Maine Democrats are scrambling to find a new candidate to challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins, with a July 27 deadline looming to replace Graham Platner, who withdrew from the race last week amid an allegation of sexual assault, which he denies.
The party is reconstituting its candidate selection process from scratch, a task falling to 31-year-old Executive Director Devon Murphy-Anderson and a team of volunteers. The outcome of this race could be pivotal in determining control of the U.S. Senate.
"We've got two weeks... so our goal going into this was to make this as fair and transparent and inclusive a process as possible," Murphy-Anderson told ABC News. The party plans to hold a 601-person convention on July 25, composed of state party central committee members and delegates from Maine's 16 counties. Local party meetings will also precede the convention to allow for broader voter input.
Murphy-Anderson acknowledged the challenge of ensuring that voters who supported Platner feel represented. "The grassroots energy that we had up until this moment needs to find a home," she said, expressing confidence that this energy would be channeled effectively.
Platner, an oyster farmer and Marine veteran, ran an insurgent, progressive campaign that had previously weathered reports of sexually explicit messages and questions about a tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol. He initially resisted stepping aside after the sexual assault allegation, claiming he lacked time for a proper response before what he termed a "corporate media system and the political establishment" acted as judge and jury. He later cited "large forces" and threats to campaign funding as reasons for his withdrawal.
Murphy-Anderson pushed back against Platner's assertions that the party or "establishment" forces were attempting to control the process, stating that Platner's campaign had made "direct calls" with "very specific things that they were asking for," suggesting an attempt to influence the selection of his replacement.
As the party works to select a new nominee, at least seven individuals have emerged as potential candidates. These include former State Senate President Troy Jackson, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, Maine Beer Company founder Dan Kleban, and former state CDC director Dr. Nirav Shah. The field of hopefuls is pitching themselves as the best option to unseat Collins, who is the only Republican defending a Senate seat in a state that voted for President Biden in 2024.
Dr. Nirav Shah, launching his campaign, stated that while the individual at the forefront of the mission may change, the "desire, the enthusiasm, the zeal among Democrats to defeat Susan Collins has not changed at all." He expressed no concern that Platner's scandals have negatively impacted the party's chances or that valuable time has been lost.
Sen. Collins, who has won five previous Senate races, indicated that the change in her opponent does not alter her campaign strategy, stating, "I never take any race for granted."
Some former Platner supporters expressed disappointment but indicated a willingness to eventually rally behind the new nominee. Mark Read, a Democrat who backed Platner, said, "I think most of us were attracted to the politics that he spoke to." Sandra Smith Congdon, another Platner supporter, believes voters will ultimately support the chosen candidate to defeat Collins, recognizing that "ultimately that's what matters."