Gov. Janet Mills meets with Michelle and Tristan Littlefield, co-owners of Third Space Market in Gorham, on Wednesday, February 11, 2026. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)

SOUTH PORTLAND—Gov. Janet Mills said Friday that she would not have voted in favor of a joint resolution to stop arms sales to Israel that was heard in the U.S. Senate this week if it would have also blocked the sale of defensive weapons.

U.S. support for Israel is a hot topic among Democrats, who are concerned about the nation’s military actions in Gaza and the ongoing military campaign against Iran and Lebanon.

On Wednesday, 47 Senate Democrats voted to prevent the sale of $295 million worth of bulldozers to Israel, and 36 voted in support of blocking a $152 million sale of 1,000-pound bombs to the Israel Defense Forces.

“I didn’t get a chance to read that particular resolution,” Mills said at a campaign stop in South Portland Friday. “My understanding is, it might have been so broad as to not allow sale of weapons that support the Iron Dome, for instance. That would be an issue for me.”

Some Democrats, including her opponent in the June 9 Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, Graham Platner, have accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.

Mills made the comments Friday after announcing endorsements from the mayors of South Portland, Westbrook, Auburn and Waterville.

Mills also attacked President Donald Trump while campaigning in Greater Portland.

“The man is crazy, all right?” Mills said. “We have got to stand up to him and stop this craziness. It is getting worse by the day. And his mental status is worse by the day.”

Mills visited businesses in Cape Elizabeth, South Portland and Westbrook. She also held a health care roundtable at Southern Maine Community College before traveling to Portland for a press conference with Planned Parenthood Action Fund, which endorsed the governor earlier this week.

Each stop was designed to reinforce her central campaign message — that she has experience as an elected official and has delivered results for Maine people by expanding access to health care, protecting and expanding reproductive health care, and investing in education, including free community college.

This was the second time this week Mills has weighed in on U.S.-Israeli relations.

Questions about her views on U.S. support for Israel came up Tuesday at a town hall event organized by students at Bowdoin College.

Mills gave a nuanced answer when asked if she thinks Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

“As I said before, that Oct. 7 was a horrific event, and that the things that have happened in Gaza are also horrific and unnecessary and cruel,” Mills said. “I think bombing civilian facilities of any sort is a violation of international law, and that leaving children starving in the streets is inhumane and a violation of international law.

“I believe the Palestinian people and the Israeli people deserve a safe place to live in security without terrorist actions. I think that many people disagree with a lot of the things that [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu has done. I don’t blame the Israeli people for the things that he’s done. … I believe the Israeli state has a right to exist, and the Palestinian people have a right to exist as well,” she said.

Recent polling by Pew Research Center found that 80% of Democrats hold a very or somewhat unfavorable view of Israel, compared to only 41% of Republicans.

Wednesday’s votes on the resolutions, sponsored by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has endorsed Platner, was a historic show of opposition by Democrats to Israel.

Seven Democrats voted with Republicans against cutting the bulldozer funding, while 11 opposed stopping arms sales. Two of those Democrats, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, are supporting Mills.

Platner, meanwhile, has maintained that Israel is committing genocide, and has blamed Netanyahu for dragging the U.S. into a war with Iran.

“Unlike the governor, I believe that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza,” Platner said on social media, while sharing a clip of Mills’ answer at the Bowdoin town hall.