Gov. Janet Mills said Wednesday she will decide by November on whether or not to seek the Democratic nomination to challenge U.S. Sen. Susan Collins in 2026.
Mills, who is termed out of the Blaine House next year, has not ruled out a Senate bid in recent months while otherwise not sharing much about her future plans. But she divulged a few more details Wednesday while in Fryeburg for the ribbon-cutting of a state-owned shooting range that is reopening this weekend following renovations.
“I don’t have a specific timeline, but I’ll be deciding in the next few months. I would say maybe November, mid-November,” Mills told reporters in Fryeburg.
Mills, 77, is the preferred pick of national Democrats to take on Collins, the 72-year-old Republican who would become Maine’s longest-serving senator if she wins a sixth term next year. But the governor would have to compete with a growing field of Democratic challengers if she chooses to run for the Senate.
Bristol resident Jordan Wood, who previously worked in Washington, D.C., for former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, D-California, and various political groups, has raised more than $2 million since he launched his campaign in April. Sullivan oysterman and Marine veteran Graham Platner shook up the field last week by coming out of relative obscurity to join the Democratic race.
Platner received an immediate flurry of national media coverage and will appear with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and gubernatorial candidate Troy Jackson at a Labor Day rally in Portland. Other potential candidates loom in Maine Beer Co. co-founder Dan Kleban and House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, who has said he may run if Mills does not.
Mills would further upend the Democratic field if she chooses to join the Senate race. Collins has irked President Donald Trump at times but will have the support of national Republicans who want to protect her blue state seat and the GOP’s current 53-47 Senate advantage.
