AUGUSTA, Maine — Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner’s campaign escalated another fight with the state party on Wednesday, asking supporters to answer a 48-hour survey aimed at influencing the process of replacing him on the ballot.
The dueling moves mark an escalating fight over who controls the process to replace Platner on the ballot against U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, with a July 13 deadline approaching for him to withdraw and a July 27 deadline for Democrats to name a new nominee following a Monday article in Politico on a ex-girlfriend’s allegation that the candidate raped her in 2021.
State and national Democrats have disavowed Platner. Leaders of the Maine Democratic Party said Tuesday that Platner’s campaign would have “no role” in determining the next nominee. His campaign rejected that assertion, saying they were seeking more information on a process that has not been laid out by leaders as of yet.
Campaign manager Ben Chin alleged in an email to volunteers that the state party has involved national Democrats in sending staffers to help plan the nominating process privately. He said the campaign was launching its own outreach in response.
The survey asks supporters two questions: what message they have for the Maine Democratic Party, and what message they have for Platner. Chin said the campaign would collect responses for 48 hours, review them and share them with the party.
“If the Maine Democratic Party hopes to harness our movement, and avoid disillusioning the hundreds of thousands of supporters who came into the fray because of our movement’s policies, it must consult the feedback and proposals of the people who built and sustained this,” Chin wrote.
It was the firmest timeline that the Platner campaign has put in writing ahead of a potential exit. He must do so by Monday to allow his party to replace him. The candidate and strategists were orchestrating his exit from the race on Wednesday, according to CNN. A senior staffer told campaign officials that the candidate would speak later today, Axios reported.
A Platner spokesperson said he could not comment on the survey and its implications. The Maine Democratic Party responded in a statement promising an open nominating process that includes progressives who backed Platner.
“While the Platner campaign remains focused on distracting from the job of defeating Susan Collins in November with false accusations against us, the Maine Democratic Party remains hyper focused on developing a representative, transparent and inclusive process to select a new nominee when he chooses to withdraw from the race,” Devon Murphy-Anderson, the party’s executive director, said.
The campaign’s public push contrasts with a quieter effort already underway among some of Platner’s own allies. State Rep. Valli Geiger, D-Rockland, one of Platner’s most vocal legislative backers, said Wednesday she began working that morning to broker private talks between Platner and Democratic leaders he trusts, aimed at a transparent process that could pave the way for his exit.
“I am working behind the scenes to facilitate a conversation with Graham, people in the Democratic Party who he trusts, and for him to be able to express what he needs to be able to resign,” Geiger said.
Geiger, like Chin, criticized state party leadership for not sharing its selection process publicly, saying the secrecy is “absolutely unacceptable” and is feeding paranoia among voters.
The competing efforts come days after Politico reported that a Maine woman, Jenny Racicot, accused Platner of forcing her to have sex with him in 2021. Platner has denied the allegation. The state party, national Democrats and the party’s candidates for high office in Maine have since called on him to withdraw.