Maine Gov. Janet Mills announces 2026 Senate bid to challenge Susan Collins

Washington Democrats landed another high-profile recruit in the battle for the Senate majority in 2026, as two-term Maine Gov. Janet Mills announced Tuesday her entry into the race to take on longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins.

The long-awaited campaign launch by the seasoned 77-year-old Democratic governor is seen as a victory for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

The Senate’s top Democrat has urged Mills to run and considers her the best candidate to defeat Collins, the only Republican senator up for re-election next year in a state Democrats won in the presidential election. A defeat for Collins would be essential for Democrats to have a chance of regaining the majority in the Senate.

But before reaching the general election, Mills must first navigate a likely competitive and potentially divisive primary among a large field of contenders that includes a much younger rising star on the left who is backed by longtime progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

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FILE – Democratic Gov. Janet Mills delivers her State of the State address, Jan. 30, 2024, at the State House in Augusta, Maine. (Robert F. Bukaty, AP file/photo)

“I have never backed down from a bully and never will,” the governor said in a statement as she launched her campaign. “Donald Trump is depriving millions of people of health care, driving up costs and giving massive tax cuts to corporate CEOs. And Susan Collins is helping him.”

Mills’ campaign launch video highlighted the White House governors’ meeting in February, during which President Donald Trump confronted her for defying his executive order banning trans athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports.

Trump told Mills, “you won’t get any federal funding” if she didn’t comply, to which she responded, “we’ll see you in court.”

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Mills, a former elected county prosecutor and former state legislator, made history as Maine’s first female attorney general.

She then won election in 2018 as Maine’s first female governor, and in 2022 comfortably defeated former Republican Governor Paul LePage by double digits for re-election.

Tuesday’s launch comes after Mills’ campaign appeared to jump the gun last week with a quickly deleted social media post and video Friday announcing his candidacy.

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Although she is considered the favorite for the Democratic Senate nomination, thanks in part to her high profile in blue-leaning Maine, she could face a serious challenge from Graham Platner, 41, a U.S. Navy and Army veteran and oyster farmer who launched his campaign in August.

Platner, who raised more than $3 million in funding in the first six weeks after declaring his candidacy, is backed by Sanders, the two-time Democratic runner-up to the presidential nomination, who recently stopped in Maine to lead a campaign rally.

Graham Platner, a U.S. Navy and Army veteran and oyster farmer, launched a Democratic campaign for U.S. Senate in Maine in August. (Graham Platner Campaign)

In a warning to Mills, Sanders said on social media last week that “Graham Platner is a great working-class candidate for Maine Senate who will defeat Susan Collins.”

“It’s disappointing that some Democratic leaders are urging Governor Mills to run. We need to focus on winning this seat and not waste millions on unnecessary and divisive primaries,” Sanders added.

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Other candidates vying for the Democratic Senate nomination include Dan Kleban, co-founder of Maine Beer Co., and former Congressman Jordan Wood, who raised about $3 million during the third fundraising quarter from July to September.

Phil Rench, former lead engineer at Elon Musk’s SpaceX, is running as an independent candidate.

“Maine Democrats are engaged in a deadly struggle between Chuck Schumer’s out-of-touch establishment and Bernie Sanders’ far-left radicals,“ National Republican Senatorial Committee communications director Joanna Rodriguez charged in a statement as Mills entered the race.

And Rodriguez argued that “Janet Mills wants to be the longest-serving freshman senator in American history after a record of failure that left Maine one of the weakest economies in New England. Regardless of which Democrat emerges, we are confident that Mainers will continue to trust independent problem-solver Susan Collins to continue to meet their needs.”

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine is up for re-election in the 2026 midterms. (Mark Makela/Getty Images)

Collins, 72, a moderate Republican, first won election to the Senate in 1996. She currently chairs the influential Senate Appropriations Committee.

Collins won comfortable double-digit re-elections in 2002, 2008 and 2014.

In his 2020 reelection bid, Collins faced Democratic House Speaker Sara Gideon in a hotly contested race that became the most expensive in Maine history. While polls indicated that Collins was trailing her Democratic challenger, she ended up winning the election by more than eight points.

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Mills becomes the third major Senate recruit for Democrats this year, following former Gov. Roy Cooper in North Carolina and former Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio.

Republicans currently control the Senate 53-47.