep going up. Costs keep going up. Lobbyists keep getting paid. Families keep getting squeezed. I am not taking money from Augusta lobbyists, and I am not going to Augusta to join that tree. I am going there to prune it. Cut crime. Cut taxes. No nonsense.”

The ad’s message tracks what Mainers see every day: an Augusta establishment that looks healthy from a distance and is rotting at the trunk. Mills and Pingree have treated the State House as their orchard. Assessments climb. Energy bills climb. Property-tax bills climb. The people who live here year-round pay more so the political class can keep picking.

Pingree, who directed the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future from 2019 to 2025, spent those years as Mills’ senior policy aide. She now asks voters to reward that record. Charles argues she owns the result — and that a candidate who is proud of the Mills years is the last person to clean out the barrel.

Charles’ contrast with the Mills-Pingree machine is larger, simpler, and does not depend on more Augusta word salad:

•         Refuse money from Augusta lobbyists — Charles is the only candidate for governor making that pledge.

•         Cut taxes instead of finding a way to tax even a good apple.

•         Cut crime and restore accountability after years of Augusta looking the other way.

•         End the nonsense — no more insider playbook that keeps lobbyists happy and families broke.

In the ad, Sophia Charles is labeled “Bobby Charles’ daughter — she’s a good apple.” The rotting AUGUSTA tree stands between father and daughter as a visual of the capital they intend to change. The close card reads: “Bobby Charles. He’s a good apple.” Cut crime. Cut taxes. No nonsense. BobbyForMaine.com.

“This is not complicated,” Charles said. “One bad apple spoils the barrel. Augusta has had more than one. Mills and Pingree taxed the good apples and protected the bad ones. I will stop the shakedown, keep lobbyist money out of this campaign, and put Maine families back in charge of their own orchard.”

The advertisement is running digitally statewide.