Maine Gov. Janet Mills enters race to unseat Susan Collins : NPR

Maine Gov. Janet Mills introduced Tuesday that she’ll enter the race to defeat Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a high goal in nationwide Democrats’ bid to regain the Senate.

Mills was recruited by Democratic Senate leaders after her high-profile confrontation with President Donald Trump in February over transgender athletes, a dispute that triggered a wave of retaliatory strikes by his administration in opposition to the state. The alternate is featured in her launch advert.

“My life’s work has ready me for this struggle and I am able to win,” Mills says within the video. “This election might be a easy selection: Is Maine going to bow down or get up. I do know my reply.”

In an interview, Mills mentioned the interplay was a “jaw-dropping” second that showcased Trump’s monarch-like aspirations. She mentioned it additionally pushed her to contemplate operating for a Senate seat that she beforehand hadn’t needed.

“Once I was somewhat lady rising up in Farmington, my father all the time mentioned you need to stand as much as bullies. You’ll be able to’t allow them to have their means or they will by no means cease,” she mentioned. “And I feel that is what is going on on in Congress proper now … Congress is just not standing as much as him. Susan Collins is just not standing as much as him.”

She added, “I do not suppose I might forgive myself if I did not give every little thing I’ve obtained to vary what is going on on in a really dysfunctional authorities in Washington.”

To defeat Collins, Mills will first must navigate a doubtlessly bruising main. The competition already options greater than half a dozen candidates, together with two, Jordan Wooden and Graham Platner, who’re taking a extra progressive tack. Platner can also be channeling Democratic voters’ disillusionment with social gathering leaders and has framed Mills’ candidacy for example of their unwillingness to half methods with the “usual, drained playbook.“

Platner’s candidacy, endorsed by unbiased U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, is a part of a nationwide pattern during which rebel candidates are taking up Democratic incumbents or these favored by nationwide social gathering leaders. A number of days earlier than Mills’ announcement, Sanders mentioned in a social media put up that “it is disappointing that some Democratic leaders are urging Governor Mills to run. We have to deal with successful that seat & not waste thousands and thousands on an pointless & divisive main.”

Mills, who might be 78 in December, mentioned she appeared ahead to the first and is raring to distinction her accomplishments as governor in opposition to the opposite candidates. She highlighted her efforts to steer extra of the state funds for native training, increasing Medicaid well being protection for low-income Mainers and offering free meals in public faculties. She additionally famous her lengthy historical past of standing up for abortion rights, increasing entry to the process after the Supreme Courtroom’s Dobbs choice and making Maine a haven for ladies who dwell in states the place it is restricted or outright banned.

“I am the one candidate on this race who has delivered on these issues,” she mentioned.

Mills has confirmed a formidable statewide candidate in her two profitable runs for governor. In 2022, she defeated conservative firebrand and former Gov. Paul LePage to win her second time period, holding her personal in Maine’s conservative 2nd Congressional District.

A steep climb for Democrats

The U.S. Senate race will current a brand new and daunting problem.

Democrats have not received a U.S. Senate race in Maine since former Sen. George Mitchell received reelection in 1988. Collins has held her seat since 1996. Democrats’ ballyhooed and famously costly bid to unseat her in 2020 sputtered to an 8-point defeat in a state that President Joe Biden carried by 9 factors.

Democrats imagine Collins is extra weak now. The Maine Democratic Get together has repeatedly sought to spotlight what they see as her diminished affect as chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee amid the Trump administration’s bid to consolidate energy within the government department.

Her potential ascension to the funds panel was repeatedly highlighted by her marketing campaign in 2020 as a technique to sway Maine’s fickle — and infrequently decisive — unbiased voting bloc.

Mills touched on that critique as nicely, saying Collins’ climb to the funds committee was a “huge deal” however that she hasn’t used her place to push again in opposition to Trump’s bid to wrest extra spending authority from Congress.

Democrats have additionally attacked her votes to verify Trump’s controversial cupboard picks and to verify judges they are saying are hostile to abortion rights.

Mills could be the oldest freshman elected to the higher chamber in fashionable historical past if she’s capable of topple Collins, who might be 73 in December. The governor acknowledged that age might be “a consideration” for some voters, however she thinks they will aspect along with her expertise, particularly within the Democratic main.

“I do know I can tackle this one final struggle and get it performed,” she mentioned.

A crowded main subject 

The governor’s entry within the race will possible discourage different Democratic hopefuls from operating and it could pressure out already declared candidates.

Wooden and Platner have vowed to remain in. Platner, requested lately about Mills’ seemingly imminent candidacy, advised Maine Public that his marketing campaign will not change its method a lot.

“We’ll undertake the identical challenge, irrespective of who will get in,” he mentioned, including, “This can be a marketing campaign to reshape the Democratic social gathering.”

Platner, an oyster farmer and army veteran, has mentioned that his marketing campaign is about constructing a motion and a political infrastructure that may endure after subsequent yr’s midterms. His marketing campaign already claims 6,000 volunteers and his city corridor appearances have drawn giant crowds. It additionally claims to have raised greater than $4 million in somewhat greater than a month.

Wooden, a former staffer for U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., claims his marketing campaign has raised the same quantity over an extended interval.

Mills, a former prosecutor, served two stints as Maine’s lawyer common. The second got here between 2013 and 2018 whereas Republican LePage was governor. The 2 clashed ceaselessly as LePage, typically seen as a Trump prototype, pushed the bounds of government department energy. Mills would later defeat him in her bid to safe a second time period as governor.

“See you in courtroom” 

Her fights with LePage set the stage for her February confrontation with Trump throughout a Nationwide Governors Affiliation occasion on the White Home. Throughout the occasion, Trump known as on Mills to obey his government order banning transgender athletes from collaborating on ladies’ sports activities groups. Mills advised him she would observe Maine regulation, which presently permits the observe. When he threatened to tug Maine’s federal funding, Mills advised him, “See you in courtroom.”

The looming main contest in Maine is a component of a bigger sample of rebel Democrats in congressional contests operating on a model of financial populism lengthy championed by Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Platner has been significantly vital of nationwide Democrats, together with their recruitment of Mills.

“Working candidates which can be picked by D.C., operating campaigns which can be pushed by D.C., I feel that is a dropping technique,” he mentioned throughout a latest interview. “I feel, what we’re doing — which is actually attempting to construct a marketing campaign of Mainers, for Mainers — that is the best way we win the state of Maine.”