FILE - Democratic Gov. Janet Mills delivers her State of the State address, Jan. 30, 2024, at the State House in Augusta, Maine. (Robert F. Bukaty, File/AP Photo)
"I've never backed down from a bully and I never will," the governor said in a statement as she launched her campaign. "Donald Trump is ripping away health care from millions, driving up costs, and giving corporate CEOs massive tax cuts. And Susan Collins is helping him."
Mills' campaign launch video highlighted the February White House meeting of governors where President Donald Trump confronted her for defying his executive order preventing trans athletes from competing in girls' and women's sports.
Trump told Mills, "you're not going to get any federal funding," if she did not comply, to which she replied, "we’ll see you in court."
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Mills, a former elected county district attorney and former state lawmaker, made history serving as Maine's first female attorney general.
She later won election in 2018 as Maine's first female governor, and in 2022 comfortably defeated former Republican Gov. Paul LePage by double digits to win re-election.
Tuesday's launch comes after the Mills campaign appeared to jump the gun last week with a quickly deleted social media post and video on Friday announcing her candidacy.
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While she'll be considered the frontrunner for the Democratic Senate nomination, thanks in part to her vast name recognition in blue-leaning Maine, she could face a serious challenge from 41-year-old Graham Platner, a U.S. Marine and Army veteran and oyster farmer who launched his campaign in August.
Platner, who hauled in over $3 million in fundraising during the first six weeks after declaring his candidacy, is backed by Sanders, the two-time Democratic presidential nomination runner-up, who recently stopped in Maine to headline a campaign rally.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine is up for re-election in the 2026 midterms. (Mark Makela/Getty Images)
The 72-year-old Collins, a moderate Republican, first won election to the Senate in 1996. She currently chairs the influential Senate Appropriations Committee.
Collins won comfortable double-digit re-elections in 2002, 2008, and 2014.
In her 2020 re-election, Collins faced off against Democratic State House Speaker Sara Gideon, in a hotly contested race that became the most expensive in Maine history. While polls indicated Collins trailing her Democratic challenger, she ended up winning the election by more than eight points.
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Mills becomes the third major high-profile Senate recruit for the Democrats this year, following former Gov. Roy Cooper in North Carolina and former Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio.
Republicans currently control the Senate 53-47.
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in the swing state of New Hampshire. He covers the campaign trail from coast to coast."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/maine-gov-mills-joins-crowded-dem-primary-race-challenge-longtime-gop-senator