The Dictatorship
Monday’s Campaign Round-Up, 7.13.26: Plan to replace Platner in Maine takes shape
Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Graham Platner”https://www.ms.now/news/graham-platner-officially-withdraws-from-maine-senate-race”>officially withdrew from Maine’s Senate race on Friday, opening the door to a furious scramble to choose his successor before a July 27 deadline.
To that end, an increasingly crowded field of Democratic contenders will compete at a nominating convention on Saturday, July 25, in Bangor. Candidates will have to formally launch their campaigns by Wednesday, before submitting at least 500 signatures by July 21.
A New York Times report added, “They also need to turn in written statements detailing ‘how their campaign will continue to support and build on the currently existing grass-roots energy and movement in Maine,’ the state party has said.”
There will be 601 delegates to the state party gathering — 101 members of a state Democratic Party committee and 500 others selected at the county level — who will participate in a multiround public nominating process. The Times added, “At the end of the first round, the top five finishers will advance, and from there, the candidate with the fewest votes will be eliminated after each subsequent round. The process will continue until there is a winner.”
* In Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, party leaders continue to coalesce behind Rep. Haley Stevens, as evidenced by outgoing Sen. Gary Peters new endorsement for the congresswoman. Stevens, however, is facing a very tough race against Abdul El-Sayed, a former public health official. Primary Day is Aug. 4.
* South Carolina’s Republican governor, Henry McMaster, hasn’t said whom he intends to appoint to fill the late Sen. Lindsey Graham’s seat, but Donald Trump on Monday morning recommended Darline Graham Nordonethe late senator’s sister. She would presumably serve as a placeholder senator, who would serve the remaining five months of Graham’s term.
* Speaking of the president, Arizona’s Republican gubernatorial primary is next weekand Trump has officially thrown his support behind Rep. Andy Biggs, widely seen as the front-runner.
* And in Georgia, the state Libertarian Party fell short of the ballot signatures needed to qualify for the November ballot. That’s generally seen as good news for Georgia Republicans, who feared Libertarian candidates might siphon off votes for GOP contenders.
Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”