The Maine Democratic primary for U.S. Senate is already a marquee battle, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) made clear its favorite this week by forming a joint fundraising committee with Maine Gov. Janet Mills the same day that she announced her bid. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer had been heavily recruiting Mills, a centrist, to take on fifth-term Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). Mills joins a primary field that also includes left-leaning populist Graham Platner, an oysterman who is endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and who has assailed U.S. funding of Israel’s war in Gaza.
While Democratic activists are backing populist and progressive approaches to win skeptical voters back to the Democratic side, the deep-pocketed crypto industry and pro-Israel super PACs are promoting centrists in the Democratic primaries who they deem supportive of their causes—and so far Schumer has sided with the special-interest groups. Schumer’s finger on the scale, in Maine and other states, comes after more than half of registered Democrats disapproved of congressional Democrats’ job performance.
