Maine Governor Janet Mills says she has no schedule to determine whether to run for the U.S. Senate and is still unsure despite pressure from national Democrats.
In an attempt to sway the 2026 map in their favor and run for the majority, Mills is one of the Democrats’ main recruiting targets. Even though five Democrats have already registered to run against Republican Sen. Susan Collins in the upcoming election, Mills has essentially shut down the field of contenders while other potential candidates wait to see if she will run.
In a quick interview on Tuesday, Mills stated that after she makes a choice, she will get in touch with potential applicants immediately. She also indicated that jumping to the U.S. Senate has never been a goal and especially now that the chamber has been pulled into the Trump administration’s frenzied push to enact the president’s agenda.
“I mean, look, I wasn’t born with a burning desire to be in Washington, D.C. any month of the year,” she replied. Additionally, there is some chaos going on there. Nobody would want to dive right in and participate in it without hesitation.
According to some recent sources, Mills, 77, may be influenced to follow suit by former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper’s recently declared Senate bid.
Cooper is buddies with Mills. She claims that although he did call her last week to inform her of his run, he made no attempt to exert any pressure on her.
“He knows better than to tell me what to do, nor would I tell him what to do,” she replied.
Within 24 hours of Cooper’s official run, $3.4 million was donated to his campaign. Given that Democratic strategists consider Maine as a possible pickup seat for the following year, Mills would probably see a similar haul.
The governor’s national reputation has also increased significantly after she confronted President Donald Trump face-to-face in February over a Maine law that permits transgender athletes to play on girls’ teams. If Maine didn’t follow his executive order prohibiting the practice, Trump threatened to withhold federal assistance from the state. Mills promised to uphold state law and threatened to take the president to court if he stopped providing funding to the state.
The controversy immediately placed Mills on a shortlist of Democrats prepared to oppose Trump’s continuous attempts to sway states, colleges, media outlets, and other organizations to his advantage. The two-term governor became the main target for national Democratic groups, who have frequently leveraged the confrontation to generate money. Collins is a tenacious campaigner who has defeated well-funded Democratic opponents in the past, most recently in 2020.
Democrats, however, see Collins as weak and have been preparing for a 2026 campaign by critiquing her votes during Trump’s second term. However, no well-known contender has surfaced as of yet. Although a number of potential candidates have indicated interest in running, Mills’ choice is still imminent.
The governor’s second and final term is coming to an end in 17 months. On Tuesday, she stated that her first priority was carrying out her program.
“I want to fix as many issues as I can and become as involved as I can. If I do run for office, it sort of takes you away from that for a while,” she remarked.
