As her U.S. Senate campaign faces questions about strategy and viability, Gov. Janet Mills used a town hall at Bowdoin College Tuesday to make the case that she’s still Democrats’ best chance to defeat Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November.
“I know there are liabilities on the part of my opponent that would make him a difficult candidate in the fall, let me put it that way,” she said. “I’ve never said things like all white, rural Americans, or Mainers, are racist and stupid. I’ve never said things like that.
Mills’ comment, which came at the tail end of the event hosted by Bowdoin College Democrats, was the one and only time that she referenced her primary rival Graham Platner. But Platner, who will speak at the same venue on Wednesday night, loomed large nevertheless.
Polls show that the combat veteran turned oyster farmer holds a significant lead over Mills despite a history of offensive social media posts and a tattoo of Nazi iconography that he’s since covered. The political newcomer has repeatedly addressed those controversies via social media, paid advertising and a dizzying schedule of public events — including more than 50 town halls so far.
Mills’ effort to highlight his musings in her own advertising have seemingly not boosted her standing. Last week her campaign did not book any television ads, which have included two criticizing him over his posts about sexual assault.
Those developments have prompted pundits to speculate whether Mills, a top recruit for Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, will stay in the race. Mills didn’t face those questions directly on Tuesday, but she sought to frame her candidacy as a way to fight the existential threat posed by President Donald Trump and an obedient Republican Congress.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
