Gov. Janet Mills (D-ME) is ending her bid for United States Senate, leaving populist Graham Platner to take on Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) in the extremely competitive general election that could determine which party controls the upper chamber.
Although Platner faced multiple scandals early in his campaign, including scrutiny of a now-covered Nazi symbol tattoo and past posts on social media, Mills struggled to gain traction in the polls. Mills had the backing of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), whereas Platner is backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
Mills said she did not have enough money to continue campaigning.
“When I decided to run for the United States Senate last year, it was because I believed Maine people were getting a bad deal from Washington and because the President of the United States was threatening our democracy and pushing our nation to the brink of disaster. I continue to believe that today,” Mills said in a statement on Thursday morning.
“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. That is why today I have made the incredibly difficult decision to suspend my campaign for the United States Senate,” she added.
Mills gained national notoriety over her dispute with President Donald Trump over transgender-identifying athletes’ ability to play in women’s sports, The Daily Wire reported.
“We’ll see you in court,” Mills said in a viral interaction with Trump when he asked her if she would comply with his Executive Order on the issue in 2025, which stated that it should “be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.”
“Good, I’ll see you in court,” Trump replied. “I look forward to that, that should be a real easy one. And enjoy your life after governor, because I don’t think you’ll be in elected politics.
As for Platner, he faced backlash for past Reddit posts, including one’s where he called himself a “communist” and said “cops are bastards.”
The Washington Post reported multiple posts he made to Reddit in 2013 regarding sexual assault, including in the military.
“Rape is a real thing. If you’re so worried about it to buy Kevlar underwear you’d think you might not get blacked out f***ed up around people you aren’t comfortable with,” he wrote.
Platner, a veteran, apologized for his past remarks, but the posts became the subject of campaign ads from Mills, which did not seem to resonate with voters. Most recent polling in the primary election showed Platner ahead of Mills by double-digits, according to RealClearPolling.
However, the Maine governor’s exit from the race is welcomed news to Republicans.
“Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats just coronated a phony who is too extreme for Maine. Susan Collins has always put in the work for her constituents and delivered. Washington Democrats always fall short in Maine and will again, because they just nominated a dishonest radical,” National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) said in a statement on Thursday morning.
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