Politics
Our political journalists are based in the Maine State House and have deep source networks across the partisan spectrum in communities all over the state. Their coverage aims to cut through major debates and probe how officials make decisions. Read more Politics coverage here.
SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine — Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner on Friday called for ending federal gas and diesel taxes as part of an energy plan that was criticized by U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ campaign.
Platner is following other Democratic candidates in proposing a gas tax elimination to offer Americans relief. It also cuts against historic political lines. For example, the last well-known Maine politician to call for slashing the tax was former Gov. Paul LePage in 2022. His plan included wider criticism of Collins, whose campaign called his idea bad.
The rollout came after Platner, still facing a June primary against 2024 U.S. Senate nominee David Costello, became the presumptive Democratic nominee once Gov. Janet Mills suspended her bid for Collins’ seat. Collins has countered Platner by reiterating her role as Senate Appropriations Committee chair, where she’s helped secure federal funding for Maine.
Platner said revenue from the taxes — which help pay for the Highway Trust Fund — can be recovered through tax reform with higher rates on the wealthy and cuts at the Pentagon. He also pressed for a tax on what he called oil industry profits, rewarding states that freeze electricity rates, a national energy infrastructure fund and permitting reform to help modernize the grid and boost clean energy projects.
The plan blamed high prices on “Susan Collins, her party, [and] the crony capitalism that has handed over our essential public infrastructure to oil companies, private equity, and foreign-owned utilities.” Shawn Roderick, Collins’ campaign spokesperson, responded by saying Platner “is great at making bad ideas appear reasonable.”
“Roughly 85% of the funding for our federal highways and transit projects comes from the taxes he is proposing to eliminate,” he said. “There is already a deficit in the Highway Trust Fund, and this plan would exacerbate Maine’s already grossly underfunded roads.”
Platner’s plan noted that the trust fund has already needed a boost of $275 billion in general funds since 2008. He argued the “U.S. has the resources,” with highway excise tax revenue amounting to about $40 billion annually.
President Donald Trump’s war in Iran has already cost Americans an estimated $50 billion, his plan noted. An ad released by Platner this week said Collins helped the latest “forever war” advance. The senator voted in favor of the latest failed Democratic-led effort to rein in the war, which has driven up oil and gas prices across the country.
After speaking at a Manufacturers Association of Maine event Friday, Collins said she had not seen Platner’s plan and couldn’t comment on it. But she noted that electricity rates in Maine are skyrocketing and “among the highest in the nation.”
“That is a state issue and I hope that Augusta will look into all the provisions that are pushing up the cost of electricity … because it’s simply not affordable for families, for seniors, for our small businesses,” she said.
The senator, whose first general election ad focused on her efforts to bring Maine federal dollars, added that she’s been one of the chief proponents of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program funding. She and a bipartisan group of senators successfully pushed the Trump administration to release more than $420 million in LIHEAP funding late last month, including $4.3 million in Maine.
Collins also advocated for tapping into natural gas available through pipelines in Pennsylvania, arguing the state is among the most dependent on home heating oil. She also said it was too hard to get energy projects going, and that permitting must be streamlined.
Platner also pushed for permitting reform, an area where there’s been bipartisan support nationwide. But he focused on clean energy projects and what he called inappropriate packaging of these reforms with expansions of fossil fuel leases, mirroring the Sierra Club’s criticism of a bill led by U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat from Maine’s 2nd District.
“Clean energy projects cannot keep languishing in permitting reviews that outlast their commercial life,” his plan said.
