Gov. Janet Mills (D-ME) is widely expected to officially announce her candidacy Tuesday for the Maine Senate seat held by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), teeing up a perennial high-stakes battleground race against two longtime politicians with broad name recognition.
The likely campaign by Mills, 77, exposes a trend this cycle of Senate Democrats’ establishment wing relying on an older string of candidates to carry the party’s long-shot quest of retaking the upper chamber.
Mills would be 79 if she takes office, making her the oldest freshman senator in U.S. history. She joins Democrats such as former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and former Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, who are also seeking to knock off Republican senators in their respective states. If elected and sworn in, Cooper will be 69, and Brown will be 74.
With the Senate’s average age nearly 65, the Senate hopefuls aren’t much older than many of their would-be colleagues. But the trio, if they secure their party’s nominations, would buck a growing trend among Democrats of calls for generational change among its aging members.
If she’s reelected to a sixth consecutive six-year term, Collins would be 74 when sworn in. Mills preemptively announced her campaign last week before deleting a posted launch video and donation link.
“I’m not sure it’s the age that matters. I think what matters is they’ve been around so long,” Democratic strategist Brad Bannon said of the party’s candidates. “It’s more that they’re perceived by young progressives as part of a political establishment they don’t like very much. That is a problem Mills is going to have to cope with.”
Mills will join an already crowded primary field of mostly younger political newcomers, but she’s viewed by national Democrats and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) as the strongest competition to Collins. Others in the race include 48-year-old brewery owner Dan Kleban, 35-year-old former congressional chief of staff Jordan Wood, and 41-year-old military veteran and oyster farmer Graham Platner, backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
The campaign arm of Senate Republicans is seeking to make age and the generational and ideological split among the Democratic primary contenders an issue in the race.
“Maine Democrats are locked in a bruising fight between Chuck Schumer’s out-of-touch
establishment and Bernie Sanders’ far-left radicals,” said Joanna Rodriguez, the communications director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. “Janet Mills wants to be the oldest freshman senator in American history after a record of failure that turned Maine into one of the weakest economies in New England. No matter which Democrat emerges, we’re confident Mainers will continue to trust independent problem solver Susan Collins to keep delivering for them.”
The NRSC unveiled a new anti-Mills opposition website and digital ad, which was generated, in part, using AI software.
“As governor, Janet Mills failed Maine. Now, she wants a promotion,” the ad states, citing her stances on state taxes, transgender athletes, immigration, and the economy. “Luckily for Maine, the answer is simple. No thanks, Janet.”
Susan Wild, a former Pennsylvania Democratic congresswoman who was narrowly unseated last year by Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-PA), lamented that Mills was too old to run.
“Janet Mills is ten years older than I am, and now I’m wondering why I decided not to run for Congress again next year because I didn’t want to be part of the aging problem in Congress,” Wild posted. “And, if she wins, her term would be SIX years, making her 84 at the end of her first term.”
In the House, where the average age is younger at 57.5, older Democrats face increasing pressure to step aside for younger generations but have so far rebuffed such calls. Three House Democrats, all in their 70s, have died while in office since March.
Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), 88, is seeking a 19th consecutive term as a nonvoting delegate. She’s being challenged by other Democrats, including former Democratic National Committee official Kinney Zalesne and D.C. Council members Brooke Pinto and Robert White Jr.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), 49, has called on Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the 86-year-old who stepped down in 2022 as the House Democratic leader, to “step aside” over his ties to the pro-Israel lobbying group American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
“And you wonder why the majority of Democrats are fed up with our leaders & are done with the status quo,” Khanna recently posted. “Step [aside], make way for new leaders.”
The age debate boiled over earlier this year at DNC headquarters after national party leaders ousted former Vice Chairman David Hogg for stirring controversy by pledging to financially bolster primary challengers to older Democratic incumbents.
MAINE GOVERNOR JANET MILLS ANNOUNCES RUN FOR SENATE, BUT TOOK DOWN CAMPAIGN POST
But Bannon, the Democratic strategist, also sees a potential scenario in Maine reminiscent of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, where anti-establishment progressives still rallied behind Joe Biden in a unified effort to defeat President Donald Trump in the general election.
“I think even insurgent Democrats are so intent on beating, and getting rid of, Collins and eking out a Democratic Senate majority just to slow Trump down that they’re going to be willing to overlook their concerns about establishment figures,” Bannon predicted.