U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth is calling on Maine Democrats to reject Nirav Shah as he seeks to replace Graham Platner in the state’s closely watched U.S. Senate race.
The Illinois Democrat said early Friday morning that “Maine deserves better” than Shah, calling him out for his handling of a deadly Legionnaires’ disease outbreak when he served as that state’s top public health official.
“Too many of our heroes lost their lives under Nirav Shah’s watch as Illinois Public Health Director. I called for his resignation then, and I strongly oppose his run for Senate now,” Duckworth said in a post on the social media site formerly known as Twitter.
In a Friday statement, Shah said he has “deep respect” for Duckworth and “the sacrifices she has made for our country,” an allusion to her military service.
He noted that the Biden administration reviewed his service as a public health official in Illinois and Maine and hired him to tackle public health issues at the national level.
“Mainers made up their own minds and that’s why they gave me more first-choice votes than any other candidate in the gubernatorial primary,” Shah said, noting he took questions from voters about the Legionnaires’ outbreak on the campaign trail.
“The people of Maine know who I am because they stood with me through the worst public health crisis in a century and watched me tell them the truth every day, even when the news was hard to deliver. The people of Maine saw with their own eyes who I am during the pandemic, when I stood at that podium every day and told them the truth, even when it was hard,” he said, calling on Democrats to stop attacking each other and instead focus on U.S. Sen. Susan Collins.
“I won’t take that bait, and I don’t believe Mainers will either.”
Duckworth never responded to a request for comment from the Bangor Daily News in May 2023 when Shah’s name was circulated as a potential replacement for outgoing U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky. At the time, Shah served as the agency’s second in command.
In January 2023, Collins warmly greeted his appointment to the federal public health agency, saying that “Maine is grateful for his service, and I wish him all the best on his new leadership role at the U.S. CDC.”
Shah, who has medical and law degrees from the University of Chicago, came to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention after four years of running the Illinois Department of Public Health. Earlier in his career, he worked for the Cambodian Ministry of Health, doing work that included managing disease outbreaks.
He left the Illinois job amid controversy about his handling of a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak — a bacterial infection that causes pneumonia — that sickened 74 people and killed a dozen at a state veterans home. His office did not notify families or the public about the initial outbreak for six days and later declined to cite the facility for a safety violation. The state’s two U.S. senators called for his resignation in late 2018.
Shah quickly became a household name across Maine during the COVID-19 pandemic, with his daily COVID briefings becoming must-watch TV by Mainers anxious to learn the latest developments about the novel virus and its spread.
His memorable analogies, penchant for quoting the British rock band Coldplay, love for Diet Coke and exhortations for Mainers to care for each other generated a devoted fan base not common for public health officials. Mainers created Facebook pages devoted to Shah and T-shirts and other memorabilia emblazoned with the phrase “In Shah We Trust.”
Shah left the U.S. CDC in February of last year to take on a teaching position at Colby College in Waterville.
Shah, who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination in this year’s governor’s race, announced Thursday that he would seek to replace Platner on the November ballot for U.S. Senate.
The Sullivan oyster farmer’s campaign collapsed this week after Politico reported a former girlfriend’s allegation that Platner raped her in 2021, a claim that he has denied.
It’s set off a mad-dash for Democrats to distance themselves from Platner who barnstormed his way to winning his party’s nomination for the U.S. Senate race, outcompeting term-limited Gov. Janet Mills, who suspended her own campaign in April amid financial struggles.
Jenny Racicot, 41, met Platner on the dating app Bumble in 2019 and had an on-again, off-again relationship until she severed all contact with Platner after the alleged rape in 2021.
In a later interview with CNN, Racicot said that a drunken Platner showed up uninvited to her home. Racicot said Platner forced himself on her over her objections, telling CNN that he seemed too drunk to even register what she was saying.
Platner allegedly didn’t use protection, despite Racicot’s objection, during the non-consensual intercourse, which Racicot told CNN she complied with out of fear.
“Complying is not consenting,” Racicot told CNN’s Jake Tapper.
Platner’s record vote-getting win in June’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary came despite a barrage of negative press since his deleted posts on the website Reddit became public, including inflammatory statements about rural white Americans, Black people and women, and comments dismissive of women’s fears about rape.
Then it came out that Platner had a chest tattoo of a skull over crossbones resembling a symbol adopted by the Nazi SS during World War II.
Platner denied knowing the meaning of the tattoo, which he got in 2007 while deployed abroad with the U.S. Marines. He has since had it covered.
His chances for clinching the nomination seemed at risk just days ahead of the primary when the Wall Street Journal reported that he had exchanged sexually explicit texts with other women early in his marriage to Amy Gertner, who disclosed those messages to his campaign shortly after its launch, and then a New York Times story wherein his ex-girlfriends described volatile and toxic behavior, including instances of physical intimidation.
Racicot was among the women who spoke with The Times about Platner’s “unsettling” and “reckless” behavior, but she didn’t go public with the rape allegation until after the fallout over The Times’ story centered largely on one accuser’s ties to Republican organizations.
Democrats are scrambling to organize an unprecedented convention to select a replacement for Platner, and under state law, they have until 5 p.m. on July 27, assuming Platner formally withdraws by the statutory deadline of this coming Monday.
It will be an uphill battle for Democrats to unseat Collins, who officially announced her historic bid for a sixth term in February. The Republican has handily beaten back challengers, including in 2020 when she defied polls and expectations to secure a fifth term in the Senate. But Collins, who has been ranked the country’s most bipartisan senator, has seen her popularity slump since Trump’s first term in the White House.
If Collins is successful in winning a sixth term, she would be Maine’s longest-serving U.S. senator.
If you or someone you know needs resources or support related to sexual violence, contact the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault’s 24/7 hotline at 800-871-7741.