Politics
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The Democrats fighting to replace Graham Platner and face Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins in November will take the stage next week in a debate hosted by CNN and the Bangor Daily News.
The debate is set for 8 p.m. on July 23. It comes two days before Democrats hold an unprecedented 601-member nominating convention in Bangor to pick their new Senate nominee. Some of those delegates will be invited to the debate.
More than a dozen candidates are running, including former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, former Maine public health chief Nirav Shah, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, former political aide Jordan Wood, social worker Paige Loud and Maine Beer Co. co-founder Dan Kleban and former government official David Costello. Saundra Pelletier, Elizabeth Dickerson, Elizabeth Cote, Joseph Leveille, Kristina Libby and Ashley Webb are running as well.
The debate will come after weekend county caucuses to elect 500 convention delegates and a Monday deadline for candidates to qualify for the convention. Candidates need at least 500 valid signatures from registered Democrats, including at least 50 from no fewer than eight counties. That could winnow the field of candidates.
The candidates will field questions from moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash of CNN, alongside Michael Shepherd, the BDN’s political editor. Candidates will take questions from a live audience, including Maine Democratic Party delegates who are poised to pick the new nominee at an unprecedented convention at the Cross Insurance Center on July 25.
Maine’s Senate race is one of the biggest in the country in a contentious midterm year as the parties fight for control of the chamber. Maine is projected to see almost $400 million injected into the race on ad spending, the fourth-most across the U.S.
Platner, a political newcomer and oyster farmer, ran a populist campaign targeting Collins and what he called Washington’s corporate power structure. He withdrew from the race last week after allegations of sexual misconduct, which followed a series of previous controversies, including a Nazi-linked tattoo and offensive social media comments.
But he still fired up progressives and won a record-breaking number of votes in the June 9 primary over Gov. Janet Mills, who left the race in late April. The candidates trying to replace Platner and win over his supporters have been recruiting allies and potential delegates, while also touting their progressive policy platforms. They’ve also targeted Collins on votes on judicial nominees, immigration enforcement funding, economic policy and more.
The five-term incumbent has a strong war chest, and Republican groups are already pouring tens of millions of dollars into the effort to defend her seat and maintain GOP control of the Senate.
Collins and her allies have emphasized her track record of bringing federal dollars home and her leadership of the powerful Appropriations Committee. In 2020, she won comfortably despite trailing in both fundraising and polls to former Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon.
The debate will air live on CNN and CNN International. It will also be available via streaming for the network’s streaming subscribers and pay TV subscribers on CNN.com and CNN-connected TV and mobile apps. The debate will be available on demand the following day.