Maine Governor Janet Mills is expected to formally announce her candidacy for U.S. Senate early next week, according to multiple reports and a quickly deleted post from Mills herself. The term-limited governor will be seeking to unseat Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) in what projects to be one of the most closely watched Senate races of the 2026 midterm election cycle.
After Axios reported that Mills, 77, was planning to formally announce on Tuesday, the governor appeared to roll out her campaign in a quickly deleted X post on Friday. “Folks, do you want Democrats to take back the Senate? Well, I’m Governor Janet Mills, and I’m running to flip Maine’s Senate seat blue,” the governor said in the now-deleted video.
Mills took aim at Collins, the moderate Republican mainstay who will be seeking her sixth term in Washington, saying she has “sold out Maine and bowed down to special interests and to Donald Trump, but that ends now.”
The video went on to direct supporters to send donations to an ActBlue page that was also quickly deleted after the video was posted to the governor’s X page. “I’ve spent my career standing up for Maine families as prosecutor, Attorney General, and Governor. I’ve taken on Big Pharma, expanded health care access, and took Donald Trump to court – and won,” reads the deleted fundraising page.
Mills has frequently clashed with the Trump Administration over men competing in women’s and girl’s sports
Mills’ announcement has long been anticipated, as she is widely seen as the preferred candidate for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) as Democrats seek to flip the upper chamber. Schumer directly urged Mills to run for the seat and sees her as the best chance at defeating Collins, who is the only Republican senator up for re-election in a state carried by former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024.
The governor has frequently clashed with the Trump Administration over the president’s executive order banning biological males from competing in women’s and girl’s sports. During a White House meeting with governors earlier this year, Trump directly confronted Mills about her opposition to his executive order, making it clear that failure to comply would come at a price—specifically, the loss of federal funding.
“See you in court,” the president said when Mills said she would not comply with the order.
Mills will have to navigate a difficulty Democratic Party primary field in order to secure her party’s nomination. While still considered to be the frontrunner, 41-year-old Graham Platner, a U.S. military veteran and oyster farmer who launched his campaign in August, has pulled in significant fundraising hauls in the left-leaning state.
Platner, who raised more than $3 million in the first six weeks after announcing his campaign, has the backing of Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who has personally campaigned for him in Maine.
Sanders, the two-time presidential candidate who has maintained his role as a leader among the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, has publicly urged Mills not to run. “It’s disappointing that some Democratic leaders are urging Governor Mills to run. We need to focus on winning that seat & not waste millions on an unnecessary & divisive primary,” the longtime senator said.
Additional Democrat candidates include Dan Kleban, a co-founder of the Maine Beer Co., and former congressional staffer Jordan Wood, who has also amassed a sizable campaign war chest.
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