Maine Gov. Janet Mills is ending her U.S. Senate campaign after struggling to contend against a progressive-backed competitor in a campaign critical for national Democrats’ hopes of retaking the chamber in this fall’s midterms.
Democrats are determined to try to oust GOP incumbent Sen. Susan Collins this year after failing to defeat the moderate during her five terms in Washington. The 78-year-old Mills was seen by some as the Democratic Party’s best chance of defeating Collins, given her past electoral performance in New England.
That picture was drastically complicated, however, by the campaign of Democrat Graham Platner, an initially unknown candidate whose progressive and plainspoken approach made him a national name, even as controversial actions and comments from his past threatened to hurt his general election viability. Despite Mills’ more traditional background, Platner had become the favorite ahead of the state’s June primary.
“While I have the drive and passion, commitment and experience, and above all else — the fight — to continue on, I very simply do not have the one thing that political campaigns unfortunately require today: the financial resources,” Mills said in a statement Thursday morning posted to social media. “That is why today I have made the incredibly difficult decision to suspend my campaign for the United States Senate.”
Maine is incredibly important, if not essential, to Democrats’ ability to win back the Senate in the midterms, a push that just last year seemed like a long shot. Republicans currently hold a comfortable majority in the chamber, with 53 seats compared with 47 for Democrats and the independents who caucus with them.
To flip control in November, Democrats need to hold on to every seat they currently control — including in the presidential battlegrounds of Georgia and Michigan, both of which President Donald Trump carried in 2024 — and also likely win four out of six races in states where they have struggled in recent years: North Carolina, Maine, Iowa, Alaska, Ohio and Texas. That once seemed unlikely given the contours of the national map, but a favorable political environment could create a path on Election Day.
Maine has proved to be an odd place for Democrats: They have done well in presidential races but repeatedly failed when it comes to defeating Collins. She was a top target for Democrats during the 2020 cycle, but managed to win re-election by more than 8 points.
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That track record may once again make Collins a difficult out for Democrats as the party contends with deep tensions over age and electability in the post-Biden era. And even as Democratic party leaders in Washington — who had been aligned with Mills’ campaign — promised to work with Platner on Thursday, Republicans quickly showed how they would frame attacks against him.
“Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats just coronated a phony who is too extreme for Maine. Susan Collins has always put in the work for her constituents and delivered,” Sen. Tim Scott, the leader of the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, said on social media Thursday morning. “Washington Democrats always fall short in Maine and will again, because they just nominated a dishonest radical.”
Similarly, the chairman of the Republican National Committee dubbed Platner as “a self-proclaimed communist,” and “nut job” in a post on X.
At an event hours after Mills’ announcement, Platner shared gratitude towards his onetime opponent and her career in public office.
“We both got into this race because we knew how critical it is to defeat Susan Collins, and her decision today reflects a commitment to that project,” he said. “I look forward to working closely with her between now and November to do just that.”
