Maine
Mills to join Maine Senate race
Maine Gov. Janet Mills is set to launch a campaign today against Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) in what will be a blockbuster midterm race.
Mills’ bid gives Senate Democratic leadership yet another recruitment success. But it also cements a messy intra-party brawl. Mills’ entrance in the race isn’t scaring off any of the current Democratic primary contenders.
We’ll start by listing the obvious: On paper, Mills is by far the most formidable Democrat running to unseat Collins. Mills is a popular, sitting two-term governor and her pitch will certainly lean on electability.
The other three main candidates — Graham Platner, Jordan Wood and Dan Kleban — have never held any elected office. So far, all three are pledging to continue their campaigns, even with Mills jumping in.
The Age Argument. If the 77-year-old Mills wins, she would be sworn in as a senator at the age of 79. Her younger opponents are using this against her.
Wood, who has reported raising over $3 million, said it’s time for a new generation of Democratic leaders.
“Janet Mills was my district attorney the year that I was born in Androscoggin County,” Wood told us. “This is going to be a very real primary, even if Chuck Schumer does not want it to be.”
Leaders We Deserve, a group co-founded by David Hogg to elect young progressives, and other Democratic youth organizations all jointly endorsed Platner Tuesday.
Platner has the most resources to really challenge Mills. His campaign has hauled in over $4 million and his populist messaging won him Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) endorsement. But Mills’ supporters can point to Sanders, 84, as a way to sidestep the age argument.
The big question now is whether Mills will pledge to only serve one term and whether such a promise would neutralize the age argument.
Yet Mills has proven she’s willing to fight and won praise from the left when she publicly challenged Trump over his attempt to ban transgender athletes from women’s sports.
Meanwhile, Republicans are enjoying the prospect of a contested Democratic primary.
“While Democrats fight among themselves, Senator Collins will keep doing what she’s always done — delivering for Maine families,” Alex Latcham, the leader of the Senate Leadership Fund, said in a statement.
We should note that Collins hasn’t officially launched her reelection campaign, but has said publicly she intends to seek reelection and is actively raising money.
Maine
2026 Primary Election
Maine
Regular gas tops $4, premium over $5 in Maine amid severe Trump Iran threats
Maine’s average price for regular gasoline rose to its highest point since August 2022, as the conflict in Iran continues to drive up global oil costs.
A gallon of regular gas averaged $4.03 here Tuesday, ticking up more than 6 cents overnight, according to data aggregated by motor club AAA. That price has risen 38.5% — about $1.12 — since Feb. 28, when the United States and Israel struck Iran, triggering a conflict that has since spilled into the broader Middle East.
Maine’s average price crossed the $4 threshold a week after the national average did so. The national average was up to $4.14 Tuesday, AAA data shows.
Premium gas was up to $5.07 per gallon in Maine, topping $5 for the first time in nearly four years. Diesel, meanwhile, averaged about $5.90 per gallon Tuesday.
Collectively, those figures mark the state’s highest average gas prices since the summer of 2022, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine drove gas prices to record highs. A gallon of regular gas peaked at $5.09 that June, the highest ever recorded by AAA.
This week, Maine’s prices were the 21st highest among the 50 states and Washington, D.C., according to AAA. California, Hawaii, Washington, Nevada and Oregon all saw average prices above $5 per gallon Tuesday.
This is a developing story.
Maine
Tennessee forward & Maine native J.P. Estrella enters transfer portal
Tennessee forward J.P. Estrella, a Scarborough native and former South Portland standout, announced earlier today that he is entering the transfer portal.
Estrella shared the news in a social media post, writing that his time at Tennessee “means more to me than I can put into words” and that he’ll “cherish the time I spent there.”
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