Progressive political newcomer Graham Platner outraised both Democratic Gov. Janet Mills and Sen. Susan Collins in the first fundraising quarter in Maine’s key Senate race.

But Collins, seeking her sixth term, maintains a formidable cash advantage over both of her Democratic opponents that could give her a head start against whichever Democrat emerges from the June primary.

Platner raised $4.1 million in the first quarter, down from $4.6 million he had raised the prior quarter, while Mills brought in $2.6 million, down from $2.7 million in the final quarter of 2025, which had also included her campaign launch.

Collins brought in just over $3 million and had just over $10 million in the bank. She is also expected to be buoyed by a wave of outside money, with a super PAC supporting her, Pine Tree Results, reporting another $11.5 million cash on hand. Platner had $2.7 million in the bank, while Mills had just over $1 million.

Maine is one of national Democrats’ top targets as they seek to take back the Senate, with Collins the only Republican senator representing a seat won by Kamala Harris in 2024.

But it is one of the few battleground states where Democrats do not have a clear cash advantage. The comparatively lower fundraising totals for Platner and Mills compared to Democratic Senate candidates in states such as Ohio and North Carolina may reflect that some donors are still waiting on the sidelines to see which of the pair emerges to face Collins, while others are choosing sides.

Both Platner and Mills have faced challenges, albeit very different ones, in the primary. Mills, a two-term governor who entered the race with the backing of national Democrats, has trailed in recent public polling despite her near-universal name recognition. Platner, an oysterman and military veteran, quickly caught national attention and has drawn large crowds in the state. But he has been beset with a string of controversies involving old Reddit posts that began in mid-October, near the beginning of the previous fundraising quarter.

Former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers has opened up a small cash advantage over his Democratic rivals in Michigan’s open Senate race as they battle through a competitive primary. But he hasn’t taken full advantage of the hard-fought contest on the other side to build a big financial edge.

Rogers raised $2.2 million over the first three months of the year and began April with $4.2 million in cash on hand, according to his federal campaign finance filing.

It’s a small cushion, however, especially considering that he has no serious primary competition, with two of his three Democratic potential opponents outraising him for the quarter.

State Sen. Mallory McMorrow raked in $3 million and had nearly $3.7 million in cash on hand. Abdul El-Sayed raised just under $2.3 million and had $2.5 million in the bank. And Rep. Haley Stevens brought in $2 million and had nearly $3.4 million in her coffers.

Still, Rogers is in a better financial position now than at this point in his last Senate run, when he had less than $1.4 million in cash on hand compared to now-Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s $8.6 million. Slotkin beat Rogers in that race by just 19,000 votes as Trump won the state by an 80,000-vote margin.

Rogers is in line for some significant outside aid. The Senate Leadership Fund, a top Republican super PAC, said earlier this month that it would pour $45 million into flipping the seat that will be critical to determining control of the chamber.

House Transportation Chair Sam Graves (R-Mo.) is targeting April 29 as the markup date for the surface transportation reauthorization bill and is negotiating a topline number between $500 and $550 billion, he told Blue Light News Wednesday.

While a final topline number has yet to be agreed on, Graves said he has a ballpark figure.

“I’m gonna say it’s gonna be somewhere in the neighborhood of $550 billion or $500 billion — somewhere in there. That will be our number. We’re still actually — believe it or not — negotiating that,” Graves said.

That $550 billion total number being discussed for what is also known as the highway bill would be a combination of authorizations and contract authority for a five-year span.

If that number holds, the bill would be well below the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, which totaled $1.2 trillion, with $550 billion of that going to new federal spending for roads, bridges, transit, broadband, resilience and water infrastructure. Graves has said he wants the upcoming bill to be more traditional than the previous one with more focus on roads and bridges.

He added that he is in active talks with ranking member Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) and that he thinks Larsen “wants a little bit more” in funding. Peter True, a spokesperson for Larsen, confirmed Larsen wants a higher number than $550 billion.

Graves said there will be a registration fee for electric vehicles in the surface bill, a long-sought goal of his. Last year, he succeeded in inserting a $250 registration fee for EVs and $100 for hybrids in the House version of the GOP-led budget reconciliation bill, but those provisions never made it into law. He said the EV fee will be different this time around.

“We lowered it a little bit,” Graves said of the EV fee, though he did not provide an exact figure.

As for a registration fee on hybrid cars, he was less clear: “We’re not sure yet, but yes, probably.”