Former Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Nirav Shah officially launched his campaign for the U.S. Senate on Thursday, becoming the latest Democrat to vie for the seat after Graham Platner said on Wednesday that he plans to exit the race.

Shah, who recently lost the Democrat primary for governor, had already been positioning himself for a Senate run by calling for debates and an open nominating process before making his campaign official in a post on X.

In announcing his candidacy, Shah took aim at Washington and incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, writing, "Establishment politicians have failed us" and arguing that "to defeat Susan Collins, we need an outsider who is not afraid to take on the broken system she has spent decades upholding."

Shah became a familiar figure to Mainers while leading the state's response to the COVID-19 pandemic as director of the Maine CDC, a role that gave him broad statewide name recognition before entering politics.

After leaving public health, Shah ran for governor as a progressive Democrat but was defeated in the party's primary. During that campaign, Platner did not include Shah among his ranked-choice endorsements, leaving the two Democrats without a close political alliance.

In his campaign launch, Shah pointed to his government service, saying, "I'm proud to have dedicated my career to public service, and to have delivered for Mainers in our darkest times." He added that "in this unprecedented moment," he is "ready to unite our party and fight for you once again."

Shah's announcement comes less than a day after Platner withdrew from the race, triggering a scramble among Democrats to replace him as the party's nominee. The contest is expected to rank among the most closely watched Senate races of the 2026 election cycle.