{"id":930,"date":"2026-07-07T21:39:47","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T21:39:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=930"},"modified":"2026-07-07T21:39:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T21:39:47","slug":"democrats-battle-the-clock-and-each-other-to-replace-platner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=930","title":{"rendered":"Democrats Battle the Clock \u2014 And Each Other \u2014 To Replace Platner"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Democrats are feuding over potential replacements for Graham Platner, their embattled nominee in Maine\u2019s critical Senate race, who lost nearly all of his political support this week after a woman accused him of sexual assault.<\/p>\n

Read more Sen. Bernie Sanders Calls for Graham Platner to Drop Out<\/a><\/p>\n

The oyster farmer denied the allegation Monday but said he is \u201ctaking the time to reflect\u201d on his next steps ahead of a key deadline for being removed from the general election ballot next week. If he does withdraw from the race, Maine Democrats would then have until July 27 to find a replacement.<\/p>\n

The Democratic nominee will face Republican Sen. Susan Collins in one of the nation\u2019s most hotly contested races, which will help decide the balance of power in the Senate.<\/p>\n

Potential candidates include Democrats who unsuccessfully ran for governor in last month\u2019s primary: former state Senate President Troy Jackson, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and Nirav Shah, former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Others include former Senate candidates Dan Kleban and Jordan Wood, who dropped out early in the race.<\/p>\n

Maine Gov. Janet Mills, who suspended her Senate campaign in April, is viewed as an unlikely candidate given the margin of her primary loss to Platner \u2014 she won less than 20% of the vote \u2014 and fears that she wouldn\u2019t excite the base in a general election. Outgoing Maine Democratic Rep. Jared Golden also is not expected to enter the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cGraham Platner tapped into something real \u2014 voters hungry for change showed up with real passion and energy,\u201d Hannah Pingree, the Democratic nominee for governor, said in a statement Monday. \u201cThat energy doesn\u2019t have to go away. It needs a new candidate to carry it forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Progressives favor Jackson, a fifth-generation logger from a rural area of Maine who could appeal to independent and Republican voters. He\u2019s ideologically aligned with Platner, regularly appearing with him on the campaign trail. And he, too, was endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), who on Tuesday recommended to Platner that he step aside.<\/p>\n

But Jackson\u2019s association with Platner could carry risks. Republicans will undoubtedly seek to exploit connections to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Democratic nominee, if there is a new one, has to be someone who is independent minded from Platner, otherwise they will be viewed by voters as a protege,\u201d Maine State Sen. Joe Baldacci, who ran for Congress this year, said on X. \u201cAny connections to Platner will doom that person\u2019s campaign from the very beginning.<\/p>\n

That could create an opening for other candidates with fewer ties to Platner.<\/p>\n

Kleban, who launched a bid last year to try to unseat Collins, is fielding calls from supporters encouraging him to consider replacing Platner on the ticket, a person familiar with the conversations told NOTUS.<\/p>\n

After the news about the sexual assault allegations against Platner, Kleban posted on X: \u201cFor the sake of our state, he needs to step aside immediately. Mainers deserve a Senator who will fight for them against the DC establishment while also doing what\u2019s right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kleban is close with Pingree, serving as her finance co-chair during the gubernatorial primary.<\/p>\n

Shah, who has also received calls from supporters urging him to enter the race, said Tuesday on X that \u201canyone running for this nomination should agree to at least one televised debate and hold multiple town halls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Republican Leaders Say They\u2019ve Spoken With Hospitalized McConnell<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not clear exactly how Democrats would select a replacement for Platner. One option is a state convention, with delegates picking the new nominee. The Maine Democratic Party did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a process for selecting a new nominee becomes necessary, it will be open, transparent, and inclusive,\u201d the party said in a statement Monday. \u201cThe sooner this process can begin, the more time we will have to administer an intentional and inclusive process for Mainers and Democrats.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam Green, cofounder of the Progressive Campaign Change Committee, warned in a statement that \u201ca small caucus of party insiders cannot be trusted to nominate the shake-up-the-system outsider this moment calls for.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best way to expedite a smooth transition and ensure a win in November is for the Maine Democratic Party to promise Democratic voters who voted for bold change that their mandate will be honored. Not allow crusty insiders like Chuck Schumer an establishment do-over,\u201d Green added.<\/p>\n

Schumer, who originally backed Mills in the race, has called on Platner to \u201cimmediately\u201d withdraw and \u201callow Maine Democrats the opportunity to choose a new candidate who can defeat Susan Collins.\u201d He followed up with a threat, making clear the party \u201cwill not invest in the Maine Senate race if Platner remains on the ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no indication yet of Platner\u2019s plans. His campaign did not respond to a request for comment. One Platner aide told The New York Times on Monday that if he were to step aside, \u201cit would only be with a guarantee of being replaced by a candidate who he believes is true to the values and vision and policy agenda of the campaign that Maine voted for.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Democrats in and out of Maine didn\u2019t take kindly to the suggestion that Platner might have a hand in picking his successor.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter you have put the Democratic Party in shambles and undermined all Democratic candidates running for office in Maine then you should have no say in who will be your successor,\u201d Baldacci wrote in a social media post.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have a strong preference but the fact that Platner thinks he can handpick his replacement is absurd,\u201d added Adam Jentleson, founder of the D.C. think tank The Searchlight Institute, in another post. \u201cDems should not be bullied by Platner and the folks around him, who knew he was credibly accused of rape but lied to us and tried to suppress it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearly every Senate Democrat who endorsed Platner withdrew their support of his campaign Monday as the party dissolved in a series of recriminations over his candidacy.<\/p>\n

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania), a vocal critic of Platner even before the latest allegations, called on Sanders to apologize for elevating Platner. Sanders also supported Fetterman during his 2018 campaign for Pennsylvania lieutenant governor and backed his 2022 campaign for the U.S. Senate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would really call Bernie Sanders to apologize for pushing this kind of predator more than anyone he helped him elect, and now apologize to the victims,\u201d Fetterman said in an interview on Fox News. \u201cI don\u2019t know why you want to keep pushing these kinds of people. Maybe he should consider sit a few out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Trump\u2019s Biggest Roadblock to Selling Jets to Turkey May Be Republican Lawmakers<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Splits are emerging over who could replace him in the high-profile Maine Senate race if he drops out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campaigns"],"yoast_head":"\nDemocrats Battle the Clock \u2014 And Each Other \u2014 To Replace Platner - Modern Home Journals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=930\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Democrats Battle the Clock \u2014 And Each Other \u2014 To Replace Platner - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Splits are emerging over who could replace him in the high-profile Maine Senate race if he drops out.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=930\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-07T21:39:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=930#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=930\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"Democrats Battle the Clock \u2014 And Each Other \u2014 To Replace Platner\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-07T21:39:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=930\"},\"wordCount\":1142,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=930#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/f4482cf536b0c3db6a1a3a8c86996b08-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Campaigns\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=930#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=930\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=930\",\"name\":\"Democrats Battle the Clock \u2014 And Each Other \u2014 To Replace Platner - 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