Politics
Our political journalists are based in the Maine State House and have deep source networks across the partisan spectrum in communities all over the state. Their coverage aims to cut through major debates and probe how officials make decisions. Read more Politics coverage here.
They’re relentlessly posting on social media. Some are holding town halls and news conferences. All of them are working the phones.
The handful of Democratic U.S. Senate candidates fighting to replace Graham Platner on the ballot have quickly re-assembled staff and volunteers from previous bids for office. They are recruiting allies, including potential delegates for a 600-member nominating convention on July 25 and voters poised to elect those same delegates in county caucuses this weekend.
Also making the rounds over the phones and online are hundreds of progressives who backed the scandal-plagued oyster farmer, several of them now pressing to become delegates to pick the nominee facing five-term Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November.
It’s a frantic effort. Many are engaged in heavily guarded chats on Signal and Discord, rapidly sharing updates and some frustration on the unprecedented nominating process, according to two sources familiar with the moves of Platner’s former organizers and volunteers after he lost institutional support and withdrew following allegations of sexual misconduct.
“It’s going to be a s—-show,” one of the sources said.
The candidates face the challenge of quickly organizing, raising money, recruiting and finally persuading as many of the eventual 600 delegates as possible. The process, sparked by Platner’s exit Friday after a series of escalating high-profile scandals since the fall, has kept the nation’s eyes on Maine as Democrats’ hopes to take the Senate likely rest on the new nominee.
Local and county party leaders on the Democratic State Committee are playing catch up and readying for the quick-start convention while they field countless calls and emails from candidates, staffers, volunteers, and media from across the country.
“That poor woman,” said someone who picked up a phone number for a Democratic county chair on Monday afternoon and said the person had been “inundated” with calls.
At a Bangor movie theater Sunday, dozens of voters poised to hear public health chief Nirav Shah signed forms and scanned QR codes for information on how to become a delegate or get engaged in the county’s meetings. He was the first of the candidates to hold a town hall Saturday and has held news conferences.His volunteers, many of them carried over from his gubernatorial race, are also on the phones with Democrats across the state.
Former political aide Jordan Wood, who ran in the 2nd Congressional District primary, also held a news conference Monday and announced plans for town halls. But behind-the-scenes organizing is also key for candidates and staff more accustomed to broad strategies.
Like Shah and Wood, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows has been posting updates about her run on social media, but she hasn’t held public events yet. She’s quickly reassembled her volunteer network and reached out to all 16 county chairs and other party officials to gear up for the convention.
Jackson’s team is directly reaching out to potential delegates across the state, building on strong institutional support among party leaders, activists and labor groups. His campaign says 10,000 individual donors contributed in the 24 hours after he launched a bid. On Monday night, he’s poised to join a livestreamed organizing call with other battleground progressives hosted by Our Revolution.
“Usually, you can’t have any hopes of reaching even a fraction of the number of people who will be deciding a nomination,” said a source familiar with Maine Beer Co. co-founder Dan Kleban’s reignited Senate campaign. “In this case, the mass communication strategy is not super efficient. He’s really just trying to talk to as many people as possible, burning up the phones.”
Social worker Paige Loud, former government official David Costello and former state Rep. Elizabeth Dickerson have also declared runs ahead of a Wednesday deadline. The candidates must collect 500 signatures from registered voters, including at least 50 from no fewer than eight counties, to stand for election at a state convention.
Franklin County Democratic Chair Wayne Kinney, who leads the subcommittee working on the county caucuses, said in a statement Monday that the party had created “one of the most open, transparent and inclusive nominating process I’ve ever seen.”
A source who said the next two weeks would be chaotic said the process could make for “another Bernie moment,” referring to independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an early Platner endorser who roused progressives in the 2016 and 2020 presidential races.
“It might get a whole lot of progressives interested in becoming county chairs,” the person said.