Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills announced Tuesday she is running for Senate, a massive recruiting success for the party as it aims to finally oust GOP Sen. Susan Collins in a consistently blue state.
Mills, 77, has a demonstrated track record of electoral success in Maine, winning the last two gubernatorial elections by 7 percentage points and 13 percentage points. Collins, while consistently unpopular in public polling, is a strong fundraiser who has managed to secure support from Democratic voters in the past.
Mills will also have to first defeat oyster farmer Graham Platner in a primary. While Platner is far less known than Mills, a viral launch video and an endorsement from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) enabled him to raise $4 million in his first three months in the race.
Mills’ launch video emphasizes her ability to stand up to President Donald Trump, opening with her confrontation with the president at the White House in February, where he threatened federal funding to Maine over the state’s support for allowing transgender participation in youth sports.
“You know, my father was a 7th-generation Mainer who stood up for people who couldn’t stand up for themselves,” Mills says in the two-minute-long launch ad, which also recounts her career as one of the first female prosecutors in the state. “And when I was little, he told me, ‘You can’t let bullies have their way or they’ll never stop.’”
