Mara Liasson

good enough situated for a general election.

So that was the conventional wisdom for a while, that Mills was the right person to go against Collins.

Now Democrats just aren't sure.

Some of them say she's kind of fumbled the primary.

Even if she wins the primary, she might be so damaged that it will be hard for her to beat Collins.

One of the key demographics she was supposed to appeal to was non-college women over 50.

There are a lot of them in the second congressional district, which Trump won.

So now I think Democrats are just confused.

They feel pretty good elsewhere in the country.

Other Senate races, we can talk about that.

But in Maine, it's just unclear who is the best candidate to beat Susan Collins.

You know, this is a real test of how being chairman of the Appropriations Committee helps or doesn't help.

Because in the old days, that would have been a really important thing for a small state like Maine.

But now that politics is so nationalized, it could be a problem.

Maine is the only state that Donald Trump lost in 2024 that has a Republican incumbent senator running for reelection.

And it was one of the two states.

possible pickups for Democrats, North Carolina and Maine.

And it's going to be a test of whether Trump is a help or a hindrance to Republican incumbents.

Well, yeah, but I think that the Democrats are going to tie her to Trump even if Trump doesn't get involved in the race, and he probably won't.

This is one of those races where the incumbent would rather President Trump didn't try to help them.