New FEC data from the Maine governor's Senate campaign show waning voter enthusiasm.

The problem is that for the entire fourth quarter of 2025, she raised just $822,000 in small contributions. That would mean that, after raising more than a half million in one day from regular people, she raised just $287,000 more over the next two and a half months. As a candidate, some drop off after launch day is expected, but to drop that far and that fast raises major concerns about how much momentum there is behind her bid, especially considering that the Democratic Party in Washington has turned on its small-dollar fundraising program for Mills. The party has carpet-bombed inboxes on her behalf, but people seem not to be responding.

The Mills campaign did not respond when asked to clarify these day-one fundraising issues.

  • Cruxifux@feddit.nl
    301·
    6 days ago

    “If we don’t get enough money, how are we to be expected to win an election?”

    This weird ultra capitalist version of democracy is so fucking exhausting. Theres two parties. Its Maine. Its not that big, just fucking campaign for a bit. 800 grand? You can easily hire 16 people for the year, and what are you even doing? Putting up signs, cold calling, managing social media? I just absolutely hate these people.

    • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
      2·
      6 days ago

      This weird ultra capitalist version of democracy is so fucking exhausting.

      Ftfy. America is on the more blatant side, but this is how liberal democracy works everywhere; it’s why the rich like it. Lobbying, political donations and control of the media are the mechanisn liberal democracy provides for converting wealth into political power.

  • Scratch@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    23·
    6 days ago

    The amount of money someone needs to spend to get elected is disgusting and entirely intentional.

    Edit: spelling disguising -> disgusting

    • Optional@lemmy.world
      42·
      6 days ago

      Technically you don’t “need” any money (except the registration fee which is much, much lower). They raise this for radio ads no one listens to and tv ads no one pays attention to and flyers in the mailbox everyone hates, and offices for the volunteers to go door-to-door which most everyone also hates.

      • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyzOP
        5·
        6 days ago

        That is why you condescend the voters at the same time by reminding them they really don’t have a choice because the other side is literally murderous.

        At a certain point of reach + cynicism the magical ghost of the swing voter apparates out of thin air in a wave of pro-democracy enthusiasm, or so the old DNC tale goes when told by the barely sentient, elder scions of the party being wheeled around on carts of money.

      • Semester3383@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        6 days ago

        I live in Maine. Every week I get email alerts telling me where Platner is going to be, and what I can do to help. (I’m currently doing huge amounts of OT, so I don’t have the time to volunteer.) He’s doing town halls weekly (I think that he’s doing Millinocket soon; I should be able to make that one), and constantly doing outreach. I see his campaign posts on Bluesky all the time. He came to a town near me, a town with a whopping 6000 residents, and treated everyone respectfully, including the MAGAt that was there trying to poke holes in his campaign.

        I have seen ONE Bluesky post from Mills’ campaign. AFAIK, she’s done exactly zero town hall meetings, certainly not ones where she’s taking questions directly from the audience. I haven’t seen any campaign signs, no radios ads (altho I only listen to Maine Public Radio; but I also haven’t heard anything about her campaign there), and I’ve seen Collins’ ads on the TVs at the gym, but nothing for Mills. Oh, the Collins ad? It’s got a great snippet from Mills saying that Collins has done a lot of great things for Maine. Oops.

        So I don’t fucking know where Mills is spending the money that she has.

  • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    20·
    6 days ago

    Platner does actually seem like the real deal, and Mills is the establishment pick.

    I genuinely hope Mills gets absolutely wrecked by Platner in the primary.

  • Optional@lemmy.world
    15·
    6 days ago

    “Governor Mills did not reach out to me, or to the organizing team ahead of the January 24 rally, and none of her staff contacted us either,” Former Lewiston city councilor and lead organizer of the ICE THEM OUT protest Safiya Khalid told Drop Site News. “There was no indication of interest from the Governor or her team.”

    The day ICE launched its Maine operation, Mills was caught jetting off to California. Dinner invitations obtained by Axios reveal Mills planned to attend a trio of big-money Senate fundraisers in San Francisco and the Silicon Valley on Wednesday, and the East Bay on Thursday. The Wednesday invitation described an “intimate dinner” in San Francisco’s financial district. Suggested donations ranged from $1,000 to $7,000—the maximum donation for both the primary and general.

    Sounds like DNC fucking up as per

  • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
    12·
    6 days ago

    As a candidate, some drop off after launch day is expected, but to drop that far and that fast

    The opposite is true for grassroots campaigns. They take far longer to get going, but they’re able to get a kind of flywheel of donations and volunteerism that overwhelms corporate campaigns, in enough time.

    See: Graham Platner