Are you a Democratic or independent voter? Are you thinking about the future of the Democratic Party? We want to hear from you. Email [email protected].

AUGUSTA — Thinking about her political future, Gov. Janet Mills saw two choices.

Retire quietly from a long career of public service that included decades as a prosecutor and attorney general before twice being elected governor.

Or stay in the fight.

“I know there’s a high level of energy out there and a high level of anger about what’s going on across this country. I feel it too. I feel it in my bones,” Mills said in an interview last week at the Blaine House. “I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t give it everything I’ve got and fight the good fight.”

The 77-year-old Democrat formally launched her 2026 U.S. Senate campaign on Tuesday, saying she couldn’t watch from the sidelines while a Republican-controlled Congress — including Susan Collins, whom she hopes to defeat — fails to stand up to President Donald Trump’s abuses of power.

She said she’s most angry that Trump has cut health care and driven up costs for working families through “taxes disguised as tariffs,” while giving tax breaks to the wealthy.

“I think everything I have done in my career has prepared me for this moment,” said Mills, who’s first campaign video highlights her clash with Trump. “It’s a fight I can’t and won’t shirk from.”

Mills said she plans to serve only one six-year term if elected.

Her decision to run is not surprising. She’s been generating national attention and adulation since she stood up to Trump at a White House event in February, and she’s been seriously considering her candidacy for months and traveling the state highlighting her administration’s achievements at events that have resembled campaign stops.

During her two terms as governor, Democratic majorities in the Legislature have helped Mills achieve her policy goals. But she’s been criticized by Republicans for growing the state budget and by some in her own party for not supporting progressive priorities such as tighter gun regulations and criminal justice reform.

Her entrance immediately shakes up the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, setting up a generational clash about the future of the party and who’s best-suited to challenge Collins, a five-term incumbent who is now the Senate’s top appropriator.

Mills’ biggest challenger figures to be insurgent newcomer Graham Platner, an oyster farmer from Hancock County whose campaign already has generated significant attention.

A ‘HEALTHY’ PRIMARY

Defeating Collins, 72, is imperative for Democrats to have any chance of reclaiming the Senate, where Republicans hold 53 seats.

Opponents believe Collins, the only blue state Republican left in the Senate, is more vulnerable now than she was in 2020, when she consistently trailed in the polls but pulled out a solid nine-percentage-point victory over former House Speaker Sara Gideon. That victory came as Democrat Joe Biden beat Trump by nine points in the presidential race.

To advance to the general election, Mills will have to defeat Platner, the 41-year-old veteran who came out of nowhere and already has won the endorsement of progressive icon Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont.

Platner’s campaign says he’s raised over $4 million since late August, when he began traveling the state and drawing hundreds to town halls.

Mills said a competitive primary is “a healthy process” and she’s looking forward to having a “robust discussion of the issues” with all of the candidates, which include former congressional staffer Jordan Wood, former Air Force civilian contractor Daira Smith-Rodriguez and David Costello, who spent his career in the public sector.

Maine Beer Co. co-owner Dan Kleban had been running, but he pulled out of the race Tuesday and endorsed Mills.

As the state’s first female district attorney, attorney general and governor, Mills said she’s overcome obstacles in the past. This campaign would be no different.

“I’ve had to fight for everything I’ve achieved in life and I’ve had to take on bullies at every step of the way,” Mills said. “I’ve got the fight in me and these times are just too urgent not to heed the call.”

At 77, Mills would be the oldest freshman senator in history, though Maine’s junior senator, Angus King, was reelected last year at the age of 80.

Mills said she is ready to take the fight to Collins, criticizing her for casting “a pivotal vote” to advance Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill that cut Medicaid to fund tax breaks for the wealthy.

Collins ultimately voted against the bill and it would have advanced anyway since Vice President JD Vance would have broken the tie.

Mills also called out Collins’ support for several controversial Trump nominees, including Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has opposed safe and effective vaccines; Education Secretary Linda McMahon, who is overseeing efforts to dismantle the agency; and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, who tried to end food support to Maine students until the state sued to overturn the decision in court.

“(Collins) has been very deferential to this administration at a time when something quite different from deference is called for,” Mills said, adding she will represent courage and common sense. “We’re fighting to preserve democracy. It’s not a time for deference and timidity.”

‘I LOVE THIS STATE’

Mills said she will focus on her experience during the Democratic primary. She has a long record as a state lawmaker, attorney general and governor that shows, “I know how to get stuff done.”

Mills also highlighted her expansion of the state’s Medicaid program to an additional 100,000 people, strengthening of reproductive rights, increasing funding for public education, free school meals to all students regardless of income, and creating a free community college program, while addressing concerns about child care and affordable housing.

Mills is the first Democrat to win a statewide election since Gov. John Baldacci in 2006. She also would be Maine’s first Democratic woman to serve in the Senate.

“I have a winning record of having won two statewide campaigns,” she said. “That’s a record people can look to to see that I’m the best person to beat Susan Collins and help take back the U.S. Senate.”

Mills grew emotional when talking about the sense of responsibility she feels to continue fighting for her granddaughters and other young women in Maine and across the country.

She said her father taught her the importance of standing up to bullies when she was young — and it was his voice that echoed in her head during her confrontation with Trump at the White House.

“It would be pretty hard to face my granddaughters, to look them in the eye and say that I hadn’t done everything I possibly could to protect their freedom, their rights when I had a chance to,” Mills said. “I’m not gonna let them down. I love this state. I love the people of Maine.”