Hoping to unseat Collins, Maine Democrats battle it out in an expensive U.S. Senate primary As June's primary election nears, Democratic Gov. Janet Mills and combat veteran Graham Platner are effectively engaged in a proxy battle between factions in their own party.

An increasingly bruising primary between the two leading Dem candidates vying to topple Republican Sen. Susan Collins has both contenders dipping deep into their campaign coffers, while Collins has so far spent little on her reelection bid via @npr.org 📻✍️
www.npr.org/2026/03/26/n...

One Nation has spent $15 million so far and its messaging is EVERYWHERE ... TV, digital, mail. That's more than Mills and Platner combined to raise after Q4. And Pine Tree Results, financed by these folks. It's booked $2M for the weeks after 6/9 primary.
Remember: Maine's media rates are very cheap

Collins has spent little, but she's getting big boosts from the Pine Tree Results super PAC financed by well-heeled donors, as well as One Nation, the dark money group doing spade work on the issue that arguably won her the election in 2020: bringing home federal cash 2/

Analysis by AdImpact shows spending in Maine Senate race is already above $37M with 8 months until election. On pace to shatter the 2020 state record of more than $200M. It's accelerated by the Dem primary where Platner and Mills are battling to face Sen. Collins. 1/

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In attacking Graham Platner, Maine Gov. Janet Mills hopes women will energize her U.S. Senate bid This week, Mills, who's been trailing Platner in publicly available polling, launched an attack ad that leans heavily on one of her strengths to try to expose a potential weakness in her opponent’s…

Trailing in polls, Mills' attack ad leans heavily on one of her strengths to try to expose a potential weakness in her opponent’s resilient candidacy: women voters. It's a confrontational tack in a party primary, outracing the armada of PACs that often assume that role
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This novel Maine gubernatorial debate was born from a social media tussle. Will there be more? At times, the debate between Republican Bobby Charles and Democrat Troy Jackson resembled a fight one might witness on Facebook — angry and personal. But this was live and in-person, making for a…

ICYMI: How a novel debate in the Maine gubernatorial race looked like the social media fight that made it happen -- and why it seemed to capture our current political moment.
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This novel Maine gubernatorial debate was born from a social media tussle. Will there be more? At times, the debate between Republican Bobby Charles and Democrat Troy Jackson resembled a fight one might witness on Facebook — angry and personal. But this was live and in-person, making for a dizz...

At times, the debate between Republican Bobby Charles and Democrat Troy Jackson resembled a fight one might witness on Facebook — angry and personal.
www.mainepublic.org/2026-02-26/this-novel-ma...

the pollster had some interesting insights. He suggests labels for self-identifying -- liberal, progressive, socialist -- are changing for Dem voters.
If he's right, I wonder if it's because ascendant leaders (AOC, Mamdani) are redefining what 'socialist' means to voters who admire them.

One of the big surprises in the UNH poll showing Platner with a huge lead over Mills is how one quarter of the Dem respondents self-identify as socialists. Is that really representative of the Dem primary electorate?
I dunno, but ... 1/2

scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewcont...

Crowdsurfing. Not sure there’s a better metaphor for his campaign.

Susan Collins asks DHS to pause immigration enforcement surge in Maine and Minnesota The Republican is standing by her calls to pass new funding for DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying a new spending bill will include new accountability measures. But she says the…

Maine U.S. Sen. Susan Collins asks DHS to pause ICE surge in Maine, Minnesota, calling the operations too sweeping and indiscriminate.

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State referred embattled MaineCare provider for fraud investigation before halting payments New details illustrate how the company faces greater scrutiny from regulators than previously known, and reveal the complexities of investigating fraud in a $5.4 billion program that is largely monito...

details illustrate how the company faces greater scrutiny from regulators than previously known. It also reveals the complexities of investigating fraud in a $5.4 billion program that is largely monitored for irregularities by a small program integrity unit

Senate Leadership Fund says it’s dumping $42M in effort to defend Sen. Susan Collins.
Here’s our guide to the groups spending big on MESEN. We’re updating regularly.

www.mainepublic.org/politics/202...

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State suspends MaineCare payments to Portland provider over suspected fraud Gateway Community Services had already faced scrutiny for overbilling MaineCare, the state's Medicaid program. A previously unreported and recently completed audit found that the provider overbilled t...

A previously unreported and recently completed audit found that Gateway Community Services overbilled MaineCare by more than $1 million. The state says such suspensions are imposed when there's suspected fraud:

www.mainepublic.org/politics/202...

Defector's Favorite Rob Reiner Credits | Defector When Rob Reiner was killed earlier this week along with his wife Michelle, the world of film lost one of its most beloved and respected figures, an artist who had done very good and extremely popular ...

I wrote about Rob Reiner's shockingly good performance in The Wolf Of Wall Street in this, but it's striking how many different films and parts Defector staffers wanted to write about. He was a mensch, but he was also just everywhere in the culture for 50 years. defector.com/defectors-fa...

Deep-pocketed groups are already spending on the Maine U.S. Senate race. Here’s an early guide AdImpact, an organization tracking political ads, estimates the Maine Senate contest could help draw more than $300 million in spending on congressional races in the state next year. That’s nearly a t...

We've created an early guide to these groups. It's not an exhaustive list. It'll get longer. We'll update it along the way.
www.mainepublic.org/politics/202...

And some of them are effectively extensions of the partisan party committees, using the unlimited spending power of super PACs and financing them with dark money affiliates, further burying the origins of the cash and the identity of donors (2/3)

A constellation of deep-pocketed outside groups is already poised to spend big to affect the outcome of the 2026 Maine U.S. Senate race that could determine which party controls the chamber after the midterm elections. Some of these groups are already running ads 🧵

Graham Platner is sharing more about post-combat struggles. Has it made his campaign more resilient? Deleted Reddit posts and tattoo controversies blunted the Democrat's U.S. Senate candidate's surge of early momentum. Now the oyster farmer and military veteran is talking more about his battle with…

ICYMI: In interviews Platner has been open about his post-combat struggles. Now he’s talking about it more frequently at his heavily attended town halls. It seems to be making his campaign more resilient, his supporters more devoted.
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Worth your time to read this Laura Loomer piece. Includes a peek at the pay-to-play influencer machine

Laura Loomer’s Endless Payback www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Angus King broke ranks to help end the government shutdown. The backlash has been withering The longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history is over. But with little to show for it, the mostly Democratic politicians who ended the standoff now face intense backlash.

Wrote about the Dems’ shutdown backlash against Sen. Angus King and others.
One of the clearest examples yet that they’re experiencing a tea party-like moment — with the ACA helping it along.

www.mainepublic.org/politics/202...

Angus King broke ranks to help end the government shutdown. The backlash has been withering The longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history is over. But with little to show for it, the mostly Democratic politicians who ended the standoff now face intense backlash.

The longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history is over. But with little to show for it, the mostly Democratic politicians who ended the standoff now face intense backlash:

I know! I was not expecting them to be this dynamic. Not this year.

He’s made the offense explosive. If Maye can cutback on some of the gambles, they’re going to be tough to beat

Platner taps Maine progressive leader to lead campaign Ben Chin of the Maine People's Alliance will become U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner's new campaign manager. He arrives as the campaign has been beset by staff upheaval.

Platner has a new campaign manager. A local guy. Never done it before.

www.mainepublic.org/politics/202...

Also, he took more questions than I’ve previously seen. Maybe an hour’s worth? And again, specific — fisheries regs, EMS governance, Citizens U, etc.
Anyway, they had to pull him off the stage because it ran late

Not tough on tattoo/reddit stuff, although it did come up. Just specific. He was also confronted about using “genocide” to describe Gaza. He answered but the guy was insistent — and also recording the exchange on his phone, which was … curious. Most ppl just death grip the mic

Been to several of these now. The stump varies on delivery — he’s ditched the notes and pretty much riffs — but essentially the same message. What I noticed tonight, though, is the questions are getting tougher