Maine Gov. Mills Suspends Senate Campaign; Minn. GOP's Robbins Ends Gubernatorial Bid

Maine Governor Janet Mills announced on Thursday that she is suspending her campaign for the U.S. Senate, citing insufficient financial resources to continue. " Mills, who previously won statewide elections and received endorsements including from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, had halted television advertising weeks prior to her announcement.

Her withdrawal leaves Graham Platner as the Democratic frontrunner to challenge incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins in the November election.

Platner, an oysterman from Maine, secured the Democratic nomination after winning the primary. Court records from a 2007 custody dispute, as cited in reports from The New York Times and Politico, indicate that Platner obtained a tattoo of the Nazi Totenkopf symbol on his chest that year.

Platner maintained the tattoo for approximately 18 years before its removal. " No additional statements from Platner regarding the tattoo appear in the provided sources.

Platner shared a social media post from radio host Stew Peters, whom the Anti-Defamation League has described as a neo-Nazi and antisemite who attributes societal problems to Jews and has advocated for their mass deportation. Platner also participated in an interview with Nate Cornacchia, an antisemitic conspiracy theorist, and described himself as a longtime fan.

In the interview, as reported by The New York Times, Platner called the U.S.-Israel relationship "shameful" and praised a 2014 Hamas attack on Israel. " No direct quotes from Democratic officials endorsing or defending Platner are present in the source bundle.

In Minnesota, Republican state Representative Michelle Robbins announced the end of her gubernatorial campaign on Thursday, stating she does not see a viable path to victory. Robbins, who chairs the Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee, entered the race 10 months ago.

" Her withdrawal follows current Governor Tim Walz's decision in January to not seek re-election amid investigations into a fraud scandal involving billions of dollars in unchecked funds during his tenure, as referenced in Robbins's committee oversight role and reported by Fox News.

U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar entered the Minnesota gubernatorial race shortly after Walz's announcement on January 5, 2026, at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul. Klobuchar is positioned as the presumptive Democratic nominee. No specific quotes from Walz addressing the fraud allegations or from Robbins elaborating on her committee's findings beyond the general reference to the scandal are included in the source bundle.

The vessels' operators in any related federal actions have not been publicly identified, and no publicly released evidence has documented contested claims about the scandal's scope beyond the cited billions in funds.