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- Endorsements and Interference
Endorsements and Interference
Janet Mills, Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren
mister mix
October 12, 2025
Looks like Schumer will get his wish:
Maine Gov. Janet Mills is expected to announce her bid for US Senate on Tuesday, becoming the most high-profile Democrat to date to enter the race to challenge GOP Sen. Susan Collins, according to a source familiar with the plans.
The announcement date, the source cautioned, could shift due to the ongoing government shutdown.
Mills, a two-term governor and former attorney general, is a major recruit for Democrats looking for a seasoned opponent to take on the five-term incumbent. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer spoke with her earlier this year about running.
But Mills is joining a crowded field of political novices, some of whom have vowed to stay in the race whether she ran or not. The Democratic primary will test how strongly voters in the state value experience over generational change.
I’m sure Schumer is seeing polls that show Mills beating Collins, but consider this:
Democratic oyster farmer Graham Platner is the candidate best positioned to defeat Maine’s incumbent senator, Republican Susan Collins, in next year’s midterm election, according to a new poll of 500 likely voters conducted by Zenith Research for More Perfect Union.
In the initial ballot, Platner and Collins, who is running for her sixth term, start out tied. Governor Janet Mills, a Democrat who is rumored to launch a Senate run next week, holds a 5-point lead over Collins in the initial poll. After respondents were shown short biographies for both candidates, however, Platner leads Collins by 14 points, while Mills leads Collins by 8 points.
Platner outperforms Mills most with young voters, independents, rural voters, men, and gun owners.
Now this is a classic candidate poll, even though it was administered by a progressive organization, not Platner, so it should be viewed very skeptically. Still, I’m not surprised based on what I’ve seen of Platner. He’s a compelling politician. I’d love to have the state of Maine spend time getting to know him and the other relatively unknown candidates in the race instead of the long arm of the DSCC putting their thumb on the scale to push a 78 year-old candidate.
I do like Janet Mills, and because I think she’s smart and tough, I can only guess at the amount of money Schumer promised her to get into the race. I’m sure she cut a hard bargain. I just don’t think she’s the right candidate at this time in this race.
Whenever Platner’s name comes up, it raises the Fetterman issue, since he’s a middle-aged white dude who has a lot of appeal with voters who would usually vote Republican. A couple of things on that. First, Platner grew up middle class and spent eight years in Iraq as a Marine. Fetterman was, by his own admission, a privileged kid who has no history of doing anything remotely as hard as what Platner did. Second, if there’s a weakness in Platner, having Mills as an opponent will help reveal it.
Moving on to Elizabeth Warren, Scott sent over the news that she endorsed Kat Abughazaleh’s opponent, Evanston Mayor Daniel Bliss. This disappointing news has an explanation:
Biss, who campaigned for Warren in Iowa ahead of the 2020 caucuses alongside Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs and then-Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, in a statement called her “an inspiration to me and so many others as one of the most effective, boldest progressive leaders in our nation.” He said he was “honored to have her backing in this race.”
As I’ve posted here before, his opponent Kat Abughazaleh was thrown to the ground by ICE thugs in Chicago. Bliss was tear gassed at another protest. So he’s got some fight in him. That said, this is one of the safest seats in Congress so having a reliable vote from someone who thinks outside the box would be better as far as I’m concerned.
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