Maine Democrats Scramble for New Senate Nominee as Platner Is Mum on Plans

Even as national Democratic leaders tell Graham Platner to give way for a successor to emerge from a field of Maine Democratic rejects, a handful of diehard fans are rooting for the U.S. Senate nominee — accused of rape by an ex-girlfriend — to stick it out and stay in the race. Mr. Platner is so far mum on his plans.From the start, the Senate race in Maine has been a messy one. Top Democratic contenders all launched campaigns for governor after Senator Chuck Schumer tried to keep the Senate primary field clear for Governor Janet Mills. Mr. Platner jumped into the race early on, sucking up attention and fundraising dollars, which gave him a massive lead over Ms. Mills once she belatedly launched her campaign. Now that Mr. Platner is facing an onslaught of calls for him to drop out, some of those ambitious Democrats who lost last month’s gubernatorial primary want to be their party’s standard-bearer in the Senate race to face off against Senator Susan Collins in November.A former state senate president, Troy Jackson, has already formed an exploratory committee to run for the Senate, according to Federal Election Commission records. “This is something I never considered, but if Graham’s stepping away, I am very, very interested, and think I’m the best person to replace him,” Mr. Jackson told the Bangor Daily News, the outlet that first reported the establishment of his exploratory committee. Mr. Jackson would be the closest ideologically to Mr. Platner if he were to be the new Senate nominee. The two campaigned across the state together as Mr. Jackson backed Mr. Platner’s Senate bid and Mr. Platner supported Mr. Jackson in the contested gubernatorial primary. Senator Bernie Sanders endorsed both men in their respective races. Some believed that the former state house speaker, Hannah Pingree, who is now the Democratic nominee for governor, could switch over to the Senate race and allow the state party to choose a new Senate nominee. She made clear on Monday that she had no interest in that proposition, but implied in her statement that a progressive of Mr. Platner’s vein should be chosen as the new Senate nominee. “Graham Platner tapped into something real — voters hungry for change showed up with real passion and energy. That energy doesn’t have to go away. It needs a new candidate to carry it forward,” Ms. Pingree said in a post on X Monday. A more middle-of-the-road candidate has also said he may want the Senate nomination if Mr. Platner drops out. The former Maine Center for Disease Control director, Nirav Shah, who finished in second place in the gubernatorial primary behind Ms. Pingress and ahead of Mr. Jackson, is calling on the state party to have a transparent process for choosing the Senate nominee. If Mr. Platner does drop out before Monday, leaders of the Maine Democratic Party will vote to pick a new nominee by July 27. “As the Maine Democratic Party determines the nominating process, one thing is clear: it should be transparent and open. Mainers should see and hear directly from the candidates vying to represent our state at the highest level,” Dr. Shah said in a statement Tuesday. He says that any person who seeks the Senate nomination should commit to participating in a televised debate as well as holding “multiple” town hall meetings “across every corner of the state.”“Defeating Collins means showing up everywhere and speaking with everyone,” he said. Despite the credible allegations of rape levied against Mr. Platner, some of his most outspoken reporters said they believe he should stay in the race. Novelist Stephen King, a Maine resident, said Monday that he hopes Mr. Platner does not drop out, though he walked back those comments on Tuesday, saying that if the rape accusation is true then Mr. Platner should bow out. Mr. Platner’s accuser, Jenny Racicot, said she has friends who believe her when she says she was raped, but will still support Mr. Platner regardless of her allegation. “I have friends who feel that way, and that’s been a hard pill to swallow,” she said in an interview with CNN on Monday.Mr. Platner’s chief strategist, Morris Katz, who was also a top advisor to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s 2025 campaign, has so far been mum on what he thinks his candidate should do. He refuted reporting from the New York Post that Mr. Platner would only drop out of the race if a similar progressive is chosen as the Democratic nominee, though the New York Times offered similar reporting on Monday. On the off-chance that Mr. Platner does choose to stay in the Senate race, Democrats will essentially write off Maine as a competitive state for November. Mr. Schumer and the head of Democrats’ campaign operation, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, said Monday that they will not spend one penny in the state if Mr. Platner chooses to remain in the race — a decision that would be a death blow to a Platner candidacy given how much money Republicans are going to spend for Ms. Collins. Republicans now seem so confident about her chances in November that they’ve started recirculating a meme of the longtime Maine senator — a portrait of her sitting on a throne of skulls. Some of Mr. Platner’s earliest and most ardent supporters are calling on him to go. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who backed Mr. Platner while Ms. Mills was still in the race, called on him to quit on Monday. Mr. Sanders echoed those comments on Tuesday, saying Mr. Platner should suspend his campaign.“I have spoken with Graham Platner about the best path forward for Maine. In light of these very serious allegations, I have recommended that he step aside,” Mr. Sanders said in a statement.

Maine Democrats Scramble for New Senate Nominee as Platner Is Mum on Plans

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