One of President Donald Trump’s most vocal critics within the Republican Party was handed some sobering news about her political future today.
Maine’s two-term Democratic Gov. Janet Mills announced today she will run for the U.S. Senate seat held by veteran Republican, and Trump critic, Sen. Susan Collins next year.
This according to anonymous sources familiar with Mills’ plans.
Mills is tentatively expected to announce her candidacy on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press (AP).
Mills’ candidacy sets up a potential showdown between the parties’ best-known figures in a state where Democrats see a chance to gain a seat in their uphill quest for the Senate majority.
Mills was the top choice of national Democrats who have long tried to unseat Collins, who has held the seat since 1997.
Mills, who is term-limited, has served as governor of Maine since 2019, after working as the state’s attorney general.
Mills drew national attention earlier this year when she verbally argued with President Trump at a White House event after he pressed Maine to comply with his administration’s push to block transgender girls and women from competing in female sports.
According to a CBS News report, Mills has been urged to run by party leaders including Senate Minority Leader New York Sen. Chuck Schumer.
Though she only met once with Schumer to discuss the race early this year, her decision is viewed as a recruiting win for Democrats, according to the CBS report.
Democrats have struggled for years against Collins, a five-term incumbent with a track record of breaking with Trump and her congressional Republican colleagues.
Collins won reelection in 2020 by an 8.6-point margin, despite Democratic nominee Sara Gideon spending nearly $62.9 million on the race — more than double Collins’ $29.6 million.
However, Collins could be very vulnerable heading into the next election.
As previously reported by The Horn News, Collins’ overall approval rating amongst Maine voters is at an all-time low.
As part of its quarterly poll of Senator’s approval ratings, Morning Consult shows the favorability of the longtime Maine senator, now 72, to be the worst ever.
According to the recent poll, a whopping 54% of Maine voters disapprove of Collins’ job performance, marking a high point for her disapproval in the Morning Consult survey’s eight-year history.
By contrast, only 38% of voters in the state approve of her performance in office.
The new numbers for Collins are a sharp downturn from the last quarterly poll conducted by The Morning Consult survey from the fourth quarter of 2024, which showed 44% of Maine voters disapproved of Collins.
And an ever further decline from the third quarter of 2024, where only 42% disapproved, according to the Morning Consult’s poll at the time.
The decline of Collins’ approval ratings in the Morning Consult survey comes after she opposed Trump on key elements of his agenda.
As first reported by The Daily Caller, Collins was one of three GOP senators to vote “no” on Trump’s “one big, beautiful” bill, which the president signed into law on July 4.
Collins cited concerns over the bill’s Medicaid reforms.
Collins said she is planning to run in 2026 and is encouraged by her strong fundraising results.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) is already running ads for Collins, and a super PAC backing her has raised $5.6 million in the first half of the year.
Collins currently has $5 million in cash on hand and has raised a total of $6 million, according to the Federal Election Commission (FEC).