Congress

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows is officially running for Senate

Published

3 hours ago

July 9, 2026

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows officially launched her Senate bid to replace Graham Platner on Thursday afternoon.

“After serious consideration, I am announcing my campaign for United States Senate, because I believe that together we can unify Democrats in Maine at this difficult time, and forge ahead with a campaign that fights for working people, stands up to a broken system that’s working against us, and defeats Susan Collins,” Bellows wrote in a post on X.

Bellows, who recently lost in the Democratic primary for governor, had been widely expected to enter the race after Platner suspended his campaign. She was fielding calls about a possible bid in the days after POLITICO reported an allegation of sexual assault against him, according to one person familiar with her campaign, granted anonymity to discuss internal conversations. Platner denied the allegation.

A progressive Democrat, Bellows has built a national profile as Maine’s secretary of state, often clashing with President Donald Trump over election administration. She joins several other former gubernatorial hopefuls, including former public health official Nirav Shah and former Platner ally Troy Jackson, as official contenders for the Democratic nomination.

But the race marks Bellows’ second bid for the Senate. She challenged Collins, the Republican incumbent, in 2014 and lost — a defeat that is likely to draw fresh scrutiny as she makes her case to Maine voters this time around.

Congress

Chuck Grassley pushed for more transparency into Kash Patel’s FBI spending in May, Democrats reveal

Published

5 hours ago

July 9, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) asked FBI Director Kash Patel to provide more details on his use of taxpayer resources in May, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Mid.) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) revealed in a letter this week, as questions continue to swirl over Patel’s financial stewardship of the agency.

The embattled FBI director has long faced allegations that he is using the perks of his office for personal gain, after news outlets reported last year he used government jets for personal travel and surrounded his girlfriend, country music singer Alexis Wilkins, with SWAT team protection at public events.

Patel’s trip via agency jet to the Winter Olympics in Milan this February, in which he partied with the American men’s ice hockey team after they won gold, led to yet more questions.

Patel has repeatedly publicly denied that his use of government resources is inappropriate.

“This abuse obviously comes at the expense of the American taxpayer and ongoing Bureau operations as it ties up Bureau aircraft, Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams, and agents in ways so outrageous that even congressional Republicans can no longer ignore them,” Durbin and Raskin wrote in their letter.

In a letter from Grassley sent in May, which was viewed by Blue Light News, he asked Patel to “provide a list of each flight you took on an FBI aircraft, including the departure and destination,” as well as the cost of each. He also asked Patel to explain why the bureau purchased BMWs rather than Chevy Suburbans for personal transport — and to provide a full cost breakdown of the financial impacts of the maneuver.

Raskin and Durbin — the ranking members on the House and Senate Judiciary Committees — are seeking answers to many of the same questions highlighted by Grassley, they wrote in their letter.

The eight-term Iowa senator, who turns 93 in September, emphasized he’d previously held FBI directors under Democratic administrations to similar scrutiny.

“For decades, regardless of which political party is in the White House, I have worked to ensure that taxpayer dollars are protected from waste, fraud, and abuse,” Grassley wrote.

Grassley’s office and the FBI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“The American people deserve an FBI Director focused on keeping us all safe rather than jet-setting to check off personal bucket list items,” Durbin and Raskin wrote. “Congress requires a transparent accounting of how you are using Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars.”

Congress

Jordan Wood joins crowded Maine Senate race

Published

7 hours ago

July 9, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

HARPSWELL, Maine — Jordan Wood, a former Capitol Hill staffer, is the latest candidate to announce a run for the Democratic nomination in Maine’s Senate race after Graham Platner dropped out Wednesday evening.

Wood signaled his interest in running for the seat earlier this week as Democrats across the state scrambled to float their own names to replace Platner on the ballot. Now, he’s making it official.

“This has been a tough week for all of us in Maine who have demanded real change in Washington and in our lives,” he said in a statement on Thursday. “Our campaign will continue to build on the powerful populist movement Graham started, and I welcome every Mainer who believed in his vision to continue to build that better world.”

This is Wood’s second go at a Senate bid this cycle. Late last year, he ended his nascent Senate bid to run in the Democratic primary for the battleground House seat being vacated by Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine). He finished a close third in that contest.

Several of the announced candidates, including former public health official Nirav Shah and former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, are maneuvering to cement themselves as the standard-bearer of Platner’s progressive outsider mantle. That may prove a harder task for Wood, who faces an uphill battle to reintroduce himself to voters and distance himself from his time working in Washington.

He’s already trying to shed that D.C. connection: “I’ve got a message for Chuck Schumer and the DSCC: Maine doesn’t need Washington insiders picking our senator. That’s a decision for the people of Maine,” he said.

Congress

Capitol agenda: Collins loses her foil in Platner

Published

10 hours ago

July 9, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Susan Collins’ fight to hold onto her seat just got messier.

Republicans had welcomed Graham Platner as a foil to Collins, who is trying to win a sixth Senate term in a state that voted for Kamala Harris in 2024.

But now, while Maine Democrats prepare for an intense two week sprint to replace Platner, Collins’ team will have to start from scratch in their strategy against a new nominee — who may not be known until close to the party’s July 27 deadline to declare one.

And according to a person familiar with the campaign’s thinking, Collins’ team had viewed Platner as a uniquely vulnerable opponent whose personal controversies could help offset a big challenge in 2026: running as a Republican in the era of President Donald Trump.

Polling published in late June showed Collins and Platner in an extremely close race.

“She can certainly win, but they didn’t want to change candidates,” the person familiar with the campaign’s thinking said. “The stuff we already knew about Platner was going to propel Collins to overcome the Trump anchor. Now it’s going to be a Democrat with a cleaner record, presumably.”

Collins didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Republicans are signaling at least one playbook for moving forward: trying to tar any replacement Democrat with Platner by association. POLITICO reported Monday about an accusation of sexual assault against Platner, which he denies.

“Democrats rolled in the mud with Platner, and now they are completely stained by their association with this sick monster,” Republican National Committee Chair Joe Gruters said in a statement.

Now all eyes are on Maine’s Democratic Party, which Wednesday approved tentative plans for a nominating convention.

Platner, for his part, did not immediately endorse another candidate, saying in his withdrawal video Wednesday night the process must be “open” and controlled by the “people of Maine.”

Washington Democrats, meanwhile, are turning their focus to Collins while wanting to avoid the appearance of interfering with the selection of a new nominee.

“Democrats are going to defeat Susan Collins, win Maine, and take back the Senate,” posted Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has encouraged a Maine-centric process to replace Platner, according to a person familiar, granted anonymity to discuss the situation.

Top Democratic funding groups have also announced they’re jumping back into the race.

“Susan Collins is more vulnerable than she has ever been after voting with Trump 96 percent of the time, being the decisive vote for the justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, and selling out to the special interests that fund her campaigns after three decades in the Senate,” Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Executive Director Devan Barber said in a statement.

What else we’re watching:

— NO END IN SIGHT FOR HILL’S EPSTEIN PROBE: Nearly one year into House Oversight’s Jeffrey Epstein investigation and neither party sees a reason to stop. Oversight Chair James Comer, who had originally hoped to wrap up interviews by August recess, said “it’s probably going to be hard because it seems like … after every deposition we get another name or two that we need to talk to.” That means the congressional Epstein probe could continue for the foreseeable future regardless of who wins the midterms, not only out of hopes of finding a smoking gun but also because the political incentives to keep investigating — for both parties — are impossible to resist.

— DEMS LOOK TO VOTES, DOLLARS IN IRAN WAR PROTEST: Democratic leadership is eyeing ways to check Trump’s ability to wage war in Iran after a successful vote on the issue last month didn’t slow him down. Democrats could force votes on new war powers measures when the chamber returns next week in an attempt to replicate last month’s politically symbolic win. But the party’s best leverage for stopping the war may be money.

Jordain Carney, Sophia Cai, Hailey Fuchs, Connor O’Brien and Leo Shane III contributed to this report.