Democratic hopefuls in Maine are in a frantic race against the clock to win over the progressive supporters of former Senate nominee Graham Platner, all while trying to shift attention toward the November battle against Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
It’s a difficult balancing act for the candidates, who are competing to face Collins in a contest that could determine which party controls the Senate — all while Platner’s scandal continues to cast a shadow over the race. During their first debate Thursday evening, one of the opening questions put to the candidates was: What was Graham Platner’s best idea?
Moving beyond Platner is just one hurdle Democrats face. The process being used to select a new nominee has never been used before, leaving candidates with fewer than three weeks to accomplish what campaigns normally spend months or even years doing — recruiting volunteers, raising funds, and preparing for debates.
The rapid pace of events was evident Thursday night on the debate stage.
When debate moderators asked about President Donald Trump’s decision to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife earlier this year, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows provided incorrect information about Collins’s response to Trump. When a moderator corrected her, Bellows explained she had been on vacation along the Kennebec River the previous week following her unsuccessful run for governor and hadn’t anticipated entering the Senate race.
“When I need to know the facts, I will. I’ll do my homework,” said Bellows, who was defeated by Collins in 2014.
The field of 12 candidates includes former public health leader Nirav Shah and union-backed logger Troy Jackson, who had campaigned alongside Platner in an unsuccessful bid for governor.
Platner stepped away from the Senate race last week following rape accusations, which he denies. His campaign rapidly fell apart as endorsers withdrew their support and resources dried up.
Under state law, Democrats have until July 27 to name a new nominee. The Maine Democratic Party’s succession plan calls for a state party convention on July 25, where 601 delegates will cast votes to determine Platner’s replacement. The majority of those delegates will be chosen this weekend from across the state’s 16 counties.
Candidates have been actively recruiting delegates who will vote on their behalf at the convention. They must also gather 500 voter signatures to qualify for the convention ballot.
“I don’t think anyone’s happy that we’re in this situation,” said Dan Jenkins, a Maine Democrat who has applied to serve as a delegate. “We would have preferred that this had broken many, many months ago and then Graham had exited the race when there was a time for a democratic process. But it’s where we are.”
Jackson is among a small group of candidates who are pivoting to the Senate race after already running for other offices, likely giving them an advantage since they don’t have to build a campaign from the ground up.
Our Revolution, a progressive organization founded by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont that had originally supported Platner, has now thrown its backing behind Jackson, the former Maine Senate president. Sanders, an independent who aligns with Democrats, has not made an endorsement in the race.
Shah, the former director of Maine’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, also ran unsuccessfully in this year’s Maine Democratic governor’s primary. He has been making the case to Platner’s supporters that he, too, is an outsider capable of bringing together a divided Democratic Party.
“You have an important place in this campaign, and we welcome your voices,” Shah said earlier this month while speaking to Platner’s base of supporters.
Bellows also ran for governor and is counting on her previous clashes with Trump to strengthen her argument that she will fight for working-class Mainers.
Bellows previously ran against Collins in the 2014 Senate race and suffered a lopsided defeat. She later won a state senate seat before becoming Maine’s secretary of state. She has since minimized her earlier loss to Collins, pointing to what she describes as the Democratic establishment’s reluctance to seriously challenge the Republican that year.
Another candidate, Jordan Wood, had initially announced plans to run in the Maine Democratic Senate primary before withdrawing last fall to pursue a race in the state’s 2nd Congressional District — a race he also lost.
A fatal shooting involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Maine this week has become a major talking point among the candidates seeking the nomination.
Colombia’s embassy has identified the man killed Monday in Biddeford — approximately 15 miles southwest of Portland — as Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 26-year-old Colombian national. The Department of Homeland Security has stated that an ICE officer discharged his weapon after the individual being pursued attempted to flee, posing what officials described as a threat to “public safety.”
Many of the candidates have been quick to tie Collins to the controversy surrounding the federal agency.
All candidates who participated in Thursday’s debate said they supported calls to “abolish ICE,” though Wood stopped short of saying the agency should be completely eliminated.
“I believe that when I say we have to abolish it, what I mean is that we need a new law enforcement agency that has the trust of the people,” Wood said.
Jackson took a stronger stance, describing ICE as a “rogue agency that goes around doing things that they’re being told to on high.”
Platner drew more than 150,000 votes in the June 9 primary — a striking total that demonstrated the strength of a progressive base hungry for a candidate who championed the working class and could energize large crowds.
With the state convention now just over a week away, it remains to be seen which candidate can tap into that same energy and enthusiasm that Platner generated among his supporters.
When Thursday’s debate moderators pressed candidates on Platner’s best campaign idea, Jackson pointed to his support for “Medicare for All.” As a gubernatorial candidate, Jackson had also advocated for replacing employer-based and private individual health insurance with a government-run program guaranteeing coverage for all Americans, with no premiums, no deductibles, and only minimal copays for select services.
Bellows said she agreed with Platner’s view that democracy in the United States has been corrupted by those who hold power.
Shah said he would carry forward Platner’s pledge to “abolish ICE,” while Wood said he most admired Platner’s willingness to state that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza — a claim Israel denies.
“Graham got into this race saying, ‘this is genocide.’ And I learned that it is so important in these moments to draw those moral lines,” Wood said.
