Why Janet Mills Should Not Run for U.S. Senate and Angus King Should Do the Right Thing

Maine Governor Janet Mills is under pressure by Democrats to challenge Republican U.S. Senator Susan Collins in 2026. Mills is the only candidate with the type of national exposure and fundraising heft to wage a serious challenge to Collins, who won her last campaign by 9 points despite the odds favoring progressive darling Sara Gideon who raised an eye-popping $75 million in her bid to get to Washington.

Janet Mills is not a progressive, but her record reeks of left-wing stink due to the tight numbers in the Maine Legislature and the ideology-driven make-up of the Maine Democratic Party. For example, minors in the Pine Tree State can’t get a tattoo, vape or buy a pack of cigarettes - but they can and do get “gender affirming care,” i.e. hormone drugs — after a 30 minute Zoom call with Planned Parenthood, one of the state’s biggest political heavy weights whose influence on the Mills administration is strong. Mills tete-a-tete with Donald Trump over gender ideology thrust her in the lime light, but “see you in court” is not a full-throated endorsement of her state’s gender agenda.

If Mills runs against Collins and the question is put to her, as it was recently to Rahm Emanuel, “can a man become a woman” the jury is out on Mills’ verdict. The political risks are high. Too many Democrats in Maine have lost their minds to the cult of gender identity. The Commissioner of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife featured a state-sponsored drag queen at a family event promoting the outdoors.

It seems cruel that Janet Mills would be called upon to defend her support of women in a race against Collins because her party has abdicated by promoting the lies that “trans women are women” and that the medicalization and brainwashing of children is “care.” Mills was the first female prosecutor in Maine, the first female Attorney General, and the first female Governor. She was a founding member of the Maine Women’s Lobby - an organization now so captured by gender woo it no longer recognizes the biological reality of the female sex.

Indeed, Maine has laws that protect female lobsters, female pheasants and female dogs - but no longer laws that protect female humans. “Female” is defined in statute to mean anyone who identifies as a woman, “without regard to the individual’s designated sex at birth.”

Designated sex? Is that like a pregnant “person” now protected under one Maine law that literally erased the word “women” in fealty to the progressive creed Democrats legislate in Augusta?

Susan Collins brings home the bacon as the Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. She believes women are real and that Title IX means what it says. She is pro-choice but not pro-Planned Parenthood because lets face it: Planned Parenthood along with other non-profits like the ACLU and GLAAD claim the mantle of moral authority but really are special interest groups seeking market share of political power. They scratch each others backs pushing a woke agenda to raise rage and money.

Janet Mills is better than the Democratic Party. She shouldn’t run against Susan Collins because unlike the special interest alphabet groups that run the table in Augusta and want more power in Washington, Mills seems to actually care about the State of Maine as a whole and all its citizens, not just the cool kids wearing identity badges and virtue signaling.

Susan Collins cares about the whole state, too, and has a seat at the head of the table in Washington. Despite voting against the president’s big beautiful bill, Collins has earned the respect of the Trump Administration. She threads the needle and sews together legislation that is good for Maine and the country.

The same can’t be said about Maine’s other U.S. Senator, Angus King. He plays a good guy on TV and is earnest, no doubt, but lacks any power whatsoever to move the ball. Remember his campaign promise to be a bridge between the parties? Partisanship has never been greater. There’s not a single piece of substantial legislation with King’s name on it because unlike in the Blaine House where he excelled as the Chief Executive, the U.S. Senate is run by political parties and he is not a member. He fights against Trump with eloquent words that fall on flat ears. He has no leverage, plain and simple.

Angus King says he supports women but voted against the recent bill that would ban men from women’s athletics. Apparently King thinks women and girls should give up their place on the winner’s podium for the sake of others.

I think Angus King should give up his seat in the U.S. Senate for the sake of others and the State of Maine. Instead of a brutal campaign that pits two of Maine’s most formidable politicians, Collins and Mills, against each other, King could actually make a meaningful difference for a change. Janet Mills, as outgoing governor, can appoint herself to fill the position and Maine people will win.