Archive · 7 Oct 2026
Janet Mills Suspends Senate Bid Against Susan Collins
Janet Mills was trying to become the Democratic candidate for a U.S. Senate race in Maine.
She was challenging Republican Senator Susan Collins.
Mills stopped her campaign on April 30, 2026.
The article says she did so because her campaign had limited money and she was behind in polls.
Collins is seeking a sixth term in the Senate.
The race had drawn national attention because control of the Senate could be at stake.
Mills had entered the contest in October 2025, after serving two terms as Maine’s governor.
Collins has won every Senate race she has run in Maine.
Maine Governor Janet Mills suspended her Senate campaign on April 30, 2026, ending her primary challenge to Republican Senator Susan Collins.
The article says Mills cited limited financial resources and trailing poll numbers.
Collins, a five-term senator first elected in 1996, launched her bid for a sixth term in February 2026.
Mills entered the race in October 2025 after being barred from seeking a third term as governor.
Maine is described as Democrats’ only 2026 Senate pickup target among states Republicans are defending that President Trump’s party lost in the 2024 presidential election.
- Who
- Maine Governor Janet Mills and Senator Susan Collins.
- What
- Mills suspended her campaign for the Democratic Senate nomination, ending her primary challenge to Collins.
- When
- Mills suspended her campaign on April 30, 2026; she entered the race in October 2025.
- Where
- Maine.
- Why
- The article says Mills suspended her campaign because of limited financial resources and trailing poll numbers.
Mills and Democrats
Collins and Republicans
Campaign rationale and message
Mills and Democrats
Mills framed her run as opposition to President Trump and criticized Collins for supporting his agenda.
Collins and Republicans
Collins emphasized her experience and independence in seeking a sixth Senate term.
Collins’s record
Mills and Democrats
Democrats argue Collins has increasingly aligned herself with President Trump’s agenda.
Collins and Republicans
Collins has presented herself as one of the Senate’s more moderate Republicans.
- Campaign suspended
- April 30, 2026
- Mills entered race
- October 2025
- Collins’s Senate service
- Since 1997
- Collins’s announced bid
- A sixth term; launched in February 2026
- Mills’s reason for suspending campaign
- Lack of financial resources and trailing poll numbers, according to the article
- Maine’s national significance
- The article identifies it as the only state carried by Democrats in the 2024 presidential election where Republicans are defending a Senate seat in 2026.
- Collins’s 2020 opponent
- Democrat Sara Gideon, whom Collins defeated by more than 8 points