Major shake-up in Maine Senate Democratic primary
Chief congressional correspondent Chad Pergram reports after Gov. Janet Mills drops out of the Maine Senate Democratic primary, leaving controversial candidate Graham Platner as the presumptive nominee.
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Senate Republicans are eyeing the chance to go after Graham Platner now that Maine’s Senate race is locked in.
Platner’s position as the Democratic nominee against Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, was all but cemented Thursday when Maine Gov. Janet Mills dropped out of the race over a lack of cash flow.
Mills’ exit is two-pronged. It could signal that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and the Democratic establishment are losing their grip, given that Mills was handpicked by Democratic Party bosses to challenge Collins.
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Senate candidate Graham Platner speaks at a town hall at the Leavitt Theater in Ogunquit, Maine, Oct. 22, 2025. Platner is a U.S. Marine veteran and oyster farmer running for the seat held by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. (Sophie Park/Getty Images)
It also opens up a new line of attack for Republicans, who plan to lean into Platner’s past progressive views and his connection to his main backers — Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
“This is the new Democrat Party,” Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital. ”I don’t know how to, I don’t even know how to digest all that nonsense. This is crazy.”
Scott, who chairs the Senate’s campaign arm, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, painted Platner as the “extreme” candidate compared to Mills’ more centrist image.
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Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., arrives at a Senate hearing in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 5, 2026. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
He previewed points of attack against Platner, including his insults of rural White voters, old Reddit posts where he blamed women for rape and his “absolute condescension towards minorities and Black people specifically.”
“Schumer … went after Mills, and what do you find yourself with? Exactly the opposite,” Scott said.
Still, Platner, who has never held elected office, is polling ahead of Collins, who is seeking a sixth term in the Senate.
RealClearPolitics has Platner ahead by an average of nearly eight points. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., who chaired the NRSC when Republicans flipped the Senate in 2024, told Fox News Digital that the last time Collins ran, she was behind in early polling as well.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 3, 2025. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“Every poll, going right up to Election Day, and she ended up winning by eight points,” Daines said. “Susan Collins is a tough out, and she’s going to win Maine.”
Republicans also see Platner’s ascension as the continuation of a shift in the Democratic Party from the old-guard establishment to more progressive candidates after the success of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, another victory story from Sanders’ and Ocasio-Cortez’s stable of candidates.
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They’re hoping to link Platner to Mamdani, whom Republicans have painted as a proverbial boogeyman in contrast to more centrist Democratic candidates.
“The Democrats continue to nominate far-left candidates,” Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told Fox News Digital. “This is the Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, AOC wing of the party that is in control.”
Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.
