Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) opened her campaign for the Pine Tree State’s must-win Senate seat by declaring her support for the filibuster, the 60-vote threshold in the Senate most progressives view as an archaic barrier to progress.
Mills may not be alone among leading Senate candidates in wanting to defy Democrats’ relatively newfound consensus on the issue and keep the filibuster in place. Other establishment or moderate Democratic candidates for the Senate are hemming and hawing on the question or ignoring inquiries about it, even as most candidates in competitive primaries rush to declare their desire to scrap it.
Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) dodged a question on the issue in a local interview earlier this year, and former Gov. Roy Cooper (D-N.C.) did not respond to a HuffPost inquiry. Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) and Iowa state Rep. Josh Turek (D) also didn’t respond.
Both parties have chipped away at the filibuster over the past 15 years, removing it for federal officials and judges and carving out other exceptions. But it’s Democrats who have come to largely believe that removing the 60-vote barrier is necessary to pass key parts of their agenda, including restoring the abortion rights protections once guaranteed by Roe v. Wade and government reform measures like limiting the influence of money in politics.
