Roughly 6,500 people attended a rally in Portland on Labor Day headlined by Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders as part of his nationwide "Fighting Oligarchy" tour.
The political events are a response to the Trump administration, but they're also shaking up nominating contests for Democrats in next year's midterm elections. That includes the Maine U.S. Senate race, where Sanders has endorsed Graham Platner, a virtually unknown candidate whose populist appeal could disrupt establishment Democrats' plans for the race.
Platner has been a candidate for exactly two weeks, but his viral launch video and the accompanying national media attention have already made him a source of intrigue for Democratic voters like Sarah Marcotte, who made the trip to the Cross Insurance Arena from Bangor.
"I read a little bit about him and I think his journey to politics is so interesting. And I think that because he's coming from outside the political establishment, he has a lot to offer in terms of, you know, a unique viewpoint that isn't necessarily straightforward for either party, but imagining a better future," Marcotte said.
And that nontraditional perspective is something that Catherine Rudnicki, also from Bangor, said the Democratic Party needs.
"The established Democratic Party also kind of supports people that are like very centrist and don't really seem to be for anything except for being like, we aren't Republican," Rudnicki said.
Complaints about establishment Democrats have intensified during the first eight months of President Donald Trump's second term. The party is hemorrhaging voters and polls indicate that those who still identify with Democrats think the party is weak and ineffectual.
Enter Platner, an oyster farmer and veteran whose only political experience is becoming harbormaster in his hometown of Sullivan. Yet he walked onto the stage Monday having already declared the war in Gaza a genocide, Medicare for All a must and unions the path for prosperity for working people.
And he's equally critical of Democrats as he is of Republicans.
"We have two parties that want the votes of working people, but neither has done anything lately to earn it," he said.
Platner has already held a series of town halls in Maine, but his 20-minute speech Monday was his first before a big audience.
He recycled a few lines from his viral videos and social media posts, but the crowd was with him during his sharp critique of Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins.
"Now, Susan Collins' charade is wearing thin. This is the easiest applause line in these speeches," he said.
He said Collins is using her moderate image as cover.
"No one cares that you pretend to be remorseful as you sellout to lobbyists," he says. "No one cares while you sell out to corporations. And no one cares while you sell out to a president who are all engineering the greatest redistribution of wealth — from the working class to the ruling class — in American history."
But Platner isn't just running against Collins. He's also running against the Democratic Party establishment.
That same establishment has another candidate in mind to take on Collins, Gov. Janet Mills. Mills hasn't said she'll run, but Platner made it clear he won't bow out if she does.
He didn't mention the governor by name on Monday, only by inference while framing Collins as a tool of a broken political system built and controlled by the wealthy.
"And Maine deserves an alternative who is not at risk of being mistaken as being beholden to the same status quo as she [Collins] is," he said.
Platner said both political parties have adopted policies that largely benefit the wealthy at the expense of working Americans.
"I don't think that a CEO should have more of a voice than a union," he said. "And I don't think that private equity deserves more time with a senator than someone who works two jobs to get by."
By aligning himself with Sanders, Platner has made it clear that he will not travel the same path as most of Collins' previous challengers. In fact, he's using Democrats' past failures to defeat her as a rationale for voters to pick him during next year's primary.
Troy Jackson, one of several Democratic candidates running to replace Mills when she's termed out as governor, chose the same lane 10 years ago. Back then he introduced Sanders in the same Portland arena when the Vermont independent was vying for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Now, Jackson, the former president of the Maine Senate, is doubling down on the Sanders' platform — exploited workers versus the ruling class.
"To them that is what we are, nobodies. But we know better. We know they aren't coming to save us. They never have and they never will," he said. "And we know that the only way to build our future ... the future we want is to build it for ourselves."
Sanders, who will turn 84 in just a few days, is no stranger to such rhetoric. He's been talking that way for decades.
But as he spoke for about 45 minutes on Monday, he conveyed a sense of urgency. While he focused his most blistering criticism on President Trump, Sanders also took aim at the two political parties.
"But it is not just Republicans," Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, told the crowd at nearly full Cross Insurance Arena. "It is also the fact that billionaires play a much too significant role in the Democratic Party as well."
He talked about Trump's inauguration in January when he was surrounded by the richest people in America.
"These guys, trust me, believe that they have the right to rule and democracy is an impediment to their success," he said. "They want it all. They want it all and they don't care who they step on in order to get even more and more."
But Sanders said their power is no match for the movement he, Platner, Jackson and other insurgent candidates are building.
"Not only can we stop them, not only will we stop them, but for the future of this country and in fact the world, we must, must stop them," he said.
