2026 Midterm Elections

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Platner's response to Mills suspending her campaign:

This morning, Governor Janet Mills announced that she was suspending her campaign for U.S. Senate here in Maine.

Janet Mills has dedicated her career to our beautiful state. We are all eternally grateful for her service to the state of Maine as Governor, and her lifelong career serving Mainers as Attorney General, as district attorney, and in the legislature.

We both got into this race because we knew how critical it is to defeat Susan Collins. And her decision today reflects her commitment to that project. I look forward to working closely with her between now and November to do just that: To defeat Susan Collins and turn this seat blue.

This race has never been about me or about any one person. It's about a movement of working Mainers who are fed up with being robbed by billionaires and the politicians they own. It’s about working people who are taking back their power.

We will defeat Susan Collins. We will go to Washington, and we will start tearing down the system that for far too long has forgotten and written off the people who make Maine and this country what it is.

People have said this campaign came out of nowhere.

But those people don't know Maine.

This movement came out of a whole lot of somewheres.

It came from waterfronts that have worked too hard for too long, only to be pushed to the brink. From towns where the closest hospital is now hours away. Workers who pay more in taxes than billionaires. Loggers who are just one mill closure away from bankruptcy. Young people who want to own a home to call their own. Seniors ready to demand the dignity they deserve.

For decades this system has taken from us. Piece by piece. Store by store. Hospital by hospital. Shore by shore. Town by town. They took so much they began to think we didn't even exist at all.

But they don't know Maine. They don't know the power we have here. And we are taking back what's ours.

Together, we are going to defeat Susan Collins. Together, we are going to flip Maine blue. Together, we are going to take back the Senate for Democrats. Together, we are going to elect an oyster farmer to the United States Senate.

But we are only going to do it together.

It is an absolute honor to have your support and to know that you’ll have my back every step of the way as we work toward victory in November.

In solidarity,

Graham Platner
 
heelinhell said:
Nope, she did not announce late. She announced for the Senate last October. Platner,a complete unknown, announced in late August. She didn't take Platner seriously and likely thought she would sail to the nomination with Schumer's endorsement and DNC dollars. FAFO
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October is late for a Senate primary. Platner had been campaigning for a while (I don't know when he officially announced but he's been on this for longer than that, I think).

I just don't understand what you and some of your lefty friends are doing here. Why isn't the story here "Graham Platner is awesome"? Why do you have to make it, "Janet Mills and Chuck Schumer suck"?

Here's my take, and I think you know that I'm a good faith person who wants us to win: you should never go into a major Senate race with an untested guy with a Nazi tattoo and no political experience. Maybe he's going to turn out to be fantastic, but there needs to be a backup plan because such a person could easily fall on their face. You know, like Herschel Walker among many others.

Schumer recruited Mills, and I'm sure DNC was part of the pitch. Schumer also recruited Sherrod Brown to run again, Roy Cooper, Mary Peltota. If we take back the Senate those three will be big parts of it. Why focus on Janet Mills?
 
heelinhell said:
Platner's response to Mills suspending her campaign:

This morning, Governor Janet Mills announced that she was suspending her campaign for U.S. Senate here in Maine.

Janet Mills has dedicated her career to our beautiful state. We are all eternally grateful for her service to the state of Maine as Governor, and her lifelong career serving Mainers as Attorney General, as district attorney, and in the legislature.

We both got into this race because we knew how critical it is to defeat Susan Collins. And her decision today reflects her commitment to that project. I look forward to working closely with her between now and November to do just that: To defeat Susan Collins and turn this seat blue.
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Now this is a classy response. Can you imagine a GOPer doing that? They are so concerned about civility in politics, lol. This response itself has more class than pretty much the whole GOP Senate caucus.
 
pspsps said:
This is desperate reaching.
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No doubt, and it is disgusting, but I also have no doubt that as we get closer to the election and Republicans get more desperate that this will be mild compared to what we'll see in the fall. They're going to throw everything but the kitchen sink at Democrats, including flat-out lies and utterly false smear campaigns. And Democratic candidates had better be ready to respond, because the GOP has proven that this type of stuff works if Democrats don't hit back immediately on social media.
 
superrific said:
October is late for a Senate primary. Platner had been campaigning for a while (I don't know when he officially announced but he's been on this for longer than that, I think).

I just don't understand what you and some of your lefty friends are doing here. Why isn't the story here "Graham Platner is awesome"? Why do you have to make it, "Janet Mills and Chuck Schumer suck"?

Here's my take, and I think you know that I'm a good faith person who wants us to win: you should never go into a major Senate race with an untested guy with a Nazi tattoo and no political experience. Maybe he's going to turn out to be fantastic, but there needs to be a backup plan because such a person could easily fall on their face. You know, like Herschel Walker among many others.

Schumer recruited Mills, and I'm sure DNC was part of the pitch. Schumer also recruited Sherrod Brown to run again, Roy Cooper, Mary Peltota. If we take back the Senate those three will be big parts of it. Why focus on Janet Mills?
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As I mentioned in my post above, Platner announced in late August. Mills announced a few weeks later in October. When Platner announced no one knew him from Adam, and most certainly when Mills announced a few weeks she could not have cared less that Platner was running.

Platner was stomping Mills by 22 points in the latest polls and is leading Collins by 9 points in the latest poll. He's not going to "fall on his face"

I make it about Schumer because he has actively opposed young dynamic Dems from running for Senate for Senate, eg. Jeff Jackson
I submit that Schumer has no interest in supporting popular change candidates for the Senate.

Now if the DNC pours a few million dollars into Platner's campaign in order to defeat Collins, then I will gladly eat crow :)
 
heelinhell said:
As I mentioned in my post above, Platner announced in late August. Mills announced a few weeks later in October. When Platner announced no one knew him from Adam, and most certainly when Mills announced a few weeks she could not have cared less that Platner was running.

Platner was stomping Mills by 22 points in the latest polls and is leading Collins by 9 points in the latest poll. He's not going to "fall on his face"

I make it about Schumer because he has actively opposed young dynamic Dems from running for Senate for Senate, eg. Jeff Jackson
I submit that Schumer has no interest in supporting popular change candidates for the Senate.

Now if the DNC pours a few million dollars into Platner's campaign in order to defeat Collins, then I will gladly eat crow :)
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Now that Platner is the presumptive nominee, I have no doubt that millions will be invested.
 
heelinhell said:
As I mentioned in my post above, Platner announced in late August. Mills announced a few weeks later in October. When Platner announced no one knew him from Adam, and most certainly when Mills announced a few weeks she could not have cared less that Platner was running.

Platner was stomping Mills by 22 points in the latest polls and is leading Collins by 9 points in the latest poll. He's not going to "fall on his face"

I make it about Schumer because he has actively opposed young dynamic Dems from running for Senate for Senate, eg. Jeff Jackson
I submit that Schumer has no interest in supporting popular change candidates for the Senate.

Now if the DNC pours a few million dollars into Platner's campaign in order to defeat Collins, then I will gladly eat crow :)
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You keep going with this Jeff Jackson example but haven't bothered to respond to my defense of Schumer. There is little evidence that Jeff Jackson would have won in the unfavorable 2022 cycle and it would have been foolish to waste a promising talent -- or at least set him back quite a bit -- on that sort of election. You've not responded to that; you just keep criticizing Schumer without acknowledging.

Right, Platner NOW isn't going to fall on his face. And Mills left the race. But last fall, he had major fall on his face potential. He started running last spring -- his formal candidacy launch was several months after he started going to the town halls, etc. I remember reading about him last spring and indeed the Times did a piece on him in March. So it was not a contemporaneous announcement.

I just do not see what purpose is served by constantly attacking our leadership, especially since Schumer has been demonstrably excellent over the past year.
 
superrific said:
You keep going with this Jeff Jackson example but haven't bothered to respond to my defense of Schumer. There is little evidence that Jeff Jackson would have won in the unfavorable 2022 cycle and it would have been foolish to waste a promising talent -- or at least set him back quite a bit -- on that sort of election. You've not responded to that; you just keep criticizing Schumer without acknowledging.

Right, Platner NOW isn't going to fall on his face. And Mills left the race. But last fall, he had major fall on his face potential. He started running last spring -- his formal candidacy launch was several months after he started going to the town halls, etc. I remember reading about him last spring and indeed the Times did a piece on him in March. So it was not a contemporaneous announcement.

I just do not see what purpose is served by constantly attacking our leadership, especially since Schumer has been demonstrably excellent over the past year.
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It was 2020 when Shumer told Edwards that Cal Cunningham would be the guy. In 2022, it was more the democratic powers-that-be in Raleigh and ENC that wanted Beasley (who is from Fayetteville) over Jackson (who is from Charlotte). Raleigh and ENC have long had a strong bias against Charlotte.
 
Icky Mettle said:
It was 2020 when Shumer told Edwards that Cal Cunningham would be the guy. In 2022, it was more the democratic powers-that-be in Raleigh and ENC that wanted Beasley (who is from Fayetteville) over Jackson (who is from Charlotte). Raleigh and ENC have long had a strong bias against Charlotte.
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Hell Jeff graduated from Chapel Hill High
 
superrific said:
You keep going with this Jeff Jackson example but haven't bothered to respond to my defense of Schumer. There is little evidence that Jeff Jackson would have won in the unfavorable 2022 cycle and it would have been foolish to waste a promising talent -- or at least set him back quite a bit -- on that sort of election. You've not responded to that; you just keep criticizing Schumer without acknowledging.

Right, Platner NOW isn't going to fall on his face. And Mills left the race. But last fall, he had major fall on his face potential. He started running last spring -- his formal candidacy launch was several months after he started going to the town halls, etc. I remember reading about him last spring and indeed the Times did a piece on him in March. So it was not a contemporaneous announcement.

I just do not see what purpose is served by constantly attacking our leadership, especially since Schumer has been demonstrably excellent over the past year.
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Platner announced he was running on August 17, 2025

I love you like a brother ,but I have followed this race since last fall. You have not. I know more about this than you believe it or not :)

Let's move on
 
nycfan said:
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Glad to see this. I had absolutely no idea Adam Hamilton was even considering a run for public office. He is, IMHO, by far and away the most liberal of Methodist ministers who have built a big church. He hasn't won every fight he has waged in the UMC over keeping it relevent in today's society, but he still stood his ground and advocated his position with force and grace.
 
heelinhell said:
Platner announced he was running on August 17, 2025

I love you like a brother ,but I have followed this race since last fall. You have not. I know more about this than you believe it or not :)

Let's move on
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He was running before his announcement. Come on, the announcement date is only for regulatory purposes. Susan Collins didn't announce she was running until December. Do you think she wasn't running until then?

You very likely do know more than me about this race. Still, I know what campaign announcements do and don't mean.
 
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