Campaign statement published.
45 minutes ago.
From investing in child care, housing, and broadband, to providing free community college, to helping families fight inflation, I’ve spent my life delivering for Maine people.
Janet Mills.
Either candidate could make a similar argument except the free college part.....
Source Portland press herald today's paper release for Sundays feature....
Democratic Senate race... Portland Maine....
The only thing these candidates are lacking is what Gov. Janet Mills has in spades — years of experience in office and a track record of winning political races.
Ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you that I have always said that no one wins against Susan Collins. It’s not that I think she is the best person for the job, I just never thought we could win. The last time an incumbent Senator lost reelection in Maine was when Republican William Cohen defeated Democratic incumbent William Hathaway, in 1968.
There was a time that I thought Sen. Collins was a moderating influence in the Senate, but that time has long since passed. Mainers have gotten tired of Collins standing on the sidelines while the Republicans try to decimate everything from health care to Social Security. I believe that Gov. Mills can not only beat Collins, I think she is the right person for the job.
Gov. Mills is tough; we all know that. When she makes her mind up, she does not back down. What Maine, and the nation, need is a senator who cares about the people and has a backbone. It is time to end the wishy-washy, timid representation that we have had with Susan Collins.
Gov. Mills has shown us that she cares about Maine’s people. One of her first actions as governor was to expand MaineCare, covering an additional 100,000 people. The people of Maine voted for this in 2017 but the Republicans, from Paul LePage down to the Legislature, refused to honor their wishes.
She has worked to increase the state’s share of school funding, she expanded the free lunch program for children, she made community college free for as long as possible and she got public school teachers higher pay.
I am not sure that is as good a campaign validation for her as a Senator as it would be for Governor.
The dynamics are much different at the federal level.
Mills should be demonstrating exactly how Collins has failed to do a good job and exactly how she would improve if she were to win.
Just simple generalities and pointing out how she gave folks freebies in the state while burying them in debt is not good enough to me. 
Best way to describe what happened here in Maine.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MERQGSP
https://www.google.com/search?q=unemployment+statistics+in+Maine&oq=unemployment+statistics+in+Maine+&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIICAEQABgWGB4yCAgCEAAYFhgeMggIAxAAGBYYHjIICAQQABgWGB4yCggFEAAYChgWGB4yCAgGEAAYFhgeMggIBxAAGBYYHjIICAgQABgWGB4yCAgJEAAYFhgeMggIChAAGBYYHjINCAsQABiGAxiABBiKBTINCAwQABiGAxiABBiKBTIHCA0QABjvBTIKCA4QABiABBiiBNIBCTExODE3ajBqOagCDrACAfEF5jWj9QZEKVzxBeY1o_UGRClc&client=ms-android-tracfone-us-rvc3&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#ebo=4
Our GDP is up unemployment is down , major crime with the acception of a few urban areas is very low, our environment is clean. Roads are good. Besides the trans in women high school sports and the right to choose an abortion there is very little that can be held as an argument against her management of the state.
@Raiders22
This week, Governor Mills took action to help Mainers who rely on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits in wake of the Trump Administration's refusal to tap $5 billion in contingency funds to feed millions of Americans this November.
The Governor announced her administration is releasing an additional $1.25 million in funding for the Good Shepherd Food Bank and the Area Agencies on Aging to support programs such as Meals on Wheels and other anti-hunger organizations.
I’m disappointed we’ve reached this entirely avoidable point.
The Trump Administration has the funds and legal authority to fully fund SNAP in November. By not doing so, they're cutting food assistance for 170,000 Mainers—including nearly 55,000 children.
I hope the gridlock in Washington comes to an end soon so we can get the government back open and funds flowing to states as soon as possible.
Even during the shutdown, my team and I are here to help. Please don't hesitate to contact my office if you need assistance.
Be sure to follow me on Instagram, Bluesky, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok, and subscribe to my newsletter to keep up with latest from Washington.
Best,
Image
Chellie
Seems Chelle Pingree approved of her handling of the trump food shortages....
The debt she built up, school performance dropped, homelessness rising are pretty big issues.
People care about those things a lot.
Those are state-level things she had near complete control over.
So, I still say she has to build a case of how she would be better on a federal-level position than someone that the state has re-elected for a long time.
Republican Senate comitee has started to spend money on the race in Maine, launching an attack ad against Governor Mills stating she supported illegal immigrants to get health care.
The deceiving ad didn't mention was this was for pregnant women and children under 21 while assylum paperwork was processed.
So giving unborn prenatal support and helping children is obviously what the Republican platform has no room to support?
I see that supporting health care, poor people with snap benefits the homeless schools jobs the economy and infrastructure are not Republican priority......
The chances of the Democrats producing a strong challenger to Collins are now higher, but it may be that the eventual Democratic nominee does not end up being that strong. For instance, what if Platner or another Democrat beats Mills in the primary but runs hard to the left in the process, taking positions that hurt them in the general election? What if Mills does the same in order to win the nomination, or what if Mills waltzes to the nomination but doesn’t end up performing well for one reason or another? Mills would be the oldest first-term senator in history if elected; as part of her announcement rollout, she said she only planned to serve a single term.
This is very pertinent to me. They point out that while Collins has a low polling currently that it is likely misleading because only 19% of Republicans view her favorably. However, these same folks will unite behind her in the election.
Collins does sometimes show independence from the national Republican brand: This year, she voted against the confirmation of Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense and Kash Patel as FBI director and against final passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”
I think most folks realize she is not always voting with the Republicans. Most folks cannot even name all of the SC judges and that vote will not matter to folks. What would have been the reason to vote against Kavanaugh. He was not that radical in his views and the manufactured allegation most folks saw through.
The other thing is that Mills is so old. They already have a old Senator that is mostly sympathetic to their causes in the state and know how to get things done.
That was my point about getting someone younger. I think if Mills was a good bit younger people in the middle would be more apt to support her.
It is also a legitimate point that supporting illegals, no matter the circumstances, is still supporting illegals. Especially, in a state with a lower population that matters more. Especially, when you are already the one that got the state into debt. So, not many people that are reasonable support giving endless money away when you are in a growing debt situation.
But it will be one of the 4 tossup Senate races for sure.
@nature1970
I see that supporting health care, poor people with snap benefits the homeless schools jobs the economy and infrastructure are not Republican priority......
This was started by Platner and he was fact-checked on this. This is not entirely true either:
The claim is being criticized for ignoring key facts: SNAP benefits are at risk because of the shutdown itself, not any action taken by Collins. The senator has been working to keep the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funded during the impasse.
In fact, Collins was one of a half-dozen Republican senators who recently introduced a bill to exempt the SNAP program from the Democrat-driven shutdown of the federal government.
Yes there are many issues where both candidates align in their opinions, they are both older white females from the same state. Both politicians both had long careers in public service, both candidates align on support for infrastructure,jobs unemployment and both will do whatever it takes to make Maine a better place to be
When the kavanugh vote went down a group of lobbyist said then and there for someone to be accused of such a violent crime against women in college became the flag of who do you support she came up with the argument that after looking over the evidence and that was that he did this and that what he didn't she felt she must side that he is presumed innocent in an act of a gang rape victim and confirmed his appointment. They said they were coming for her seat.
When kavanugh broke his words he gave Congress and sided with the majority to over turn roe vs Wade she said she was disappointed....
This was the division between the two candidates.
After that pretty much everything else aligns with their centered values, ....
Very simple sound bites, every one deserves a home of their own.
Keep Maine working vote for Mills
I believe and will defend a woman's right to choose, for her to have prenatal care, and her children have the right to eat in public schools.
I believe in safe neighborhood, a strong police support for every community in Maine.
Before I was Governor I was the attorney general of Maine.
I believe in the right not to be bullied in school on line or in life.
Maine has no place for domestic violence.
Our nation is a nation of laws....
Yeah, I think most people saw through the Kavanaugh fiasco and so he had to be 'presumed innocent'.
No matter who it was that got the nomination would have sent the abortion thing back to the states. Even more liberal judges have acknowledged this should be the case.
The only folks that have an issue with this never would vote for Collins anyway.
"Keep Maine working vote for Mills". I think this should be the other way around -- 'Keep Mills working for Maine'.
But that still is not good enough for a campaign slogan. It has to be able to overcome what an experienced Senator has already done for Maine forever. Mills has to demonstrate the she can do more. The hurdles she has to overcome to garner the middle-of-the-road vote seems hard to overcome with bland slogans.
She needs to articulate the differences between her and Collins by laying it out more precisely. This is similar to what Harris failed to do with Biden and Trump.
The abortion thing is already there for Maine -- nothing more to be done.
The prenatal care the same. The schools feed the kids.
What exactly has she done to stop bullying in schools. Where is her evidence for this.
Everyone believes in laws and does not want domestic violence in their state.
That is all state-level stuff. This has little to do with Collins and how she could do federal stuff for the state.
Just being AG is not good enough to counter what Collins has already done at the federal level.
I am not saying Collins was bad at the federal level, she worked nearly 40 years in public service for Maine , state legislative first then Senate.
She has been monumental in bringing federal funds for infrastructure,schools roads and bridges. Navy contracts for bath iron works , her moderate bi partisan approach has made her a lion now in the Senate.
Hope she run for governor.
Republican Senate comitee attack ad...
Looks like the Republican leadership is already in panic mode.....
This is the narrative they portrait of Mills.
Absolutely. The Republicans know this is one of the fours states they need to be concerned about.
I had no idea Maine was such a high usage of SNAP percentage-wise usage state.
I would have assumed the usage percentage would be like some of the more rural states like Wyoming, Montana, Kansas, Minnesota, or even New Hampshire. They are all below 8%. Outside of states with big cities and a couple of obvious issues, Maine has the highest percentage at around 12.3%.
That is an awfully high percentage of folks that rely on these benefits. I wonder why Maine is like that.
It is not the unemployment percentage. That is 3.2%. Close to New Hampshire at 3%, Wyoming, Kansas, Montana, etc. are all about the same.
I would wonder why the Maine usage seems out of proportion compared to other states.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday that President https://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/donald-trump/ wants to hear from the courts about how to legally move money around to fund SNAP payments, but he noted during an interview on CNN's "State of the Union" that it "could" flow by Wednesday.
Update on women with children and poor individuals.
The Trump administration says it will restart SNAP food benefits but it will pay out only half the amount people normally get.
The administration says it will use money from an Agriculture Department contingency fund. The $5 billion in that fund falls well short of the full cost of SNAP benefits — $8 billion — each month. In a court filing, officials said depleting that fund means "no funds will remain for new SNAP applicants certified in November, disaster assistance, or as a cushion against the potential catastrophic consequences of shutting down SNAP entirely."
The decision comes after two federal judges ruled that freezing payments for the country's biggest anti-hunger program is unlawful, even as the money ran out this weekend for the 42 million people who rely on SNAP to put food on the table. The government's response is part of the case in Rhode Island.
You can expect half of food stamps,afdc,wic ECT...and the distribution to the cards will be delayed....
So how Christmas look, Marshall Law?
Just to be clear these cuts are to jobs and workers. See the recipient of snap benefits gets food stamps and money for woman and children struggling.
This is on a card. The card is good to purchase approved items pay for rent copays non food food this money goes to the provider to pay for product and service.
The client gets the product the provider gets the work order... Or receive the rent to pay the mortgage.
The program releases 8 billion into local American economy every month. This money pays a lot of people wages from the ma and pa convience store to the large food chain distribution centers and is a vital part of the American economy and the safety net provided here to the citizens of the most wealthy of the world.
Taking this service away is cruel and unusual punishment.
You know better....
For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me".
Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me
Established in 1995,
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