What's the main thing in Maine's Senate race?
The NPR Politics Podcast
NPR
4.4 • 25.7K Ratings
🗓️ 17 February 2026
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Democrats see Maine as one of their best chances to flip a Republican senate seat in this autumn's midterm elections. We look at Democrats vying to replace Sen. Susan Collins, as well as Collins' chances at winning another term in office.
This episode: senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith, senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson, and Maine Public correspondent Kevin Miller.
This podcast was produced and edited by Casey Morell & Bria Suggs.
Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and Eric and Wendy Schmidt through the Schmidt Family Foundation, working toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all. |
| 0:11.5 | On the web at theshmit.org. |
| 0:18.8 | Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Tamara Keith. I cover the White House. I'm Mara Liason, |
| 0:24.5 | senior national political correspondent. And Maine Public's Kevin Miller is also here. Hi, Kevin. |
| 0:29.9 | Hi, how are you? Oh, great. And so great to have you here. You know, at the NPR Politics |
| 0:34.1 | podcast, we are taking a look at the most competitive U.S. Senate races for |
| 0:38.7 | 26. |
| 0:40.0 | And today on the show, we have you here because we're turning to Maine. |
| 0:43.6 | So, Kevin, let's start with the basics. |
| 0:45.7 | Why should this race be on everyone's radar? |
| 0:49.0 | Well, the big thing about this race is it involves Republican Senator Susan Collins. |
| 0:53.8 | She is a long time incumbent. |
| 0:55.8 | She's been in office nearly 30 years. She's kind of an institution up here in Maine. But she's |
| 1:01.4 | widely considered as one of the most vulnerable Republican senators this year because she's the only |
| 1:06.7 | Republican running for re-election in a state that Donald Trump lost in 2024. So this year, |
| 1:13.6 | she's facing two top Democratic primary challengers right now. Our current governor, Janet Mills, |
| 1:19.3 | she's been in office for seven years. She's been an attorney general here in Maine before that. |
| 1:24.6 | She's a kind of a more moderate establishment candidate. And then she's running |
| 1:29.4 | against Graham Platner. He's a 41-year-old Marine Corps veteran, Oisterman. His campaign just absolutely |
| 1:36.8 | kind of exploded onto the scene back in the summer. And he's generated a lot of interest. |
| 1:41.3 | Yeah, let's dig in on this just fascinating Democratic primary. |
| 1:46.9 | You know, one would assume that an incumbent governor would have an advantage over a political |
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