Maine Democratic Gov. Janet Mills suspended her campaign for Senate on Thursday, as her progressive challenger, oyster farmer Graham Platner, continued to lead in the polls and in fundraising.
It’s a shocking fall off for the incumbent governor, who was once the preferred candidate of national Democrats in the race and remains the only member of her party to win statewide in Maine in nearly two decades.
And it sets up a likely general election matchup between Platner and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a five-term incumbent with a formidable electoral track record who Democrats are nonetheless hopeful they can knock off amid backlash to Republicans and President Donald Trump.
“While I have the drive and passion, commitment and experience, and above all else — the fight — to continue on, I very simply do not have the one thing that political campaigns unfortunately require today: the financial resources,” Mills said in a statement Thursday morning.
Mills’ campaign had just over $1 million in the bank at the end of March, far less than Platner’s $2.7 million, and had stopped running TV ads earlier this month, a sign of financial troubles.
Her exit from the race is a major loss for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who recruited Mills and saw her as the most viable option to defeat Collins. On Thursday, Schumer and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) released a statement bashing Collins and promising to support Platner.
“After years of allowing Trump’s abuses of power, Senator Collins has never been more vulnerable and we will work with the presumptive Democratic nominee Graham Platner to defeat her,” the pair said in a statement.
It is a remarkable ascension for Platner, who was a complete unknown when he launched his campaign last August and has faced a myriad of scandals including offensive old Reddit posts and a tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol that he later covered up. Platner has said the past comments don’t represent him, but they are likely to feature heavily in the general election matchup against Collins: A super PAC backing her, Pine Tree Results PAC, put millions this week behind ads highlighting the comment and the tattoo.
Republicans seized on Mills’ exit to question Platner’s blue-collar bona fides and highlight his past scandal.
“Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats just coronated a phony who is too extreme for Maine,” NRSC Chair Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said in a statement. “Susan Collins has always put in the work for her constituents and delivered. Washington Democrats always fall short in Maine and will again, because they just nominated a dishonest radical.”
Platner has already started running Collins-focused ads, and earlier this week his campaign told donors that they were pivoting to the general election, an early declaration of victory ahead of the June primary.
Mills’ statement announcing she was dropping out did not mention Platner.
Platner praised Mills’ service to the state at a press conference in Augusta, Maine, Thursday morning where he rolled out a slate of state legislative endorsements, saying he looked forward to working closely with her to defeat Collins.
“We both got into this race because we knew how critical it is to defeat Susan Collins, and her decision today reflects a commitment to that project,” he said.