Democratic Establishment Targets Maine Working-Class Senate Candidate Graham Platner

Shortly after Maine Gov. Janet Mills announced her candidacy for the US Senate on Tuesday, journalists noted her campaign's joint fundraising committee with the Democratic establishment—which swiftly drew strong criticism, given that she has a primary opponent, Graham Platner.

Mills entered the race to face off against Republican Sen. Susan Collins next year after weeks of speculation and reporting that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) had urged the term-limited governor to do so.

Since Platner launched his campaign in August, the oyster farmer and military veteran has positioned himself as a champion of the working class. He has forcefully called out the oligarchy, Israel dropping US bombs on the Gaza Strip, President Donald Trump's attacks on US cities, and Collins, who has represented Maine since 1997.

"Chuck Schumer should be focused on fighting Donald Trump and protecting healthcare for millions of Americans, not meddling in a Maine primary," Platner—who has said he would not vote for the Senate's top Democrat to retain his leadership position—wrote on social media Tuesday. "DC's choice has lost to Susan Collins five times in a row. We can't afford a sixth."

Platner was responding to news of the Mills campaign's fundraising partnership with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), which is officially led by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and works to elect party members to the chamber.

A DSCC spokesperson claimed in a Wednesday email to Newsweek that it "has not made any formal endorsements this cycle."

"Reminder: the DSCC is not some amorphous blob," stressed Zeteo reporter Prem Thakker, pointing to Gillibrand and the group's vice chairs: Democratic Sens. Mark Kelly (Ariz.), Adam Schiff (Calif.), and Lisa Blunt Rochester (Del.). "These are the Democrats now fundraising for someone to become the oldest freshman (age 79) ever elected to a six-year term. All to stop Graham Platner."

Aaron Regunberg, a climate lawyer and former Rhode Island state representative who wrote about Platner for The Nation in August, also took aim at the Senate leaders, who have strong ties to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

"Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand: relentlessly determined to stop the Democratic Party from ever winning back control of the Senate," Regunberg said of the Maine Senate Victory 2026 committee. "Might as well call this the AIPAC Victory Fund."

The Lever's David Sirota said: "It's very important to understand that Senate Democratic leaders deeply hate the idea of Democratic voters being allowed to choose Democratic Senate nominees without the interference of party bosses."

Schumer and other key Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY), have also refused to endorse their own party's nominee in next month's New York City mayoral race: democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani.

"Any fantasies held that Democrats were interested in change have been proven undoubtedly false," said David Griscom, a writer and co-host of the podcast Left Reckoning. "They are afraid of the kind of politics represented by Graham Platner and Zohran Mamdani, and they'll do anything they can to stop it."

The Sunrise Movement, a youth-led climate group, declared: "It's moves like this that have left Democratic Party leaders without any credibility. One day, they defend the need for 'neutrality' when it hurts the left. Then, the next, they intervene in primaries themselves."

Some critics highlighted Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin's calls for neutrality in primaries and the recent ouster of former DNC Vice Chair David Hogg, who supported primary challenges to "asleep-at-the-wheel" Democrats in blue districts.

"I'm sorry but how is this any different from the accusations the DNC made about David Hogg's efforts to influence Dem primaries when they booted him?!" former journalist and Democratic political strategist Tara McGowan said of the Mills-DSCC committee. "And they wonder why the Democratic Party has literally the worst approval rating in history. The blind hubris is ASTOUNDING."

Hogg himself simply said, "Well DC has their pick," and shared multiple social media posts about Platner's campaign.

Platner has secured endorsements from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and unions including the United Auto Workers. The committee boosting his opponent is sending some new support his way. Writer Charlotte Clymer said that "I had planned to stay out of the Maine Senate race for a while and respectfully consider the competing visions of both major candidates. But I can't do that now."

"It is wildly inappropriate for the DSCC to jump into a competitive primary in such a brazen and shameless way, eight months before voters go to the polls," Clymer said. "This is a complete failure to read the room. It is incompetent. It is political malpractice. The DSCC has clearly learned nothing, and they would rather deploy the same tired, divisive strategies instead of empowering Democratic voters and earning our confidence in their process."

"I have great respect for Gov. Janet Mills, but she is being advised very poorly on the contours of this political moment when it comes to what Democratic voters want to see," she added. "I'll be supporting Graham Platner in the primary."

Mills joining the race also hasn't stopped the fundraising dollars from flowing to Platner. His adviser Joe Calvello noted on social media Wednesday morning: "FUN FACT: Since Gov. Mills launched her campaign, Graham Platner's campaign has received a donation every eight seconds."