More than a dozen candidates plan to seek the Maine Democratic Party's nomination to run against Republican Sen. Susan Collins this November following Graham Platner's withdrawal from the race.
The deadline for candidates to file their paperwork was 5 p.m. Wednesday. The 13 candidates listed on a "voter guide" posted Wednesday evening on the Maine Democratic Party's website included both well-known names and newcomers.
Three candidates from the June gubernatorial primary — Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson and and former Maine CDC director Nirav Shah — are now running for the Senate.
David Costello, a Maine native who worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development as well as in state government in Maryland, is also back after finishing third in Senate primary.
And two former 2nd Congressional District contenders have also entered the Senate race: social worker and Cherokee Nation citizen Paige Loud and former senior congressional aid and campaign finance advocate Jordan Wood.
Dan Kleban, the Maine Beer Co. co-founder who briefly ran for the Senate last year has also declared his candidacy. And rounding out the field are Elizabeth Cote, Elizabeth Dickerson, Joseph Leveille, Kristina Libby, Saundra Pelletier and Ashley Webb.
What happens next?
Democrats have been scrambling to put in place a process to select a new nominee since last Wednesday when Platner — a populist progressive with a large Democratic following — withdrew from the race after a former romantic partner accused him of rape. Platner strongly denied the allegations and accused the "party establishment" of conspiring to push him out of the race, but said he was stepping aside because he lost access to the fundraising and campaign tools needed to win.
Wednesday was the first deadline for candidates in that process. Now they will need to gather 500 signatures from registered Maine Democrats — including 50 voters from at least eight different counties — and submit them to the party by next week.
In the meantime, Democrats will hold caucus-style meetings in each county on Saturday and Sunday to select 500 of the 601 delegates who will get to choose the nominee. As of Tuesday night, more than 5,000 people had already registered to either participate in the weekend meetings or to seek a spot as a delegate.
Lastly, those delegates plus alternates will gather in Bangor on July 25 to officially select a new nominee to challenge Collins in a race with potential national implications. Collins is the only Republican senator up for reelection this year in a state that supported Democrat Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential election. And both parties regard her seat as key to control of the Senate next year.
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