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A coalition of voters, volunteers, and local Democratic committee members and organizers is pressing the Maine Democratic State Committee to vote again on its recently approved process to replace U.S. Senate nominee Graham Platner.
In an open letter shared with the Bangor Daily News and being sent to the state committee, which approved a new nominating convention of roughly 600 delegates before the party’s deadline of July 27, the group of more than 200 billing itself as the Maine Coalition for Fair Nominations made a series of requests — including re-voting on the process — which they said would bolster transparency and trust.
The group asked the state committee to hold “an immediate, open to the public” central committee meeting to review the current procedure, and for the group to accept written comments and alternate proposals from county and local committees. The group said the public comments should be compiled and shared before any final vote on the process is taken.
“We recognize this moment is unprecedented, and we understand time is of the essence,” the group wrote. “But we believe rushing this process in a way that results in loss of trust would do far more damage to our collective goal than the time a genuine comment period requires.”
The move comes as Platner supporters and some Maine Democratic party organizers have expressed concerns about the transparency of the process, which is unprecedented and being developed on the fly by state party leaders working through county parties that are not used to these kinds of high-profile efforts.
The state party earlier this week accused Platner of holding the process hostage by not withdrawing immediately following an ex-girlfriend’s allegation of sexual assault. The drama has sparked a handful of fresh Senate campaigns on the fly, several of them from former Platner supporters who have denounced him but still need to rally his base to have a chance of defeating Collins in November.
Crystale Lapham, a volunteer organizer from Falmouth, said while she was hopeful the new nominee would represent the same progressive values that align many Platner supporters, she is pushing hardest for a transparent process with more feedback from the public.
She noted that Platner drew strong support from unenrolled voters — who are not allowed to become delegates, who must be registered Democrats — and that the party should find a way to not have such voters “come out of this process skeptical and alienated.”
“We cannot afford to lose more trust,” she said.
A source familiar with Platner’s plans says he’ll file the proper paperwork with the state to remove his name from the ballot by the 5 p.m. Monday deadline.
“We are hard at work on an inclusive, representative plan for a nominating convention to choose a new Senate nominee,” said Charlie Dingman, the state committee chair. “A key to allowing full and meaningful public involvement and organizing to choose our nominee is to establish the process with clarity and consistency with the law as fast as possible, so that those campaigning have time to connect with voters before a final decision must be filed to meet the legal deadline.”
Dingman said that’s why the party must move forward “decisively based on the framework already endorsed.”
“We will announce those plans as soon as they are final, including the full timeline, details for how the nomination process will move forward, information about how to participate, and requirements for candidates,” he added.
The party has worked to provide updates over email and social media after reviewing its bylaws, state law and consulting with its legal team to figure out a method to pick a replacement. In an announcement late Thursday night, the party laid out candidate rules to enable several interested contenders to declare and gather signatures to qualify for the fight to become the new nominee.
“Democracy, while messy, is always, always worth fighting for,” Devon Murphy-Anderson, the state party’s executive director, said.
Meanwhile, Republicans are taking advantage of the chaos Platner’s scandal sparked. They have criticized Democrats for disenfranchising many of the record-breaking 150,000-plus voters who picked Platner on June 9.
BDN writer Annie Rupertus contributed to this report.