Bernie Sanders Comes Out Against Establishment Dem Challenging Progressive In Senate Primary

AP Photo/Susan Walsh

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) weighed in on the Maine U.S. Senate race this week and slammed the state’s Democratic governor for throwing her hat into the primary.

Maine Governor Janet Mills (D) was recruited to run by top Senate Democrats and is expected to announce her campaign soon, reported the AP on Friday, citing sources with knowledge of Mills’s decision.

Sanders has endorsed Graham Platner in the race – a Marine Corps veteran who aligns with the Democratic Party’s more progressive wing.

Mills and Platner will be competing to run against incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) – the last remaining Republican in New England and the chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee.

“Graham Platner is a great working class candidate for Senate in Maine who will defeat Susan Collins,” Sanders wrote on X, adding:

It’s disappointing that some Democratic leaders are urging Governor Mills to run. We need to focus on winning that seat & not waste millions on an unnecessary & divisive primary.

Sanders has long been critical of his fellow Democrats pushing candidates out of primaries and fumed during his presidential runs against the establishment, which he argued didn’t give him a fair shake in his bid against Hillary Clinton.

Sanders made clear in a statement to NOTUS, he does not oppose Mills personally – who has won two statewide races since 2018, the year she flipped the governor’s mansion from red to blue.

“I have nothing against Janet Mills, but I think right now, Susan Collins is absolutely beatable. She can be beaten, and I think it would be a really sad state of affairs to have to spend millions of dollars on a divisive primary. We should be focusing on beating Susan Collins, and Platner can do that,” Sanders told NOTUS.