Oct. 14 (UPI) — Maine Gov. Janet Mills on Tuesday announced that she was running to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins in what’s expected to be one of the most closely watched races in the 2026 midterms.
Mills announced her run in a video that highlighted her confrontational exchange with President Donald Trump earlier this year at the White House, where she said she would sue over his threat to withhold federal funding over the state’s noncompliance with his order blocking transgender athletes from women’s sports.
The video also targeted Collins for backing Trump’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” that has been criticized for giving tax breaks to the rich at the expense of medical programs for the poor.
“I won’t sit idly by while Maine people suffer and politicians like Susan Collins bend a knee as if this were normal,” Mills said in the video.
While Mills’ run was expected, it’s set up another fight among Democrats about the direction of the party following their loss in the 2024 election.
Oyster farmer Graham Platner is already running for the Democratic nomination with the backing of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Platner released a video Tuesday calling for the Democratic Party to again become the party of unions and the working class.
Sanders said in a post on X earlier that it was “disappointing that some Democratic leaders are urging Governor Mills to run,” saying the part needed to “focus on winning” without a divisive primary.
Democrats need to flip four seats in next year’s midterms to retake control of the Senate, a goal widely viewed as a long shot.
Maine voted for Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024 and is considered one of the Democrats’ best opportunities for a pickup. After Mills’ entry into the race, Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a website run by political scientist Larry Sabato, moved Maine’s Senate race from “Leans Republican” to “Toss-up.”
