Democrats are coalescing around progressive political outsider Graham Platner and his bid to oust incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins in Maine after primary rival Janet Mills ended her struggling bid Thursday.
Mills, who is term limited as governor, jumped into the race late last year as one of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's (D-N.Y.) top recruits, but she had trouble gaining traction in polls and fundraising while Platner surged ahead -- despite various controversies around his campaign. She ended her bid on Thursday in a statement without endorsing Platner.
But Schumer and Democrats' Senate campaign arm got behind Platner as Mills exited the ring, joining progressive Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and nearly two dozen state legislators who were expected to endorse on Thursday. The winnowed field adds to Democrats' bullishness about what's expected to be one of the closest Senate races in the country this fall.
"The base couldn't have spoken more clearly," Democratic strategist Christy Setzer said.
"Candidates and electeds who act like we're living in normal times won't fare well," Setzer added. "We're not interested in so-called 'establishment' candidates who are bringing a butter knife to that fight."
Democratic strategist Anthony Coley agreed, stating, "The electorate is restless, angry, and looking for fighters who don't fit the traditional mold -- because the traditional mold isn't working for them."
Mills on Thursday said she was dropping her bid because she did not "have the one thing that political campaigns unfortunately require today: the financial resources."
She had struggled to close the gap in the polls: Decision Desk HQ's polling averages of the Democratic primary showed Platner leading Mills by a whopping 30 points in the Senate Democratic contest.
Mills also entered the race relatively late, giving Platner more time to rally energy around his insurgent bid.
Platner, a 41-year-old progressive oyster farmer, burst onto the scene alongside several other political newcomers, including democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, now the mayor of New York City, and Democrat James Talarico, who rocketed from the Texas state Legislature to win the party's Senate nod this cycle.
"It seems like Mills was talked into running by Chuck Schumer, by those other people, and for some of those young Platner supporters, that was a real negative," said Jim Melcher, a professor of political science at the University of Maine at Farmington.
"The age was a huge issue for her. ... I think age is kind of a proxy for: 'We want something different. We want something more combative.' And certainly [President] Trump did well in parts of Maine, saying 'I'm an outsider. I'm different,'" Melcher added.
Mills, the 78-year-old two-term governor, had a couple issues working against her, Seltzer added.
"Democrats have a real and understandable fear of candidates whose age means they could die in office," she said. "She seems healthy enough, but she's the same age as Joe Biden toward the end of his presidency -- not easy to forget where that gamble got us."But Setzer said Mills, "seemed to go out of her way to antagonize the primary electorate," citing the governor’s stance on Israel defense funding.
"That's just not where the party is," Setzer said. "Not surprised her fundraising showed it."
Though Mills did not explicitly endorse Platner, the presumptive Democratic nominee on Thursday praised the governor and said he looked forward to "working closely with her between now and November" to flip the seat.
"The race has never been about me or really about one person, it's about a movement of working Mainers who are fed up with being robbed by billionaires and the politicians who own them," Platner said at a press conference after Mills suspended her bid.
With Mills out of the race and no other competitive Democrats in the ring, Platner will almost certainly clear the June 9 primary and face off against the Republican incumbent in the fall.
It's a must-win race for Democrats as they look to net the four seats they need to flip the upper chamber this fall -- and one of just three races labeled "toss up" by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
Collins won her 2020 reelection bid by almost 10 percentage points against a Democratic challenger as President Trump lost the state by a similar margin. Trump lost Maine again by roughly 7 points in 2024.
In DDHQ polling averages of hypothetical 2026 general match-ups, Mills and Collins were effectively tied, while Platner had a 6-point lead in a showdown with incumbent.
But Republicans responded to the winnowed Democratic field with confidence that Collins can fend off Platner in November.
Platner's campaign has faced controversy over now-deleted posts from several years ago in which he dismissed "all" police as bastards and said rural white Americans "actually are" racist and stupid, CNN's KFile reported last year -- and over a now-covered tattoo of what's recognized as a Nazi symbol. He's expressed regret over the posts and said he was unaware of the tattoo's association when he got it, but critics continue to seize on the subjects.
"It's safe to say we are confident going into Election Day," Republican National Committee spokesperson Kristen Cianci said in a statement blasting Platner as "a Nazi sympathizing self-proclaimed communist with a record of hate-mongering and dishonesty."
Republicans' Senate campaign arm chair Tim Scott said Schumer and Senate Democrats "just coronated a phony who is too extreme for Maine."
One Democratic strategist voiced some concern about whether Platner could ultimately defeat Collins.
"It is a year of outsiders but I wonder if an outsider can in fact beat someone who folks in Maine know well," the strategist said. "It'll be a huge test."
To that point, Democrats moved quickly to get behind Platner.
Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), chair of the Democratic Senatorial Committee (DSCC), said in a joint statement that Collins has "never been more vulnerable" and pledged to "work with the presumptive Democratic nominee Graham Platner to defeat her."
"It's up to us to make sure Graham has the resources he needs to win this seat that has been held by Republicans since 1979," the Democratic National Committee said in a fundraising email after the Mills's exit.
More support for Platner could build at Maine's Democratic Party convention, which kicks off on Friday, though the party will stay officially neutral through the primary.
"Maine Democrats are mobilized, energized, and determined to elect a Democrat to the Senate and retire Susan Collins in November," state party executive director Devon Murphy-Anderson said in a statement.
Amid the Platner-Mills primary sparring, "the ads started getting hostile and we were watching Democrats eat their own," said Bev Uhlenhake, a former party chair. Mill's exit now helps Democrats avoid that animosity moving forward, she said.
Early voting in June's ranked-choice primaries starts May 11, and Mills's name will still appear on the ballot. Mainers will also get the chance to weigh in on a wide-open primary to replace Mills in the governor's mansion, among other key races up and down the ballot.
"Certainly it's going to be a good Democratic year. The president's popularity is very low. The party out of office always gains seats, and you got a real contrast in styles between Platner and Collins," Melcher said. "It'll be a close race. I don't think this race is going to be a blowout for anybody."