The Maine Democrats running to replace Graham Platner as their party’s nominee for Senate are seeking to turn the page from the former standard-bearer without abandoning his supporters.
At least seven Democrats are competing in what’s been a two-week campaign for the nomination to take on Republican Sen. Susan Collins, a longtime Democratic target in one of this fall’s most high-profile races. The process is poised to culminate with a party convention in Bangor on July 25, two days before state law requires the Maine Democratic Party to select a new nominee.
What’s essentially a snap primary developed last week after Platner ended his campaign after facing an allegation of sexual assault, which he denied. That left the state party with roughly two weeks to pick its new nominee. Several Democrats who sought other elected office this year have dusted off their campaigns and are pitching themselves as the party’s best option to right the ship in the Senate race.
“You poured your hearts, your time and your energy into building this movement, alongside another candidate in Maine, and I know that there’s real pain, anger and disappointment,” Troy Jackson, the former state Senate president who ran for governor this year, said Monday during a virtual town hall with the progressive group Our Revolution, which has endorsed him for Senate. “But look, this movement has always been bigger than one person.”
