George Mitchell Portrait Removed from Maine State House; Mattie Daughtry Cited

The official portrait of former U.S. Sen. George J. Mitchell was taken down from the Hall of Flags in the Maine State House in Augusta on Friday, Feb. 27, 2026, after the Legislature’s presiding officers requested its removal and the Maine State Museum carried out the action. Video shared by the Maine House GOP shows museum or State House staff removing the framed painting early Friday afternoon, and the removal was described in social posts and by multiple news outlets.

Legislative administrators said the request came roughly two weeks earlier from Senate President Mattie Daughtry and House Speaker Ryan Fecteau. Suzanne Gresser, the Legislature’s executive director, said the presiding officers “had gotten several inquiries ‘regarding the appropriateness of the portrait,’” and the Maine Senate President’s Office told reporters that “Mitchell’s connections to Jeffrey Epstein were a factor” in the decision.

The timing followed renewed public attention tied to Justice Department files released this month related to Jeffrey Epstein. WMTW reported “more than 300 references to Mitchell appear in over three million pages of Epstein investigation files released by the Justice Department,” and news outlets noted the portrait’s removal came about three weeks after Mitchell resigned as honorary chair of the Mitchell Institute earlier in February.

Officials said the removed portrait will be temporarily replaced in the Hall of Flags by a portrait of Gail Laughlin. The Bangor Daily News reported Laughlin lived 1868 to 1952, was the first Maine woman to practice law and served in both houses of the Maine Legislature from 1929 to 1941. The Mitchell portrait had hung in that second-floor corridor outside the governor’s office since its unveiling in 2014, positioned alongside portraits of Margaret Chase Smith, Edmund S. Muskie and William King.

Local political staff framed the decision as collaborative. Victoria Foley, a spokesperson for Speaker Fecteau, said “It was a good time to make that change” and that the presiding officers made the call “together,” according to the Bangor Daily News. WGME described the move as bipartisan and reported Governor Janet Mills’ office told the station she supports the removal.

Portland Press Herald noted background on Mitchell’s public career, reporting that he represented Maine in the U.S. Senate from 1980 to 1995, served as Senate Majority Leader and later helped broker peace between Ireland and Northern Ireland. The Press Herald also reported that a spokesperson for Mitchell did not return messages seeking comment.

The Legislature’s decision removed a high-profile display from a prominent State House wall and placed Gail Laughlin’s portrait in the Hall of Flags temporarily; the Maine State Museum handled the physical removal after the presiding officers’ request, and officials cited unanswered inquiries and the newly released DOJ documents as factors in that request.