Chellie 'ready to take the pipe?'

By Ted Cohen

Twice now in the past 14 years U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree has lost out in her chance to escape political exile.

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Pingree, who was just reelected, is about to begin her 17th year languishing in the lower chamber.

The Minnesota transplant is among the top three nominees for Maine's Unluckiest Politician 2026.

The other two are Graham Platner and Susan Collins.

First, Chellie.

In 2012 Democrats denied her a promotion to the U.S. Senate in favor of former Gov. Angus King, who promised he would caucus with their party if they would support him to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine.

Pingree at the time was two terms in as a member of the U.S. House. She had run for the Senate in 2002 against Collins but lost.

So when Snowe's seat opened up in 2012 Chellie could already taste the fruits of celebrity.

But she was leapfrogged by Angus, who claims to be an independent but votes with Democrats.

Fast forward to 2026, Chellie now 17 years into a forgettable nine terms in the House.

Collins was up for reelection for what would be her sixth term.

Democrats needed an opponent to stop the woman who 30 years ago pledged if she won a Senate bid would only serve two terms.

Collins, 75, seemed unstoppable this year.

The only political race she had ever lost until now was her bid for governor in 1994, when King humiliated her at the ballot box.

Democrats came up with Graham Platner, 42, a so-called oyster farmer from a tiny northern coastal outpost known as Sullivan, Maine.

Polls showed Platner with a decent chance of ending Collins' reign.

Then he was showered with a tsunami of claims by ex-girlfriends of everything from basic assault to rape, as well as one woman who said she'd shared steamy texts with the married Platner.

He denied assaulting anyone but decided he'd better go away before it got any worse so he quit the race, never saying exactly why he withdrew from it.

If he'd made a deal with the state's Democrat attorney general to leave in exchange for no criminal charges, no one is confirming.

Democrats scrambled for a replacement, choosing Troy Jackson, a former state Senate president, over a slate of wannabes including a few failed gubernatorial sorrowfuls, among them, yes, Jackson.

The field didn't include the one and only Chellie Pingree, who took a pass on taking another stab at becoming her party's choice to try to dethrone Collins.

Collins went after Jackson for having children with his second cousin as well as, in the final days of the campaign, comparing the former logger to a cord of wood.

When the votes were counted, Jackson trounced the previously bulletproof Collins, beating her by some eight points.

Collins is crying herself to sleep as a top nominee for unluckiest Maine politician 2026, having lost the chance to go up against Platner, who was so damaged by the publicity over his history of misogyny he was considered to be beatable.

In the end she lost big-time - to a purely accidental candidate.

Pingree must be saying in her sleep "it cudda been me this time. Damn I should have run. Damn."

Maine's three top political losers 2026 - Platner, Pingree, Collins.

Platner and Collins are all done politically.

As for Chellie, she'll get her next chance at political revival in 2030 when the aging King would be up for reelection.

She'll be 75 by then, Angus, 86.

A third spoiler may be looking for Chellie - her daughter Hannah, just elected governor.

The young Pingree who by 2030 will have served a term as governor, may by then be itching to succeed Angus.

If the Pingree family is taking its own counsel, mama Pingree may decide to retire in four years after what will have been 22 years in political never-never-land rather than shoehorn her daughter out of the place she may never see - the U.S. Senate.

In the end, Chellie may finally lose her lifetime dream to her own daughter...