The Maine Democratic Party has launched an expedited nomination process to select a new candidate for the U.S. Senate, giving party members less than three weeks to choose a nominee who will face Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November.
The unusual process must be completed by 5 p.m. on July 27, according to information released by the party.
Under the plan, prospective candidates must formally declare their intention to run and collect the required signatures to qualify for consideration.
The process will then move to a series of county nominating meetings scheduled for July 18 and 19. Democratic Party members in each of Maine’s 16 counties will gather to elect delegates to the statewide nominating convention.
Registered Maine Democrats will be permitted to apply to serve as delegates and participate in their respective county meetings.
Those meetings will determine the composition of the 601-member delegation that will ultimately choose the party’s replacement nominee.
The statewide nominating convention is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Saturday, July 25, at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
At the convention, the 601 delegates will vote to select the Democratic candidate who will appear on the November ballot against Collins.
Party officials described the process as an effort to accommodate different viewpoints and backgrounds within the Maine Democratic Party while operating under an unusually compressed timeline.
“We have worked hard to create a fair process that is inclusive of varying viewpoints and diverse backgrounds of Democrats across the state of Maine, as we all come together in service of our ultimate goal: defeat Susan Collins and win this Senate seat,” the party said.
The party acknowledged that the circumstances surrounding the special nomination process are unprecedented but maintained that its organization is prepared to complete the process before the July 27 deadline.
“These circumstances are unprecedented, but our state party is ready and capable of rising to this challenge,” party officials said.
As of Sunday, July 12, at least eight Democrats have publicly entered the race to replace Graham Platner as the party’s U.S. Senate nominee:
- Nirav Shah — Former director of the Maine CDC and former deputy director of the federal CDC. Shah recently competed for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.
- Troy Jackson — Former Maine Senate president and longtime Aroostook County legislator. Jackson has positioned himself as the populist successor to Platner and has received support from Our Revolution, the group founded by allies of Sen. Bernie Sanders.
- Shenna Bellows — Maine secretary of state and the Democratic nominee who challenged Susan Collins in 2014. Bellows also recently ran for governor.
- Dan Kleban — Co-founder of Maine Beer Company. Kleban briefly sought the Democratic Senate nomination earlier in the election cycle before endorsing Gov. Janet Mills.
- Jordan Wood — Former congressional staffer who recently competed in the Democratic primary for Maine’s Second Congressional District.
- Paige Loud — Social worker, former Platner campaign worker and recent candidate in the Second Congressional District Democratic primary.
- David Costello — Former State Department official who finished third in the June 9 Democratic Senate primary. Costello was also the Democratic nominee against independent Sen. Angus King in 2024.
- Andrea LaFlamme — A former legislative candidate who has also entered the expedited nomination contest.
The Associated Press reported that state Rep. Valli Geiger of Rockland has expressed interest but had not formally entered the race as of its latest update. Platner reportedly encouraged Geiger and several others to consider running.
Graham Platner is a PUSSY. He should have hung in there. HE SAID IT WASN’T TRUE, SO WHY DID THE BERNIE BRO QUIT???
Note to self: Avoid Bangor next weekend.
There is no way — no way the Democrats are going to come out of this without a riot.
Special scam.
“We have worked hard”. Maybe getting their buddies elected however, none of them seem to be doing the day job that we, the taxpayers, are paying them to do. What a cabal of parasites.
This twit blond thing is the SPOKESPERSON for the Maine Democrat party ? ??
Dear God save us if these idiots pull this off .
Why don’t they just go with runnerup in the primary? J Mills said she wanted the job.
What a dumpster fire this group is😜😜
So like Bidens replacement the voters choice mean nothing. . . same as RCV??
Once again, the jackass party displays their hypocrisy to the entire world as they prepare to kamala their voters one more time.
A Most Sinful Man
“Lindsey Olin Graham is dead.
He served the State of South Carolina in one form or another for 36 years, the last 23 of which were as a United States Senator.
Lindsey Graham postured himself as a man of integrity and honor, a patriot’s patriot, who put service to country above all else.
A Christian.
But the reality is he was anything but.
Lindsey Graham was a servant of sin, and his life embodied at its core at least five of the cardinal sins of mankind: pride, greed, wrath, envy, and lust.
Lindsey Graham had an excessive belief in his abilities, and that of the causes he purported to support. Pride is considered the original and most serious sin, leading to a sense of superiority over all others.
Lindsey Graham was a proud man, in the most negative and damnable sense of the word.
Lindsey Graham was a greedy man, in so far as he possessed an insatiable desire for wealth or possessions, often at the expense of others. This was true when it came to the wealth and resources of other nations, which Graham sought to acquire through coercion and violence. Greed leads to unethical behavior and exploitation, concepts which literally defined the causes Graham espoused.
Lindsey Graham was a very greedy man.
Lindsey Graham’s life was defined by a constant, intense anger and hatred towards others, which led to him openly advocating for violence and revenge against anyone who did not embrace his world vision.
Lindsey Graham was a wrathful man, and as such was unable to control his emotions. He helped lead his nation to war on numerous occasions, and is personally responsible for the deaths of millions of people worldwide, including thousands of his fellow Americans.
Lindsey Graham was an envious man, whose jealousy originated from the happiness of others, something his simply could not tolerate. He resented the success of those he could not control, and coveted their possessions. He resented everyone and everything that dared prosper outside of his sphere of control, and this resentment fueled his passion for violence.
Lindsey Graham possessed an excessive desire for power and money. which led to him committing and condoning immoral actions—the theft of property that did not belong to him or the United States, and the murder of millions who dared seek to live their lives free of the hegemonic control and domination of Lindsey Graham’s America.
Lindsey Graham was a lustful man.
Lindsey Graham was a sinner, through and through.
His life’s essence represented the very manifestation of sin.
Lindsey Graham came to embody the essence of the nation he purported to serve, and this was not a good thing.
He worshipped at the alter of war.
He served the state of Israel at the expense of his own nation.
Lindsey Graham was at the helm of the American ship at a time when it drifted badly off course, away from the ideals and values espoused by the nation’s founding fathers.
Lindsey Graham played a major role in the moral and fiscal decline of America.
Lindsey Graham was the most un-American American imaginable.
When the history of the United States is written, and scholars have had a chance to review in detail the life’s work of this most despicable man, Lindsey Graham will come to epitomize the devolution of the American ideal, and be seen as the symbol of all that was evil about America and its behaviors as a member of the international community.
The civilized world has rightfully come to revile this man.
America will have restored, in part, its national character when the American people embrace a similar conclusion.
Linsey Graham is dead at the age of 71.
He was a most sinful man.
May God have mercy on his soul.
Because mortal man will not”
Substack
Scott Ritter
Is that woman as stupid as she looks?
Pwatner quit because all money was gone and no more was coming. Pwatner was an outsider. All those Dems that have haunted Augusta all their “adult” lives, don’t another outsider lapping up their gravy!
156,000 voters replaced by a Politburo. The blond commissar is trying to make it seem legit.
It’s a fake convention to jam down, cram down some pre-selected rigged candidate.
They’re “saving democracy”.
the party that accuses Republicans as a danger to democracy is going to intentionally disenfranchise 150,000 voters.
The candidate was picked months ago.
It has been nothing but a democrat/communist scam all along.
So the party of rank choice voting now isn’t plus they alienated the thousands of independents who voted for Graham Cracked…………….hypocrites yet again
These people are the reason we are in such bad shape as a state. Why do the Dems of Maine want to continue the race to the bottom? Try discernment before you vote.
Since Portland will have by a huge margin the most delegates/votes, my guess is the guy with the woody will get in as he falls into special interest and will bring in huge donations due to his choices. .