by WASHINGTON — Democrats who have spent years trying and failing to unseat Maine’s experienced moderate Republican senator Susan Collins are counting on Janet Mills, the state’s seasoned Democratic governor, to run against Collins for a sixth term next year.
However, Mills, 77, is being cautious about her intentions in what might turn out to be one of the nation’s most difficult Senate contests. Collins is a strong political force who has proven her durability, and some Maine Democrats think she is too traditional a choice to win.
With a campaign centered on improving the lot of his state’s working class, 40-year-old oyster farmer and former Marine Graham Platner, who did three tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, is scheduled to unveil his longshot challenge to Collins on Tuesday.
Platner, a political unknown who is the local harbor master in the little town of Sullivan, stated that we must abandon the same strategy that consistently fails. In Maine specifically, running establishment candidates selected or backed by the ruling class in Washington, D.C., has been a complete failure, at least when it comes to attempts to defeat Susan Collins. We need to attempt something different now.
“Everyone knows we live in a system that is not built to represent working-class people,” said a competitive pistol shooter who attended George Washington University on the GI Bill and worked as a bartender at the Tune Inn on Capitol Hill.
According to Platner, he had previously been asked to run for municipal government but had consistently declined. However, when a coalition of climate-focused labor unions approached him about a Senate run, Platner found himself amenable to the notion.
He compared the current state of politics to a cliff. It seems like either we have a chance to reclaim something for the working people in this nation, or it will go really, really dark.
Though some Democratic strategists stated that voters are preferring fresh faces over seasoned politicians they perceive as belonging to a system that has failed them, an unproven candidate like Platner may be a dangerous bet at a time of intense anti-Washington feeling.
According to Platner, political organizers who were concerned that a poor choice would be picked for this campaign sought him out by searching the entire state. I fear that what could otherwise be a great chance will be wasted by the Democrats.
He declared that the harsh economic conditions that have made it hard to purchase housing or medical treatment in his state would be the main emphasis of his campaign. He makes the argument that he has a special ability to win over many Maine voters who don’t typically support Democratic politicians or who have just quit casting ballots because they believe the state’s political system does not and cannot adequately represent them.
Some national political operators have already agreed to work on his campaign because of him. Morris Katz, a senior advisor to Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate for mayor of New York City, made his sepia-toned debut video. Joe Calvello, a former campaign staffer for Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa, is a senior adviser.
Platner claimed he did not identify as a progressive or a moderate, despite his sparse social media presence suggesting he has backed Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. However, he scoffed at the notion that he would face any difficulties in relating to Trump fans. He claimed that half of his buddies and coworkers at the dock supported Trump.
As a waterman, I use my hands to work in the ocean. My weekend pastime is shooting pistols competitively. “I have a lot of combat experience,” he remarked. I wouldn’t fit into any of the categories that our society has established, even if I made an effort to do so.
Republicans in Maine disagree.
According to Jason Savage, executive director of the Maine Republican Party, being a Bernie Bro and Kamala Harris contributor is a profile to appeal to progressives in Portland rather than moderate and conservative voters in rural Maine. (Platner gave to Sanders’ presidential campaign in 2016 and made a minor donation to Harris’ campaign last year.)
According to Platner’s launch video, “No one I know around here can afford a house.” Hospitals are closing, healthcare is a catastrophe, and we have seen all of it torn away from us.
At least the opposing viewpoint informs people that the system is not working for them, that it does not represent them, and that it was never designed with them in mind, he continues. That’s what the opposition is saying.
In April, progressive former congressional staffer Jordan Wood entered the campaign and claimed that Collins hasn’t altered the system since she is a part of it.
Although Maine has voted Democratic in the last three presidential elections, Collins, 72, who heads the influential Appropriations Committee, has been able to withstand well-funded Democratic opponents for years. However, her polling is at an all-time low this cycle, and Democrats are focusing heavily on her race in an attempt to regain control of the Senate.
According to a recent Morning Consult poll, 54% of Maine voters disapprove of her job performance, while only 38% approve. Prior to her most recent reelection campaign in 2019, a Morning Consult poll found that 52% of Maine voters thought well of Collins.
With a net positive favorability rating of 4 points, Collins’ results from another survey by Pan Atlantic Research were less grim. According to the survey, Mills’ net positive rating was 8 points, down 14 points from 2022.
As Platner attempts to argue against Collins, he might need to refine his attacks. In the interview, he attacked Collins for voting against Trump’s expansive domestic policy measure on the Senate floor after letting it pass the Appropriations Committee. However, the bill was never approved by the committee and was not a spending law.
The establishment of her party continues to view Mills, a two-term governor and former prosecutor, as the most formidable opponent of Collins. This year, she had a run-in with Trump at the White House when he threatened to cut Maine’s federal funding because transgender athletes were participating in women’s sports.
However, Mills isn’t seen as the ideal candidate either. If elected, Mills would be the oldest senator to serve a first term in history at the age of 79, a moment when many Democratic voters are calling for generational change.
This month, Mills told a local television station in Maine, “I would give it some serious thought, but I’m not ready to make any decisions along those lines.”
The New York Times was the first publication of this article.
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