Politics

Graham Platner just dropped out. Here’s who could replace him.

Published

3 weeks ago

July 9, 2026

Graham Platner just dropped out of Maine’s Senate race. Some Democrats have already said they want to replace him.

A POLITICO report of a new sexual allegation against Platner on Monday set off a scramble among Maine Democrats, as they pressured the candidate to step down and weighed who could take his place to defeat GOP Sen. Susan Collins, the only Republican running in a state won by Kamala Harris this cycle. The party has long held that winning the Maine Senate race will be critical to retaking control of the upper chamber.

The steady loss of support and financial backing for Platner’s campaign — which denied the allegation — gave several progressives an opening to start their preparations.

Some, like former Senate President Troy Jackson, were more explicit than others, setting up joint fundraising committees before Platner dropped out. Others, including Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, said they would “seriously consider” entering the race if Platner suspended his campaign. Meanwhile, a few possible candidates, including Rep. Jared Golden, Maine Senate President Mattie Daughtry and actor Patrick Dempsey (yes, really) have ruled themselves out.

Now, jockeying for the nomination is expected to accelerate, with less than four months until Election Day.

State law gives the Maine Democratic Party the authority to replace Platner, and mandates that his successor must be chosen by July 27. On Wednesday, just before Platner suspended his campaign, the Maine Democratic Party approved tentative plans for a nominating convention to pick his successor.

Here’s where things stand.

Officially running

Troy Jackson

Jackson, who was a Platner ally before calling on him to step aside Monday, swiftly launched his Senate bid after Platner suspended his campaign.

“I’m in. And we’re going to defeat Susan Collins,” Jackson wrote in a post on X. “Maine deserves a Senator that will fight for working families.”

Jackson was widely speculated to jump into the race and had filed his interest in a bid with the Federal Election Commission before Wednesday.

Graham Platner and Troy Jackson stand together during a “Fighting Oligarchy” tour stop on May 24, 2026, in Orono, Maine.

A logger with long ties to organized labor, he’s quickly attracted attention from many of the oysterman’s progressive supporters. Our Revolution, a progressive organization founded by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), has already thrown its support behind Jackson.

But already, some votes from his 20-year history in the legislature are resurfacing, such as his 2009 state Senate vote against a bill to legalize same-sex marriage, giving Platner’s base a bit of pause. He later called that the “worst vote I ever took.” His closeness to Platner during the primary may also give pause to some Democrats as they choose their next nominee.

Still, as one of a number of Democrats who just lost the primary for governor, Jackson has the benefit of being able to quickly rebuild his campaign.

Dan Kleban

Kleban also announced his bid Wednesday. The 49-year-old founder of Maine Beer Company had dropped out of the Democratic Senate primary earlier this year and threw his weight behind establishment-backed Gov. Janet Mills.

“Mainers deserve a senator who will fight for them against the D.C. establishment while also doing what’s right,” Kleban said in a statement. “I plan to be that senator.”

While Kleban hasn’t served in public office, he has long been involved in Maine Democratic circles.

Considering running

Nirav Shah

Shah, a former public health official, is “evaluating” whether he will mount a Senate bid, he told POLITICO Tuesday afternoon. But he was already positioning himself as a candidate before Platner’s announcement.

He called for an open process on Tuesday, including at least one televised debate, and multiple public town halls across Maine.

Shah oversaw the state’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. He mounted his first run for public office earlier this year, finishing second in Maine’s gubernatorial primary. He said in an interview that he is “very, very much aligned” with Platner’s politics.

Shenna Bellows

In a statement on Tuesday, the Maine Secretary of State said she would “seriously consider entering this race, because I believe I am uniquely fit to unite Mainers and defeat Susan Collins in just over 100 days.”

Bellows, who also ran unsuccessfully for governor, has been fielding calls about a potential run, according to a person familiar with her campaign, granted anonymity to speak about private conversations. The person pointed to her ideological alignment with Platner on progressive issues and compelling biography — she grew up poor in rural Maine and flipped a GOP-held state Senate district — providing an early glimpse of part of her pitch if she decides to enter the race.

Bellows previously ran for Senate and lost badly to Collins in 2014. She will need to prove to voters that she can win this time around, given her past defeat.

Jordan Wood

Wood is another former Senate candidate, but he switched to run for the state’s 2nd District after Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) decided he wouldn’t attempt reelection. Wood finished third in that race with state Auditor Matt Dunlap winning the nomination after a ranked-choice count.

“To beat Susan Collins, we need a candidate who can provide a true contrast and run an unapologetically progressive campaign: Passing Medicare for All. Stopping ICE terrorizing our streets. Standing up to Donald Trump’s abuse of power,” Wood wrote on X on Tuesday, saying he was “continuing conversations with voters across Maine if I should enter an open Senate race.”

A former staffer of former Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), Wood may have trouble courting Platner supporters who want someone from outside of D.C. But he posted solid fundraising during his House run and has worked hard to keep his name in the fold.

Paige Loud

Loud also ran for Congress in the 2nd District, coming in last during the first round of voting.. She quickly filed interest paperwork with the FEC on Tuesday to succeed Platner.

“I don’t think we should be electing a man,” Loud, who also held an unpaid role on Platner’s campaign before leaving earlier this year, said in an interview. “I think I’m tired of making women vote for a man.”

Valli Geiger

People close to Platner have been quick to mention Geiger — a member of the state House and top ally of the oysterman — as a potential successor. But Wednesday brought some drama on whether she’d have Platner’s blessing.

Geiger told a Maine local outlet that Platner said he was throwing his support behind her. The Platner campaign then said that no such commitment was made.

Geiger did not respond to Blue Light News’s phone call and subsequent text message on Wednesday.

In an interview with MSNOW, Geiger said she’d taken calls about running for Senate and that she would be willing to run. But the 70-year-old state representative said a younger candidate would be better.

Andrea LaFlamme

LaFlamme was a write-in candidate during the Democratic Senate primary, receiving just over 1,000 votes. On Tuesday, she said she believes she is the “best person to take on Susan Collins” in a post on Bluesky.

LaFlamme initially launched her write-in bid because of Platner’s earlier controversies, telling the student paper of the college she works for that electing Platner “sends the message that women are not valued.” Given the fate of her write-in campaign, and the number of well-known Democrats already running, it’s unlikely she will ultimately take on Collins.

Some names to watch

Chellie Pingree

Pingree is a longtime member of Congress serving Maine’s safe-blue 1st District. Her bid is more of a long shot, given the party would also have to replace her on the ballot — thus kicking off another rush of names — but her reputation as a longtime party leader could put her in contention. Her daughter Hannah is already the Democratic nominee for governor, as well.

Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine).

“Mainers deserve a nominee they can trust, a campaign focused on the challenges facing our state and our country, and a Democratic Party that responds to allegations of sexual assault with clarity, compassion, and accountability,” Pingree said in a statement Monday, calling on Platner to step down.

Ryan Fecteau

Fecteau is the youngest person to ever become Maine’s state House Speaker.

He joined other Maine Democrats in pushing Platner to exit the race, saying Blue Light News’s report “make[s] it clear that Graham’s campaign cannot be successful” in a post to Facebook.

Sara Gideon

After a failed run against Collins in 2020, Gideon has maintained a relatively low public profile. But she lands a spot on this list regardless — mostly because her campaign is still sitting on $2.4 million, which was noted in a required FEC report that was filed on Wednesday.

Alec Hernández and Jessica Piper contributed to this report.

Politics

It might take ‘a lightning bolt from God’ to get these Senate Democratic hopefuls to bow for independents

Published

11 hours ago

August 1, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Democrats vying for a pair of deep-red Senate seats are facing increasingly desperate calls from within their party to step aside for more promising independent candidates.

But they say they won’t drop out — unless there’s divine intervention.

Democrats Alani Bankhead of Montana and Julian Beaudion of South Dakota both told Blue Light News they have no plans to exit the race, despite pressure from national — and even some state — Democrats to step aside. Numerous polls, coupled with stronger fundraising and campaign operations, show independents Seth Bodnar and Brian Bengs have a stronger — if still muddied — path to victory in November.

If the Democrats stay on the ballot, it will be almost impossible to claw these seats away from Republicans in Mountain West states that President Donald Trump dominated in 2024.

“I’m a person of faith. If a lightning bolt from God struck me and was like, ‘Alani, get out of the race,’ sure,” Bankhead told Blue Light News when asked if anything would change her mind. Otherwise, she said there’s “absolutely nothing.”

Beaudion has a similar resolve: “To be clear, we are not considering dropping out of the race,” he told Blue Light News.

By digging in, the Democrats could imperil their party’s hopes of regaining Senate control in an already uphill cycle. There’s broad agreement across the many factions of the Democratic Party that a crowded race relinquishes any hope of victory. Bengs has argued that Beaudion remaining on the ballot jeopardizes his chance of winning this fall against GOP Sen. Mike Rounds. Bodnar has maintained he has a viable path either way, and he could be helped out if the Libertarian candidate in the race pulls votes from Republican Kurt Alme.

The deadline to withdraw in South Dakota is Tuesday, and Montana’s is shortly after, on Aug. 10. Democrats across the ideological spectrum in Washington and their home states are calling on Bankhead and Beaudion to step down to help their party bank-shot a Senate majority, with the idea that a victorious independent candidate could caucus with a future Democratic majority — or at least not party up with Republicans.

“The math is inescapable. If it’s impossible for a Democrat to win, it is vital that the Democrats step aside and give the independent at least a shot of beating the Republican,” said Matt Bennett, a co-founder of the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way. “Beating the MAGA Republicans is priorities one, two and three. Who we beat them with is pretty far down the list.”

Democrats have already had some luck setting up one-on-one independent vs. Republican matchups in other Trump-won states. The Democratic candidate in Nebraska withdrew to pave the way for independent Dan Osborn — though an ongoing court case from a Democratic anti-abortion pastor could complicate things. And Idaho’s Democratic nominee recently dropped out in favor of independent Todd Achilles.

“Knowing that your campaign is not gonna break through, and just being able to recognize that is probably the hardest thing of all,” Achilles said of Democrat David Roth’s decision to step down. “I do appreciate what David did in Idaho.”

Bankhead and Beaudion insist they can win, even despite the headwinds. Bankhead expects to ride the anti-incumbency and pro-outsider wave into office, and Beaudion credits his relationships with voters throughout the state.

“Nobody ever knows what’s actually going to happen in an election,” Bankhead said. “The people decide on November 3.”

But Idaho and Nebraska Democrats reached a conclusion that Bankhead and Beaudion did not: The party’s brand is so tarnished in their states that the “D” label on the ballot line provides no viable path to victory.

“I am a professional partisan Democrat, and I have every incentive to be on the Democrat’s side here,” said Pat Dennis, president of American Bridge 21st Century, an opposition-research firm. “But ultimately, the priority is to take the Senate majority away from Republicans. In some states, that path is very difficult to impossible for a Democrat. In those cases, it is both strategically and morally correct to take the path that is most likely to achieve the goal we’re going for.”

Faiz Shakir, a longtime adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), did not go as far as to call for Bankhead and Beaudion to step aside. But he agreed that there’s real opportunity for independents who aren’t stuck with the Democratic brand’s baggage.

“Being someone who’s not associated with the two-party system right now helps you greatly in many parts of this country, particularly those that have much more rural and conservative tendencies,” said Shakir. “There’s frustration and anger with Trump, and there’s not as much of a love and appreciation for the Democratic Party.”

Shakir also said that competitive races in these red areas — even if the independents can’t pull off a win — could force Republicans to pull much-needed resources out of battleground races in order to defend their turf.

But he also offered a warning to his party: Talking too much about the independents’ strong fundraising and establishment backing risks tying them to the “donor class” and turning them “into a worse version of what people assumed of a Democrat.”

“You gotta give them the space to be both independent in mind and in spirit,” he said. “The argument for them is truly that they are building a movement in the state that people are hungry for, and that in the support of those people, they’re finding resonance. And that would be the argument for a Democrat to step aside.”

Republicans, meanwhile, are working to paint the independents and Democrats as one and the same. They’re also trying to elevate the Democrats in an attempt to stop the independents from gaining more traction: Trump on social media attacked Bankhead in July, ignoring Bodnar entirely.

“Democrat-backed independents all support the same socialist policies and middle-class tax hikes that made Democrats toxic across the country,” Joanna Rodriguez, the communications director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said in a statement. “Republicans will defeat them in November.”

The inside calls for Beaudion and Bankhead to step aside aren’t just coming from Washington. Many local Democrats in Montana and South Dakota have said publicly they should not continue their campaigns. Nancy Keenan, the former executive director of the Montana Democratic Party who has endorsed Bodnar, wrote in a June op-ed that “there is not a viable path for a Democratic victory in this race.”

Bennett, the Third Way co-founder, went further, saying if Democrats fail to flip the Senate in November, the blame would lie at the hands of Bankhead and Beaudion.

“If we fumble away a majority because these no hope candidates are too vain to get out of the race, that’ll be a political calamity,” he said. “These people need to understand that they will become pariahs.”

Bankhead doesn’t see it that way.

“I’m not swayed by it because I’m not here for power and money,” she said. “It’s still the old, rich D.C. powerful political circles that are trying to keep more progressive candidates out of the fight so they can maintain the status quo.”

Politics

FCC chair Brendan Carr on Trump, free speech and his threats against broadcasters

Published

2 days ago

July 31, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

FCC chair Brendan Carr on Trump, free speech and his threats against broadcasters

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Politics

Mandela Barnes considering dropping out of Wisconsin governor race

Published

2 days ago

July 30, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes and his team are discussing dropping out of the crowded Democratic primary for Wisconsin governor, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.

The conversations come as Democratic officials in the state brace for damaging media reports about Barnes expected to hit in the coming hours. Barnes and his team have been on calls Thursday to discuss how to proceed, according to the people, granted anonymity to share private details.

The primary had become increasingly messy as more moderate leaning Democrats like Barnes have tried to stave off Democratic socialist Francesca Hong’s rise, worried her victory could boost presumed Republican nominee Tom Tiffany. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ endorsement of David Crowley — who reentered the race in the final stretch — further complicated the moderate coalition.

A spokesperson for Barnes’ campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.