The 2026 midterm elections are more than 500 days away, but Democrats have important decisions to make well before then on who will challenge U.S. Sen. Susan Collins.
Both national parties are heavily invested in the Maine race, given Collins is the only Republican senator up for election in a state President Donald Trump lost in 2024. The fifth-term senator has fared poorly in approval polls this year, with more than half of Maine Republicans saying in an April poll that she should not be reelected to a sixth term.
But those same conservatives rallied to her defense when Democrats mounted a massive 2020 campaign against her. They need a strong candidate if they want to beat Collins, whose past election victories have proven the limits of polls and attempts to tie her to national Republicans.
The current slate is thin, especially due to several well-known figures opting to run for governor next year to succeed Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat who is termed out of office. Mills has not explicitly ruled out running against Collins, but the 77-year-old told the Portland Press Herald last month she has no plans to run for another office.
Jordan Wood, a Bristol resident who was chief of staff to former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, D-California, is the only Democrat with political connections in the race so far. But one person who considered a gubernatorial bid is now looking at taking on Collins.
Dan Kleban, who co-founded Maine Beer Company in Freeport with his brother in 2009, confirmed Democrats reached out to him to consider a Senate bid after the Bangor Daily News mentioned him in April as a potential gubernatorial candidate. Kleban, who previously worked at a law firm, had also kicked around the idea of running in 2020, when former Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon of Freeport was the candidate who lost to Collins.
“I continue to have conversations with people and will make a decision in the coming months,” Kleban, 47, said in an email last week.
Other Democrats whom the BDN mentioned last month as potential Senate contenders have not made decisions, including Penobscot Nation Chief Kirk Francis, House Speaker Ryan Fecteau of Biddeford and former state Sen. Cathy Breen of Falmouth. Francis was arrested earlier in May after allegedly driving drunk in Bangor.
“Nothing new to add right now,” Francis said in a Friday text message regarding his plans, saying he will “be in touch.”
National Democrats have signaled a desire for Mills to challenge Collins to help flip a 53-47 GOP majority in the upper chamber, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, reportedly reaching out to her and other governors to encourage runs in competitive states.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee did not mention Wood in a statement that said the party “will have a strong candidate in Maine” and criticized Collins on various fronts, such as for “refusing to block Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s toxic agenda” and voting for Supreme Court justices who later overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling.
“Mainers know Susan Collins isn’t standing up for them, and in 2026, they will hold her accountable for selling them out,” Maeve Coyle, spokesperson for the national Senate Democratic campaign arm, said.
Maine Democratic Party Chair Charlie Dingman said the party is “off to a good start” in having Wood in the race and that there is “still plenty of time for a diverse field of other candidates to emerge.”
“Maine primary voters are well qualified to make a wise choice among them,” Dingman said.
Collins ally Andre Cushing, a Penobscot County commissioner and former Republican state lawmaker, said he thinks Democrats are weighing their best option to counter the senator’s ability to “represent the dynamics of this state.” He credited Collins as someone who “doesn’t make everyone happy all the time, but she does the right thing in her view.”
National Republicans are firmly behind Collins, even if she has irked some for opposing Trump’s tariff policies and her centrist voting record. National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesperson Nick Puglia said “numerous Democrat candidates seem to have figured out losing is exactly what will happen if they challenge” Collins.
Wood, the Democratic candidate, was holding a Wednesday evening town hall in Bath as part of his effort to knock Collins for not holding public forums while in office.
“I’m running for Senate because our system is broken and it’s holding us back from solving the problems Mainers face,” Wood said in a statement.
BDN writer Michael Shepherd contributed to this story.