By Chris Wade
The Center Square

Maine Gov. Janet Mills formally announced Tuesday that she will seek the Democratic Party’s nomination to challenge incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins in next year’s midterm election.

“My life’s work has prepared me for this fight, and I’m ready to win,” Mills said in a two-minute campaign launch video. “I hear my father’s voice saying, ‘Fight back, Janet.’ I won’t sit idly by while Maine people suffer and politicians like Susan Collins bend the knee as if this were normal.”

Mills, 77, a two-term governor and former attorney general, is viewed by top Democrats including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer as the best shot for unseating Collins, who is seeking a sixth term. For Democrats, flipping the Senate seat is key to winning back its majority in the chamber in next year’s midterms.

Mills joins an already crowded field of Democrats seeking the party’s nomination to challenge Collins, including Marine veterans and oyster farmer Graham Platner, former congressional staffer and End Citizens United vice president Jordan Wood and businessman Dan Kleban.

Mills, the state’s first female governor, won a second term in the 2022 elections by defeating her predecessor, Republican Paul LePage, with 13 percent of the vote. She is prevented by term limits from seeking another four years in the governor’s office.

To be sure, Collins is viewed as a formidable candidate and Democrats face an uphill fight flipping the seat. Collins was first elected to the Senate in 1996 and has won reelection in every term since then, despite opposition.

In her campaign video, Mills leaned into Republican President Donald Trump and his divisive policies, portraying Collins as a reliable vote for the president’s legislative agenda.

“I’ve never backed down from a bully and I never will,” she said. “Donald Trump is ripping away health care from millions, driving up costs, and giving corporate CEOs massive tax cuts. And Susan Collins is helping him.”

Mills has clashed publicly with Trump over his push to block states from allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports. She has refused to comply with Trump’s transgender directives, telling the president during a recent meeting of governors: “See you in court.”

The state’s Republican Party criticized Mills’ record as governor and accused her of being Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s “hand-picked” Democratic nominee in a state that traditionally favors moderate candidates.

“Janet Mills is certainly going to use her attacks on President Trump as an example of ‘courage, ’ but now we see she was just acting as a loyal partisan when siding with the transgender lobby and fighting Trump in court at the expense of Maine students and families,” Maine GOP Chairman Jim Deyermond said in a statement. “So, once again, congratulations to Chuck Schumer on getting one of America’s most liberal, unpopular governors to join a race where moderates have had historic success.”