Maine’s U.S. Senate race could be among the first nationwide to see labor backing the Republican candidate.
Armed with polls showing Graham Platner trouncing Janet Mills in the upcoming Democrat primary, a group of unions is urging the Democrat senate leader to drop his support of Mills.
“Janet Mills is not somebody we will support,” machinists vice president David Sullivan told NBC News. “And if, for some odd reason, she ends up going off some miracle win against Graham Platner, you’ll probably see a lot of unions supporting Collins.”
Senate Democrat leader Chuck Schumer “needs to stay out of Maine,” said Sullivan, eastern vice president of International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
He and officials from several other unions argue that Platner is the obvious choice for workers.
A spokesman for Mills defended her labor record, telling NBC her history of “fighting for workers’ rights, dignity, and pay has earned her praise from many unions throughout the state.”
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain reportedly told Schumer that Democrat leadership has failed to listen to working-class voters.
Michael Monahan, a vice president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, sent a letter to Schumer to drop his support of Mills.
He pointed to polling showing Platner leading Mills and argued that money spent against Platner could weaken him for the general election against Collins, NBC News said.
Mills has had some clashes with organized labor during her time as governor.
Twice she vetoed labor-backed measures aimed at strengthening the power of a third party’s rulings in disputes over public-sector workers’ wages, insurance and retirement.
If Mills Were To Beat Platner Union Workers ‘Likely Would Support Republican Susan Collins’
By Ted Cohen
