The power struggle between the Maine Democratic Party and former U.S. Senate nominee Graham Platner boiled over this week, with the oyster farmer’s team claiming the national party’s campaign arm is trying to hijack the process to replace him on the ballot.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee forcefully denied that it is trying to control the unprecedented process of replacing Platner, who suspended his bid Wednesday night after sexual misconduct allegations left his candidacy without political or financial support in a pivotal state for Democrats in November.
But DSCC staffers arrived in Portland starting Tuesday, and more from Washington could follow, according to two sources familiar with the inner workings of the state party and conversations among senior leaders and staff.
On Wednesday, a few hours before Maine Democratic leaders said they want to hold a 600-person nominating convention, Platner campaign manager Ben Chin alleged in an email to volunteers that the state party had brought in national Democrats to help plan the nominating process privately.
“This is false,” a DSCC spokesperson said. “The Maine Democratic Party has made it clear that they are working to put forth an open process to select a nominee.”
The DSCC noted Platner was credibly accused of rape and suggested before he suspended campaign operations that he was holding up the effort to field a new candidate. But concerns about the replacement process intensified this week among some party organizers and Platner backers, including some who no longer found him a viable candidate.
The bitter and unprecedented public battle over the process came as state and national Democratic support for Platner — including from independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders — dissolved somewhat after Politico’s report Monday alleging he raped a former girlfriend five years ago. But it could have a long tail 10 years after progressives, including many in Maine, were stung by the perceived undercutting of Sanders by national Democrats in the 2016 presidential election.
The drama played out as state party officials debate how to rapidly tap a new nominee. Initial plans include a nominating convention with 500 delegates elected by county committees and the 100-member Democratic State Committee, according to an account of a party meeting Wednesday shared with the Bangor Daily News.
The potential surge of out-of-state DSCC staff came as an organizing team of about 12 people, all of them working for Maine Democrats but coming from Platner’s team, were told to take a paid leave until Monday, according to one of the two sources familiar with the party’s recent activities. Monday is the deadline for Platner to file a notice of withdrawal with the state, and Maine Democrats have until July 27 to name a replacement.
Both sources said they were concerned about national Democrats playing an outsized role in selecting a new challenger to Collins, in a race already generating national scrutiny and hundreds of millions of dollars in ads with control of the Senate on the line. The state party said Tuesday night that Platner has tried repeatedly to put his thumb on the scale of the process, arguing he has “no role.”
The potential increased DSCC presence and the apparent boxing out of Platner-connected organizers were at odds with Maine Democrats’ assertion they were hammering out a replacement process in an open and transparent fashion, the sources said.
“To hear them say the Platner campaign is putting their thumb on their scale, but DSCC is working out of the office with them and seems to be definitely looking to play a heavy role and bring out more staff and send them around the state … that is surprising and unsettling,” said one of the sources, who were granted anonymity to speak candidly about the situation without authorization.
The other source said they were in the room when a dozen organizing staffers, who help with volunteers and events up and down the ballot and had been working on the Platner campaign, were told to go on paid leave until Monday. On Tuesday, senior party leadership shared that DSCC staff would come to Maine and potentially all 16 counties to “consult the party throughout the process,” they said.
“I was alarmed because we were being told this is going to be a process involving everyone and all voices,” the person said. “It’s quite the opposite. Some voices were told to go home and DSCC came in.”
Several potential candidates and their staffers — whether strong Platner allies like former state Senate President Troy Jackson or former public health chief Nirav Shah — have said in interviews that the Maine Democrats are working in good faith to establish a fair and open process to find a new Senate nominee.
David Farmer, a Democratic attorney, said state Committee Chair Charlie Dingman and executive director Devon Murphy-Anderson are “trying to run an open and inclusive process.”
Farmer added while he’s often critical of the national party apparatus, it’s reasonable for DSCC to provide legal or logistical support, especially with an unclear process and “a huge undertaking” likely underway over the next couple weeks.
“Platner just needs to shut up and get out of the way,” he said. “That’s the role he has.”
In a statement, Murphy-Anderson accused the Platner campaign of “distracting from the job of defeating Susan Collins … with false accusations against us.” She also described Platner’s supporters as a vital part of the party who “deserve to participate in an open process.”
Tom McLaughlin, a professor from Belfast who was a Platner supporter, said a widely shared email and survey critical of the Maine Democrats sent out by the Platner campaign Wednesday show Platner had an “outsized ego as to the power and ability to influence people.”
“The fired CEO doesn’t get to pick the next CEO,” he said.