Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat vying to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins during the midterm elections, is under fire for supporting a taxpayer-funded health care system for undocumented immigrants.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the campaign arm of Senate Republicans, released a new ad Tuesday morning criticizing the Maine Democrat for expanding health care coverage for undocumented immigrants during her tenure as governor. The 30-second video, first published by the Daily Caller News Foundation, appeared just as Republicans did. argued that Democrats shut down the government in part to provide free health care to illegal immigrants. (RELATED: Oregon Now Spends More on Program Offering Free Health Care to Illegal Immigrants Than on State Police)
LOOK:
“In a world where Janet Mills was a U.S. senator today, she would join her Democratic allies and vote for a government shutdown,” the ad's narrator says. “All to fund health care for illegal immigrants.”
Under Mills' leadership, Maine extended Medicaid coverage, known locally as MaineCare, and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for individuals under age 21 and pregnant women regardless of immigration status in 2022.
The NRSC also accuses Mills of supporting Senate Democrats' hard-line tactics to shut down the government until Republicans agree to provide health care to illegal immigrants.
“In Maine, Janet Mills is already using taxpayer money to give illegal immigrants free health care, so it's no surprise that she supports Chuck Schumer shutting down the government to give them free health care nationwide.” NRSK This was stated in a statement by regional press secretary Samantha Cantrell. “If you are elected to the Senate, you can count on Janet Mills to put the health care of illegal immigrants above the wages of miners.”
A rep for Mills did not immediately respond to DCNF's request for comment.
Most Senate Democrats voted against a clean measure to fund government reopening. dozen times, forcing the quarantine to drag on into its fourth week, with no end in sight.
Democrats' $1.5 trillion counterproposal for government funding would restore nearly $200 billion in health benefits for undocumented migrants and other noncitizens that GOP lawmakers cut in July. according to to the White House memo.
Maine's two senators, Collins and Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Senate Democrats, voted consistently for a bipartisan House-passed spending bill to temporarily fund the government and end the shutdown. Collins sharply criticized Democrats for tying their support for reopening the government to unrelated health policy demands.
WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 29: Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) leaves the weekly Republican Senate Political Luncheon at the U.S. Capitol on July 29, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Mills, who was recruited Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has entered the race, enjoys the support of the Senate Democrats' campaign division and is considered the establishment's favorite.
new survey from the University of New Hampshire found Mills to be significantly behind oyster farmer Graham Platner, a far-left populist backed by Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders.
The survey was conducted amid a series of controversies persecution Platner's campaign, which included conflicting messages in since-deleted Reddit posts and having a tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol.
The NRSC is expected to vigorously defend Collins' re-election bid. Democrats see Maine as a must-win state. visionary attempt to regain control of the upper house in 2026. Collins is currently the only Republican senator representing the state's failed Democratic challenger, whom Kamala Harris won in 2024.
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