Maine Gov. Janet Mills announced Thursday she is dropping out of her race to take on Republican Sen. Susan Collins in the crucial state for Democrats, saying she had run out of money to compete.
Mills, a two-term governor and former prosecutor, had failed to excite Democrats in the state after launching her campaign last fall on a message of fighting Donald Trump. Mills, 78, was a top recruit of Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, but lost ground quickly to Graham Platner, an oyster farmer who had never held elected office before but who has been drawing large crowds around the state.
Now, Platner will all but certainly face Collins in the fall.
“While I have the drive and passion, commitment and experience, and above all else – the fight – to continue on, I very simply do not have the one thing that political campaigns unfortunately require today: the financial resources,” Mills said in a statement. “That is why today I have made the incredibly difficult decision to suspend my campaign for the United States Senate.”
Mills attempted to blunt Platner’s momentum this spring by running ads bringing up controversy around a series of deleted Reddit comments he made years ago downplaying the seriousness of sexual assault. Mills argued that Republicans would make “mincemeat” out of Graham in a general election, given his Reddit comments, plus a tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol he got covered up, will likely provide fodder for attacks.
Mills had stood up to the president at a White House meeting in early 2025 after the president sought to force the state to set aside its law allowing transgender kids to play in sports aligning with their gender identities. Her cool response to him at the time — “see you in court” — became the basis of her launch ad.
“To the people of Maine: I love you, and I will continue to fight relentlessly for you as your Governor,” she wrote. “For the next eight months, I will continue working hard for you, standing up for what is right, defending the Constitution and doing what I can to preserve our democracy.”
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