Nonpartisan election handicapper Cook Political Report shifted its rating of the Maine Senate race from “lean Republican” to “toss up” after Maine Governor Janet Mills (D) launched her bid Tuesday to take on Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).
Amy Walter, editor-in-chief and publisher of the Cook Political Report, said, “For the first time since being elected in 1996, Collins may face an incumbent statewide incumbent who, like her, has a proven track record of outperforming her party’s presidential ticket.”wrote in an analysis on Tuesday,
“Of course, Mills has no clear path to the nomination, and there’s no guarantee she’ll win it. But she’s a top-tier recruit in a field that currently lacks a well-known or well-established candidate,” he added. “And while Collins has defied electoral expectations for decades, the political climate today is more polarized than ever, which makes Collins’s ability to effectively straddle partisan lines all the more challenging.”
meet on tuesday joined a crowded race to take on Collins, a five-term incumbent and moderate member of the Senate Republican Caucus. The governor’s admission is a recruiting victory for the Senate Democratic leadership, which had inspired him to run for the seat.
His allies have highlighted the fact that he has won at least half the votes statewide in his last two gubernatorial races and has a record of standing up to President Trump in an era where Democrats are looking for a fighter against Republicans.
However, oyster farmer and military veteran Graham Plattner has also attracted national attention, including the endorsement of progressive Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and many others. youth-focused democratic groupHe leans toward a message focused on the working class and has an economic populist outlook.
His campaign says it has raised $4 million since launching his candidacy in August.
“For her part, Collins, 72, will have to be pleased that Democrats will remain engaged in a nearly nine-month primary duel that will drain candidates’ financial resources and potentially leave a lasting scar on the party’s nominee,” Walter wrote Tuesday.
