Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner speaks during a primary election night watch party after winning the Democratic nomination, in Blue Hill, Maine, on June 9, 2026. Robert F. Bukaty/AP PhotoDemocratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner speaks during a primary election night watch party after winning the Democratic nomination, in Blue Hill, Maine, on June 9, 2026. Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo

Graham Platner’s anticipated exit from the Senate race in Maine has set off a scramble for an alternative.

On July 8, the same day that the progressive Democrat announced he was suspending campaign operations, the leaders of the Maine Democratic Party rolled out plans for a nominating convention at a date to be determined. They have until July 27 to pick his replacement.

Platner’s deadline to withdraw is July 13.

Jana Spaulding, Maine’s deputy secretary of state for communications, confirmed that her office has not yet received the required paperwork from Platner.

“A public declaration is not an official withdrawal, and a candidate must formally withdraw to the Elections office in writing, including signature,” Spaulding wrote in an email to The Epoch Times on the afternoon of July 9.

Some prospective candidates have already ruled themselves out. Other hopefuls are entering the fray against the backdrop of Platner’s departure, which came after renewed attention to sexual assault allegations against the Democratic primary winner.

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The top prospects in a crowded field include former Maine state Sen. Troy Jackson, COVID-19-era Maine health official Dr. Nirav Shah, and Maine’s secretary of state, Shenna Bellows.

Although many Democrats voiced doubt about earlier claims from Platner’s ex-girlfriend Lyndsey Fifield, a newly publicized rape accusation from another Platner ex-girlfriend, Jenny Racicot, sparked widespread calls from Democrats for the candidate to leave the race.

Racicot told CNN’s Jake Tapper that she supported his politics, saying, “If he wasn’t who he was, I’d be voting for him as well.”

In a video announcing his decision to suspend his campaign, Platner said his choice “most certainly is not” an admission that the accusations are true, saying, “This is all false.”

Platner decisively defeated Maine Gov. Janet Mills in the state’s Democratic Senate primary in June.

Although the Platner saga has cast a pall on the race, his departure could help Democrats wrench the seat from longtime incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a centrist who chairs the Senate’s powerful Committee on Appropriations.

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows in her office in Augusta on Jan. 9, 2024. David Sharp/AP Photo

“The stakes are huge because the Democrats are counting on defeating Susan Collins in order to be able to take back the Senate,” David Schultz, a political scientist at Hamline University, told The Epoch Times.

Platner consistently, although narrowly, led Collins in almost all June polling on the race.

Schultz said there could be “some tradeoffs” involving pro-Platner voters who might be demoralized by his exit.

“The Democrats are hoping that the cost-benefit works to their advantage,” he said.

Top Hopefuls

James Melcher, a political scientist at the University of Maine at Farmington, told The Epoch Times via email that Jackson is likely the top hopeful.

He said that both Platner and Jackson “have a working-class style and are strong labor backers.”

Jackson, who was president of Maine’s state senate between 2018 and 2024, formally announced his bid to replace Platner after filing paperwork for the contest.

Maine candidate for governor Troy Jackson speaks during a May Day rally organized by local unions, outside City Hall in Portland, Maine, on May 1, 2026. Graeme Sloan/Getty Images

The logger lost his campaign for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in June, finishing in third place behind Shah and ahead of Bellows in the state’s ranked-choice voting system.

In the run-up to that primary, Jackson campaigned with Platner and other progressive Democrats, including Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.).

Jackson and Khanna were among the Platner allies who asked him to step aside before he dropped out of the general election.

Progressive Victory, a left-wing political action committee, deleted a post accusing Jackson of flinging a water bottle at a woman.

In a subsequent post on X, the organization apologized for having “spread unverified allegations,” writing, “Our fear was that the left was about to accidently [sic] rally behind another potential monster.”

Shah announced his candidacy on July 9.

Before his unsuccessful 2026 gubernatorial candidacy, the epidemiologist led the COVID-19 response effort in Maine as the director of the state’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention. He went on to serve in the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under President Joe Biden.

Bruce Poliquin, a former Republican congressman from Maine, told The Epoch Times he thinks Shah could be the pick, saying the physician “appears moderate” but is not.

Rep. Bruce Poliquin (R-Maine) speaks in Washington on Sept. 12, 2017. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Make Room USA

Melcher said that Shah’s relative lack of ties to Maine—he was born outside the state and came to it just a few years ago—could hurt him.

“Platner backers might not want him,” he said.

Bellows, who announced her candidacy on July 9, has challenged Collins before.

The Republican defeated her in 2014 by a wide margin, 67 percent to 30.8 percent.

“Do not let her landslide loss to Collins in 2014 fool you. Collins is less popular now than then, and Bellows is much better known now than in 2014,” Melcher said.

Bellows led Maine’s American Civil Liberties Union chapter and later served as a state senator.

In late 2023, she sought to bar President Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 presidential primary ballot, claiming that his alleged role in the events of Jan. 6, 2021, meant his candidacy ran afoul of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which disqualifies participants in an “insurrection or rebellion” from holding office.

In March, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against a similar effort to kick Trump off the Colorado primary ballot based on allegations that he incited an insurrection. Maine deferred to the court.

Other Contenders

Jackson, Shah, and Bellows are not the only names in the mix.

Dan Kleban, founder of the Maine Beer Co., who dropped out of the primary to endorse Mills, dived back into the race on July 8.

“Mainers deserve a senator who will fight for them against the DC establishment while also doing what’s right. I plan to be that senator,” he wrote on X.

Jordan Wood, who served as chief of staff for former Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), announced his bid for the nomination on July 9.

“I have been told that I am too progressive, that I am too young, that a gay man can’t win. ... These cynics are wrong,” Wood wrote in a statement on X.

The skyline of downtown Bangor, Maine, on June 6, 2026. Nathan Worcester/The Epoch Times

Social worker Paige Loud, who lost the Democratic primary for Maine’s Second Congressional District, filed her statement of candidacy in the Senate race on July 7.

Andrea LaFlamme, a write-in candidate in the Senate race, wrote on social media on July 9 that she was reviving her campaign.

David Costello, who ran in the June Senate primary, said on July 7 that he plans to reenter the race “if Graham Platner withdraws.”

Valli Geiger, a Maine state lawmaker, told local media in Maine that Platner has urged her to run.

Mills, Platner’s opponent in the primary, could also be in the conversation, although she is not in contention in betting markets.

Actor Patrick Dempsey, who played Dr. Derek Shepherd on the television show “Grey’s Anatomy,” has also been floated as a prospect.

He announced on July 8 that he would not run for that office.

Melcher predicted that Platner supporters “will be quick to speak out” if they believe the convention expected to choose his successor is marred by unfairness.

Schultz said he thinks the environment remains favorable to Collins.

“The Democrats almost have the same problem now in that race that the Democrats had two years ago,” he said, referring to the presidential race, in which Biden was replaced on the ballot by Vice President Kamala Harris. “The replacement’s not going to have very much time.”

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