I realize that Platner’s Nazi tattoo and the possibility that he’s another weirdo like Fetterman are issues, but this is a big deal, too:
Maine Gov. Janet Mills said Thursday she supports keeping the filibuster in place, breaking with most members of the Senate Democratic Caucus she hopes to join as she launches a campaign to oust GOP Sen. Susan Collins, herself a staunch defender of the Senate’s 60-vote requirement.
“I would certainly want to retain the filibuster,” Mills said, according to the Bangor Daily News. Mills made the comments while talking to reporters after accepting the endorsement of Dan Kleban, the co-founder of Maine Beer Co. who had been running for the Democratic nomination before Mills’ entrance into the race.
Josh Marshall has a good run-down on why abolishing the filibuster is important for Democrats:
First, the senate filibuster is a core reason for the decline of trust in government over the last quarter century. The evolution of its use helped severe the tethers connecting election results and governmental action. A party wins an election and its promised actions never happen. The filibuster is both the cause of and excuse for gridlock.
Second, the filibuster provides an overwhelming structural advantage for Republicans, a big reason to be skeptical it will happen. (More on that in a moment.) Republicans want tax cuts and judicial nominations, neither of which the filibuster affects. To the extent Republicans want non-budget/tax legislation, it’s generally stuff like a national abortion ban that Republican leaders are happy for an excuse not to touch. They’re no more likely to pass something like that post-filibuster. The Democrats’ agenda is always legislation focused — actual laws that institute reforms, create services, safety nets, anything. It’s in the nature of being the party of government. The senate filibuster is a permanent bar for any Democratic legislation Republicans oppose, regardless of which party is in the majority. Remember that Obamacare only passed in 2009-10 because two successive wave elections had briefly — for about six months — given Democrats the now unimaginable margin of 60 senate votes. Anyone who tells you the filibuster affects both parties equally is either lying or has been sleeping for the last 30 years.
Third, because the filibuster is a permanent bar on any Democratic legislation, any reforms to protect the republic against Trumpism are all ruled out in advance. As long as the filibuster exists, it means any future Democratic presidency or trifecta is simply a replay of the Biden presidency, a short breather before the further advance of Trumpist autocracy.
The fact that Mills was recruited by Schumer and others in Senate leadership is a huge tell about what they want if they get a (slim) majority in the Senate again: excuses to do nothing.
I’m in the odd position of wanting Republicans to end the shutdown by abolishing the filibuster so Democrats will at least have to do something to get it back. At this point, I’m so cynical about the Dem establishment in DC that I seriously wonder whether they’d re-instate the filibuster if Republicans abolished it.
