Democrats are back to square one in one of the country’s most important Senate races. Embattled Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner is suspending his campaign amid sexual assault allegations.
Platner announced his exit from the race Wednesday, while still denying allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman he was dating five years ago.
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“This is incredibly difficult because I know that some will think it’s an admission of guilt and it most certainly is not,” Platner said in a video posted to social media. “We’re not doing it because of the allegations, we’re doing it because of structures that are being taken away from us by those in power.”
In the emotional 11-minute video, Platner said pressure from Democrats across the country left him with no path forward. He accused the “political establishment” of forcing him from the race and said party leaders in Washington should not decide who replaces him.
“And I’m not asking for — how this process is gonna work, I’m not trying to dictate to anyone who it should be or how we get there, but I will say this: it needs to be open, transparent, and democratic,” Platner said. “It needs be reflecting the will and the values of the people that built this movement, the people showed up on June 9th. People in D.C. need to stay in D.C. Decisions should not be made by people in places of political power.”
Maine is one of Democrats’ best opportunities to flip a Republican Senate seat, making the search for a new nominee especially urgent as they try to unseat longtime Sen. Susan Collins.
Platner has not yet filed the paperwork to formally withdraw, but he has until Monday at 5 p.m. to do so. Democrats would then have until July 27 to choose a replacement.
Who will run instead?
Several names have been floated to replace Platner as the nominee, but so far only former State Senate President Troy Jackson has filed the paperwork to enter the race.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows called for Platner to step down earlier this week and on Tuesday said she would “seriously consider entering this race” if Platner dropped out.
Nirav Shah, a former director of Maine’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, state Rep. Valli Geiger and state House Speaker Ryan Fecteau have also signaled they might be interested in running for the seat.
Dan Kleban, founder of the Maine Beer Company, announced plans to relaunch his campaign on Wednesday. Kleban briefly ran against Platner for the Senate seat last year before dropping out and endorsing Gov. Janet Mills in the race.
Kleban has cast himself as an apt replacement for Platner, indicating that he has similar values.
“I share Graham Platner’s view that the system is rigged against working people,” he said in a post on X. “Mainers are rightfully pissed off and we’re overdue in fixing it. We can start by defeating Susan Collins in November, which is what I plan to do.”
Actor and Maine native Patrick Dempsey, known for his role as neurosurgeon Derek Shepherd on “Grey’s Anatomy,” has said he will not be joining the Senate race after his name was floated as a potential replacement for Platner.
“I kept coming back to one question: Do I truly want to serve in Congress? After a lot of thought, I realized the answer is no,” Dempsey wrote in an op-ed for the Portland Press Herald. “Not because public service isn’t honorable — it absolutely is. But because I believe I can contribute more effectively through the life I’ve already built.”
The local Democratic party is also planning to hold a nominating convention later this month, where 600 delegates will pick the nominee, according to Politico. Most of those delegates will be selected by county branches of the party, but the process for selecting delegates is not yet clear.
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