Mainers Want Fresh New Faces to Repesent them in Washington, DC Such as Oyster Farmer and US Marine Vet Graham Platner, 41.  Senator Collins is 73 and Governor Janet T. Mills is 78 years old.

NBC  News last night reported that labor leaders have been pushing Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to end his support of Governor Janet Mills in Maine’s Senate primary.

NBC News reports that UAW President Shawn Fain spoke with Schumer about “Democratic leaders’ approach to the 2026 midterms, ‘particularly their failure to adequately listen to workig-class voters.’  Fain cited the Maine contest as an example, this person said.”

“On Monday, Michael Monahan, International vice president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers’ 2nd District, which includes Maine, sent a letter to DSCC leadership, obtained by NBC News, ‘to express our deep concern regarding the DSCC’s ongoing involvement in the 2026 Maine Democratic Senate Primary.”

“Platner’s union backers include the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.  David Sullivan, the union’s general vice president of the eastern terriroty, told NBC News he is set to have  a Zoom call with the DSCC to discuss the race next week.  He said his membership was upset about Democratic leaders’ backing Mills after his union had endorsed Platner.”

NBC News also highlighted Governor Mills fraught relationship with labor in Maine:

“Mills has had some clashes with organized labor during her time as governor.  In 2019 and 2021, she vetoed labor-backed measures aimed at strengthening the power of a third party’s rulings in disputes over public-sector workers’ wages, insurance and retirement.  The measure remains a priority for the Maine AFL-CIO.

In her 2021 veto letter, Mills wrote the bill would delegate ‘the power of the purse to unelected officials, no matter how those individuals are selected.’

Sullivan described labor’s relationship with Mills as ‘adversarial.”  “So Janet Mills is not somebody we will support,” he said.  ‘And if, for some odd reason, she ends up going off some miracle win against Graham Platner, you’ll probably see a lot of unions supporting Collins.”  The UAW, which represents around 2,000 workers in Maine, endorsed Platner the day after Mills launched her campaign in October.”

“Nex week this blogger is going to call Chuck Schumer’s office and tell him to get out of the Maine Senate primary,” said this blogger.  “Give you any ideas?”

Born in Blue HIll and raised in Ellsworth and Sullivan, Graham is a lifelong Mainer.  After High School, Graham enlisted in the US Marine Corps and served three deployments to Iraq.  He returned to America and used the GI Bill to attend George Washngton University.  But when he saw some of the people he served with get deployed to Afghanistan, he realized his time in uniform was not over.  He enrolled in the Army National Guard and was soon deployed to Afghanistan.  Eventually, Graham was drawn back home to Maine by his desire to serve his community of Sullivan, Maine.  He started working on an Oyster Farm on Frenchman Bay.  He eventually took over the farm and has built it into a successful and well-known small business in the community.  He also serves  as Sullivan Harbormaster ad Sullivan Panning Board Chair.  He lives in Sullivan with his wife, Amy, just three doors down from the house where he grew up.