Eight Democrats are vying to replace former Senate nominee Graham Platner after he withdrew from the race last week following a string of scandals involving rape allegations, a Nazi tattoo, and controversial online posts that plagued his campaign. They will gather to debate on Thursday evening.
Wednesday was the deadline to file with the Maine Democratic Party. Delegates will choose the party’s replacement nominee from the field of eight at a July 25 convention, with the winner advancing to challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins. The candidates are scheduled to take the debate stage on Thursday night.
Maine state Sen. Troy Jackson was the first Democrat to jump into the race. A former Republican and fifth-generation logger, Jackson became active in politics while advocating for American loggers competing with lower-paid Canadians. He has since embraced economically leftist policies, including support for organized labor, and has been endorsed by far-left Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Jackson came in third place for Maine’s gubernatorial race behind Nirav Shah who also tossed his hat into the Senatorial race. Jackson asked News Center Maine, Thursday’s debate host, to allow every candidate to participate in the debate who has filed their candidacy.
Former CDC Deputy Director Nirav Shah says Platner supporters ‘have a home’ in his campaign. Shah practiced as an attorney for six years before going back to school to the University of Chicago to get his doctorate in medicine. He served as Illinois’s Director of Public Health and even served as the Deputy Director of the CDC. Shah left the CDC in 2025 where he serves as a visiting professor at Colby College, a position he held while running his gubernatorial campaign. Shah says he’s running on the grassroots movement he created during his last race. He says his goal is simple, “We must defeat Susan Collins.” Collins, although a Republican, is arguably the most progressive Republican in the Senate. Collins supports abortion rights, opposed the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and voted against the 2017 partial appeal of the Affordable Care Act. Shah attacks her platform for voting to support an additional $70 billion to fund the Department of Homeland Security and ICE.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows will be making her second attempt to unseat Collins after losing to the Republican incumbent in 2014. Collins beat Bellows, taking about two thirds of the vote, in 2014. Bellows claims she’ll have better results this go around because she “learned how to bring people together, how to assemble a professional campaign, and really learned a lot about the stakes” through running for Governor. Bellows, who currently serves as Maine’s Secretary of State, took fourth place in the gubernatorial campaign falling behind Shah and Jackson.
Former Rep. Katie Porter’s chief of staff Jordan Wood was in a Senate campaign last year. Wood ultimately pivoted his campaign to a spot in the House after Democratic Representative Jared Golden announced he wouldn’t be running for re-election. Wood is a former congressional chief of state for Katie Porter who was known for harsh interactions with her staff and reporters. Wood’s campaign website attributes his campaign mission to “fighting back” against Trump after he was “barricaded at the Capitol on January 6th.”
David Costello is making another run for the Democratic Senate nomination after receiving about 8% of the vote in the primary. Governor Janet Mills and Platner split the other 92%. A longtime public servant, Costello has held positions in city, state, and federal government and has also worked as a climate activist.
Businessman Dan Kleban dropped out of the Senatorial race before the primary, endorsed Mills over Plattner. Kleban told NBC, “ICE needs to be ‘dismantled’ after a shooting occurred on Tuesday. Kleban is a businessman who founded Maine Beer Company. He says, “I’ve spent years talking to Mainers over a beer in our taproom and throughout the community. We’re all sick and tired of a system that’s been rigged by corporate interests.”
Former state Rep. Elizabeth Dickerson, a teacher, says she wants to make “compassion our guiding principle.” Her campaign has focused on opposing war with Iran, addressing climate change, and resisting Trump’s agenda.
Paige Loud, 29, is the youngest hopeful candidate. “A lot of young people and students are disconnected from politics,” she said. “ I remind students that I think our voices need to be in those big rooms where decisions are being made.” Loud is currently a social worker. She spent the last eight years in school starting at Tulsa Community College in Maine before obtaining both her bachelor’s and master’s degree in social work from the University of Maine. Loud says if she wins she will serve but ultimately leave the senate to become a hospice social worker.
Thursday’s debate will begin at 7 pm ET and last 90 minutes, wrapping up half an hour before President Donald Trump is scheduled to address the nation.
.png)
.png)
