Maine Gov. Janet Mills announced Thursday morning that she is suspending her campaign for the U.S. Senate, ending what was supposed to be the Democratic Party’s best shot at unseating Republican Sen. Susan Collins.

Mills was blunt about why she’s out. She said she had the drive, passion, commitment, experience and fight to continue, but not the money.

Her exit reshapes the Democratic primary in Maine and effectively clears the field for Graham Platner, a political newcomer who has surged past Mills in both polling and fundraising over the past several months.

Maine Public reported that the announcement followed weeks of speculation about the viability of Mills’ campaign as she fell further behind Platner in polls and fundraising.

Mills stopped running television ads on April 10. In her statement, she said she had campaigned across Maine for six months, meeting people from Madawaska to Kittery and from Rangeley to Eastport, but said modern campaigns require money she did not have. The timing matters because the announcement came after weeks of questions about whether her campaign could remain viable as Platner moved ahead of her in both polling and fundraising.

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Platner had already been pivoting toward a general-election campaign against Collins. David Costello is still in the Democratic primary, but Platner holds a significant lead in that head-to-head matchup as well. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand praised Mills after the exit and said Democrats would work with the presumptive nominee Graham Platner to defeat Collins. Their statement also made clear that national Democrats are now moving on from the governor they had once hoped would be their strongest recruit.

The speed of Mills’ collapse is remarkable. She entered the race with serious institutional support, recruited by Schumer himself, who believed her executive background as a two-term governor would make her a front-runner. Instead, she was outpaced by a first-time candidate who built grassroots energy and endorsements from progressive heavyweights.

Fox News reported that Platner has secured backing from Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Ruben Gallego and Martin Heinrich, assembling a coalition that left the sitting governor unable to compete financially.

Mills had been competing with other Democrats for the chance to challenge Collins, but her departure leaves Platner as the front-runner in the Democratic primary. The National Republican Senatorial Committee immediately framed the exit as Democrats effectively clearing the path for Platner, and NRSC Chairman Tim Scott argued that Democrats had nominated a candidate too extreme for Maine. Scott contrasted Platner with Collins, saying Collins has put in the work for constituents and delivered for the state.

The national backdrop is important. Mills entered the race with major institutional Democratic support, including backing from Schumer and prominent Democratic groups. Platner, meanwhile, built a different coalition, drawing support from Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Ruben Gallego and Sen. Martin Heinrich. He has also faced scrutiny during the campaign, including reporting about a Nazi-linked tattoo and other controversies that Republicans are now expected to use heavily in the general-election fight. That gives Republicans a cleaner contrast than they expected when Mills first entered the race as the party-backed governor candidate.

Republicans wasted no time framing the new landscape.

The numbers tell the story of how lopsided this became.

The Washington Examiner cited a March Emerson poll showing Platner up by 27 points over Mills in the Democratic primary.

Mills said she lacked the financial resources to continue and said she had the drive, passion, commitment, experience and fight, but not the money. Her exit was a sharp reversal for Schumer, who had treated her as a major recruitment success and believed her executive background would give Democrats a safer path against Collins. Instead, the institutional candidate could not turn party backing into enough money or momentum to hold off Platner.

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Platner’s support grew even as he faced controversies, including unearthed comments about sexual assault victims and reports about a Nazi-linked tattoo. With Mills out, Republicans were already attacking him as the likely nominee and tying him directly to Schumer’s Senate map. The March Emerson number gave them a reason to do that before Mills made it official: Platner was already leading the sitting governor by 27 points, and her suspension turns that polling advantage into the new reality of the race.

To be clear, Platner still has to defeat David Costello in the Democratic primary. But with a 27-point lead in the most recent polling, Schumer already publicly pivoting to Platner, and Mills now gone, calling it competitive would be generous.

What Democrats are left with is a candidate the national party did not recruit and did not want as the standard-bearer. Platner’s progressive endorsements from Sanders and Warren may play well in a Democratic primary, but Maine is not Vermont or Massachusetts. Collins has won reelection repeatedly by holding the center, and Republicans clearly believe the controversies surrounding Platner give them material to work with in a general election. The question now is whether Platner’s grassroots fundraising machine and populist appeal can survive real opposition research in a state that still values moderation, or whether Democrats just traded their safest candidate for their most exciting one and will pay the price in November.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.
 

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