Maine Governor Mills to enter 2026 Senate race against Collins

Two-term Maine Governor Janet Mills is expected to formally enter the 2026 U.S. Senate race against incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins, two people familiar with her plans said Friday, with Mills tentatively scheduled to announce her campaign next Tuesday. The development sets up a high-profile contest in a state Democrats view as one of their best opportunities to flip a Republican-held seat as they seek to regain control of the Senate.

Mills, 77, who is term-limited as governor, was recruited by national Democratic leaders to challenge Collins, who has held the Senate seat since 1997. Party officials have long seen Maine as strategically important because it is among the few states on the 2026 map that voted for the Democratic presidential ticket in recent elections; Joe Biden carried Maine by nine percentage points in 2020. Democrats need a net gain of four seats in 2026 to win a majority in the 100-member Senate, a difficult task because most competitive races are in states where the Republican presidential nominee performed strongly.

Mills is a former state attorney general and the first woman in Maine to serve as criminal prosecutor, elected district attorney, attorney...