Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills launched a Senate bid on Tuesday, aiming to unseat longtime incumbent Republican Maine Sen. Susan Collins in a race that may determine control of the upper chamber during the midterms.
Mills, a term-limited governor, officially declared her candidacy after being lobbied by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to enter the race. The 77-year old Senate hopeful will begin the campaign with near universal name recognition and the backing of the establishment wing of the Democratic Party, but will have to fend off competitive primary challenges from several far-left opponents including an insurgent oyster farmer endorsed by Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
The expected announcement comes after Mills’ campaign appeared to mistakenly declare her candidacy in a since-deleted announcement video and fundraising page on Friday.
“Folks, do you want Democrats to take back the Senate?” Mills said in the video that briefly appeared on her social media. “Well, I’m Gov. Janet Mills, and I’m running to flip Maine’s Senate seat blue.”
Though Mills will likely start the primary contest as an early favorite given her tenure leading Maine Democrats, several political newcomers are vying to take her down and are making the case they are best-suited to face Collins in the general election.
Sanders-backed oyster farmer and Marine veteran Graham Platner, 41, is working to consolidate support among the party’s left flank.
Jordan Wood, a 36 year-old former congressional aide to embattled now-Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter, has also vowed to stay in the race even if Mills declared her candidacy.
Platner is viewed as the strongest contender to challenge Mills due to his endorsements from the left of the party — including support from former Labor Secretary Robert Reich and Democratic California Rep. Ro Khanna — and enthusiasm among the grassroots.
The showdown between Mills and the Sanders-endorsed candidate could highlight divisions among Democrats over generational change and support for Israel — two issues currently roiling the party as it plots a strategy back to power.
Sanders has notably called on Mills to pass on the race, arguing the primary clash between Platner and the governor would be “unnecessary & divisive.”
Leaders We Deserve, a controversial group working to elect younger, more progressive Democrats, endorsed Platner’s campaign alongside various other youth advocacy organizations on Monday evening. Leaders We Deserve is founded by 25 year-old activist David Hogg.
Platner has pushed anti-Israel messaging at the center of his campaign messaging and has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of committing genocide in Gaza. He has also declined to back Schumer as Democratic leader.
Platner raised $3.2 million in the third fundraising quarter, which runs from July to September, Axios first reported.
The winner of the Democratic primary contest could struggle to oust Collins, who has a proven track record of winning tight races over her five Senate terms. She defied a bevy of polling in 2020 to cruise to victory in 2020 by nearly nine percentage points despite President Donald Trump losing the state by the same margin.
Collins is the lone Republican incumbent to represent a state that former Vice President Kamala Harris won last November.
Democratic groups are still expected to spend aggressively to defeat the incumbent senator because retaking Senate control would likely be impossible without winning in Maine.
Mills is also expected to face scrutiny about her age during the primary contest. She would be the oldest freshman senator in U.S. history if elected to the Senate in 2026.
“Janet Mills is ten years older than I am, and now I’m wondering why I decided not to run for Congress again next year because I didn’t want to be part of the aging problem in Congress,” former Democratic Pennsylvania Rep. Susan Wild, who lost reelection in 2024, wrote on X on Friday. “And, if she wins, her term would be SIX years, making her 84 at the end of her first term.”
However, Mills pointed to her viral clash with the president over transgender policies in education and sports earlier this year as evidence of her willingness to fight Trump and congressional Republicans in her campaign announcement video. Mills has thus far rejected the Trump administration’s interpretation of Title IX, which bars biological males from competing on girls and women’s sports teams in school athletic programs.
“We stood up to Trump and stopped him from cutting the school lunch program for Maine kids,” Mills says in the ad, referring to the Trump administration’s threats to withhold federal funding due to the state’s transgender policies.
National Republican groups are likely to spotlight concerns about Mills’ age and her left-wing record as governor as they work to reelect Collins. The incumbent senator has not officially declared her candidacy for a sixth term, but has said she intends to seek reelection.
“Janet Mills wants to be the oldest freshman Senator in American history after a record of failure that turned Maine into one of the weakest economies in New England,” National Republican Senatorial Committee communications director Joanna Rodriguez said in a statement.
“The only thing Mills has gotten right in her career is praising Senator Susan Collins’ effective and proven leadership,” Senate Leadership Fund executive director Alex Latcham said on Tuesday. “So while Democrats fight among themselves, Senator Collins will keep doing what she’s always done — delivering for Maine families.”
“Janet Mills, Graham Platner, or whatever other leftist emerges from this Democrat primary will be too extreme and socialist for Maine,” Republican National Committee (RNC) Regional Communications Director Delanie Bomar said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “One thing is for certain: Bernie Sanders is right that Democrats will waste millions trying to defeat Senator Susan Collins.”
Before serving two terms as Maine’s first female governor, Mills was a former state lawmaker and state attorney general.
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