In Maine, She Hopes to Become Oldest Freshman Senator Ever

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, 77, announces run to oust Republican Susan Collins, 72
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Oct 10, 2025 11:19 AM CDT
Updated Oct 14, 2025 7:17 AM CDT
Maine's Democratic Governor Is Taking on Susan Collins
Gov. Janet Mills delivers her State of the State address on Jan. 30, 2024, at the State House in Augusta, Maine.   (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)
UPDATE Oct 14, 2025 7:17 AM CDT

She's in: Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, will try to unseat GOP Sen. Susan Collins in 2026, reports the New York Times. Mills, a two-term governor who cannot run for reelection, announced the move on Tuesday. She is expected to face a crowded Democratic primary, however. If she were to win, Mills would be 79 upon taking office and the oldest Senate freshman in history, notes the Times. Collins is 72.

Oct 10, 2025 11:19 AM CDT

Maine's two-term Democratic Gov. Janet Mills will run for the US Senate seat held by veteran Republican Sen. Susan Collins next year, according to two people familiar with Mills' plans on Friday, setting up a potential matchup between the parties' best-known figures in a state where Democrats see a chance to gain a seat in their uphill quest for the majority. Mills was the top choice of national Democrats to try to unseat Collins, who's held the seat since 1997, and was urged to run by party leaders, including Sen. Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, per the AP.

Democrats see Maine as an important target, considering it's in the only place on the 2026 Senate election map where Republicans are defending an incumbent in a state carried last year by Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. Democrats need to pick up a net of four seats to retake the majority, but doing so remains difficult, as most of the Senate seats on the ballot next year are in states President Trump won easily. Mills, 77, was elected governor in 2018 and reelected in 2022; Maine governors are barred from seeking third terms. Mills, an ex-Maine attorney general, sparred with Trump during a February White House meeting of governors over his call to deny states federal funding over transgender rights.

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Collins has won all of her four reelection campaigns by double-digit percentages, except for in 2020. Like Collins, Mills was born in rural Maine, becoming Maine's first female criminal prosecutor in the mid-1970s, and later the state's first elected female district attorney, as well as its first female AG and governor. She served as attorney general twice, from 2009 to 2011 and 2013 to 2019.

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