Dan Kleban, a co-founder of the Maine Beer Company, announced on Wednesday that he was running for Senate in Maine, joining an expanding Democratic primary field that may not be settled for months.
National party leaders are anxiously waiting to hear whether Gov. Janet Mills, a two-term Democrat, will join the list of those vying to unseat Senator Susan Collins, the lone remaining Senate Republican in New England.
Ms. Mills, 77, said recently that while she was “seriously considering” a run against Ms. Collins, she was unlikely to make any announcement until mid-November. “I’m not in any rush to make a decision,” she told reporters.
But Mr. Kleban, 48, is not waiting for Ms. Mills to decide, hoping his personal story — a college dropout from a middle-class family who went on to found a successful brewery — will appeal to voters. He’s drawing on his company’s motto, “Do what’s right,” to ground his campaign.
“I just don’t think Susan Collins is up to the job anymore,” Mr. Kleban said in an interview.
But before taking on Ms. Collins, 72, Mr. Kleban must navigate a primary contest that already includes Graham Platner, a 40-year-old oyster farmer and former Marine, and Jordan Wood, a former congressional aide.
Notably, Mr. Kleban, a political newcomer, did not pledge to continue to his run if Ms. Mills ultimately enters the race.
“I don’t know what Governor Mills is going to do, and I’m not going to commit to doing one thing or the other,” he said. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”
Mr. Wood and Mr. Graham both have said they are running regardless of the governor’s choice.
At a time when the Democratic Party is confronting demands for generational change, Ms. Mills would be a step in the other direction. She would be 79 when taking office, the oldest first-term senator in history.
Other Democratic candidates who might still join the race include Cathy Breen, a former state senator, and Ryan Fecteau, the speaker of the Maine House of Representatives.
“I’m exploring the opportunity and thinking about what a run would look like,” Mr. Fecteau said, adding that he would most likely not run if Ms. Mills does. “I have a lot of respect for her,” he said.
Mr. Platner entered the race last month and has excited progressive activists, raising $1 million in under 10 days. He also earned the endorsement of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who held a rally with him in Portland, Maine, over Labor Day weekend that drew thousands of people.
“Our taxpayer dollars can build schools and hospitals in America, not bombs to destroy them in Gaza,” Mr. Platner said from the stage, earning a raucous ovation.
Mr. Wood, who worked in Democratic politics before his run, had raised nearly $1.4 million as of June 30, and lent his campaign $250,000 more.
Despite the crop of candidates, Ms. Mills is being wooed by national Democrats, in particular Senator Chuck Schumer of New York. The Maine seat is seen as one of the Democratic Party’s strongest pickup opportunities in 2026.
Ms. Collins is the only Republican senator up for election in a state that former Vice President Kamala Harris won in 2024, and some polls have shown her with a low approval rating. But Ms. Collins, 72, has defied the odds before, winning in 2020 when virtually no polls showed her ahead leading up to the election.
Democrats would need to flip four seats in 2026 to take control of the Senate — a tall task.
Wearing a camouflage hat with his beer company’s logo on it, Mr. Kleban was blunt in a Zoom interview about his party’s struggles to find a compelling economic message as prices spiral upward.
“They’re feeling that no matter how hard they work, even if they play by the rules, the system’s rigged against them,” he said. “They don’t have a chance to succeed. And I think that’s wrong, and I think that needs to change.”
He said he could relate to the struggles of Mainers, having lost his own job during the Great Recession and once counted a loaf of bread and Tabasco sauce as dinner. “Those things you don’t forget,” he said.
Eventually Mr. Kleban and his wife tapped their family’s retirement savings to help start the Maine Beer Company with his brother. The brewery’s beers are now distributed in more than 30 states, according to the company, and Mr. Kleban said the company grew while providing health insurance to workers and giving away 1 percent of gross sales to environmental and other community organizations.
Mr. Kleban, a father of 14-year-old twins, said high prices would be his first issue to focus on as a senator.
“It’s clear the cost of living is too damn high and Mainers are feeling squeezed — and Susan Collins isn’t doing enough to bring them relief,” he said.
He was more circumspect about some of the other issues he would face as a senator.
He would not say, for instance, whether he would vote to keep Mr. Schumer as the party’s leader, dismissing it as “inside the Beltway” chatter that “is just not what I’m focused on.”
And Mr. Kleban did not take a position on whether it is time to do away with the filibuster, which forces the majority party in the Senate to get 60 votes to pass many types of legislation. “I come into it open-minded, I’ll leave it at that,” he said.
He pushed back on the idea that he was running as a backup to Ms. Mills even as he suggested he was open to stepping aside.
“Anybody who puts their hat in the ring, especially in a race like this, needs to be 100 percent committed,” he said, before later adding, “I can’t predict the future.”
Shane Goldmacher is a Times national political correspondent.
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