Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner raised $4.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2025, far outpacing Gov. Janet Mills, who took in $2.7 million.
The winner of that Democratic primary would challenge five-term incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, whose campaign announced that it raised $2.2 million between October and December of last year and has raised $10.4 million in total.
The announcements Saturday by the respective campaigns underscore how expensive Maine’s closely watched 2026 race will be.
Platner’s fourth-quarter haul adds to the $3.2 million he raised by the end of September 2025, even though the oyster farmer from Hancock County with no political experience beyond the municipal level only entered the race in August.
“The fact that Graham — a virtual unknown before he launched this campaign in August — can outraise the sitting governor and senator is a testament to the kind of candidate he is and the movement he is building,” his campaign manager, Ben Chin, said in a statement Saturday. “This is a campaign powered by the people to build a movement to beat Susan Collins and deliver for working people.”
Mills, Maine’s two-term governor, didn’t announce her Senate candidacy until mid-October, so her recent report represents everything she has raised through the end of 2025.
Mills campaign manager Chelsea Brossard said in a written statement that the fundraising totals show the 78-year-old former prosecutor and Maine attorney general is best-positioned to unseat Collins.
“In every living room, coffee shop, and small business Governor Mills has gone to, voters tell us the same thing: they’re fed up with Susan Collins’ words of ‘concern,’ and her refusal to act with courage,” Brossard said. “They know the governor stands up for Maine people and never backs down from a fight.
Amy Abbott, the finance director for Collins’ campaign, similarly touted the senator’s strong financial position in a written statement.
“During the last quarter Senator Collins received contributions from supporters in all 16 counties of Maine as well as all 50 states,” she said. “We are confident that we will have the resources necessary to mount a vigorous campaign when the race begins in earnest.”
In addition to direct fundraising, the candidates are expected to benefit handsomely from super PACs (political action committees), which don’t have limits on what they can raise. Just this month, the Senate Leadership Fund announced an initial investment of $42 million in support of Collins. That organization is connected to Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
The primary between Mills, a veteran politician, and Platner, a 41-year-old newcomer who has drawn significant support across Maine despite early controversies, mirrors the national conversation about the future of the Democratic Party in the wake of the 2024 presidential election.
The 73-year-old Collins, meanwhile, has represented Maine in the U.S. Senate since 1996 and now chairs the powerful Appropriations Committee. Her popularity has dwindled among voters in recent years but she won reelection in 2020 by nine percentage points over former Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon, who led in virtually all polling before election day.
This story was originally published by the Maine Trust for Local News.