Scoop: Collins super PAC reserves $12.5 million for post-primary blitz

• The goal is to help harden any negative perceptions about either candidate that developed during the primary.

Between the lines: The forthcoming ads will run from June 11 to Aug. 12.

• The Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC associated with Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), has reserved $42 million from August through Election Day.
• Pine Tree Results is prepared to return to the air in October if necessary.

Zoom out: Collins, who is running for a sixth term, is a prime target for Democrats.

• She is the only GOP senator representing a state that former Vice President Kamala Harris won in 2024, but the primary is dividing the Senate Democratic caucus and has turned into a proxy war over Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's (D-N.Y.) leadership.
• Mills has been running attack ads against Platner, who is leading in the polls, with 55% of Democrats preferring him compared to 28% for Mills, according to an Emerson College survey conducted March 21–23.

The ads have been sharply personal, with women reading Platner's old, controversial social media posts about rape and women aloud.

• Platner has responded with his own ads and public comments, saying those posts don't reflect "who I am today," and citing PTSD he says he suffered after serving in Iraq.

Zoom in: About $20 million has already been spent on TV advertising in the first three months of the year in what Democrats view as one of their best Senate pickup opportunities, according to AdImpact.

• That includes a $2 million ad campaign targeting Collins over ICE funding, launched this month by a Schumer-affiliated group.
• And One Nation, also affiliated with Thune, is up with a $10 million buy for Collins, using Maine voters' own voices.

The bottom line: Maine will be saturated with political ads this summer.