Politics

What we know – and don’t – about how Maine Democrats will replace Graham Platner

Published

3 months ago

July 9, 2026

The selection of Maine’s next Democratic Senate nominee will come down to roughly 600 people — 500 of whom haven’t been chosen yet.

Graham Platner suspended his campaign on Wednesday following Blue Light News’s reporting on an allegation that he sexually assaulted a woman in 2021, which he denies. That clears the way for the Maine Democratic Party to begin the process of replacing him. Platner continued to deny the allegations on Wednesday, but said he’s leaving the race because he lost the resources needed to continue running.

Many Democrats have been preparing for Platner to exit the race, but a wide-open and unpredictable nomination process with a fast-approaching deadline means many of the details of how Platner’s replacement will be chosen remain unclear.

It comes at a crucial time for the party, which has one of its best chances to defeat GOP Sen. Susan Collins, who is the only Senate Republican running for reelection in a state won by Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024.

How does the process to replace a nominee work in Maine?

The party is in charge of nominating someone. As long as Platner officially files paperwork with the secretary of state’s office withdrawing his name from the ballot before Monday at 5 p.m. Eastern Time, the Maine Democratic Party has until July 27th — 19 days from now — to nominate his replacement.

Who are the candidates running to replace Platner?

Shortly after Platner suspended his campaign, former gubernatorial candidate Troy Jackson, who was endorsed in that race by Sen. Bernie Sanders, announced he will seek the party’s nomination. Dan Kleban, a brewery owner in Maine, also said he’ll seek the nomination on Wednesday. Former congressional candidates Jordan Wood and Paige Loud have also said they plan to run.

Former public health official Nirav Shah and Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who both ran for governor earlier this year, said in the lead-up to Platner dropping out that they were considering running to replace him.

Does the state party have a plan in place?

Shortly before Platner exited the race, Maine Democrats approved a tentative plan to hold a nominating convention before the July 27th deadline that would include roughly 600 delegates made up primarily of local party officials from around the state.

Maine Democratic Party executive director Devon Murphy-Anderson indicated in an MS NOW interview Wednesday evening that candidates may be required to collect signatures from Maine voters to be eligible for the nominating convention.

When and where will the nominating convention be?

We don’t know. The Maine Democratic Party has not announced any timing details about the convention.

How will delegates be chosen?

Each county party committee is expected to caucus prior to the state nominating convention to elect 500 convention delegates, with the remaining 100 delegates being state committee members, according to two people familiar with specific plans and granted anonymity to share them.

The state Democratic Party hasn’t provided exact details, and said in a statement on Wednesday that information would be coming soon. County chairs were scheduled to meet Thursday, and it remains unclear whether delegates will be selected by county committees themselves or through public caucuses held by those county committees.

How will delegates select their candidate?

We don’t know. The Maine Democratic Party hasn’t shared specific details on how the convention procedure will operate. The state party has some rules and procedures for state conventions available on its website, but a delegate convention to replace a nominee for U.S. Senate is uncharted waters, and the party’s rules don’t explicitly stipulate how to handle this situation. While the party has had to replace candidates for smaller races, Platner’s exit from a statewide race is unprecedented.

Will there be a debate?

We don’t know. Once candidates declare whether or not they’re running, a media network may schedule a formal debate. Or the nominating convention could provide a forum for candidates to address delegates directly. In any case, the clock is ticking to organize a televised debate in the next couple of weeks before the convention. Shah, one of the likely candidates, has already called for a televised debate.

How does Platner want the process to replace him to look?

Before Platner dropped out, his allies worked behind the scenes to try and leverage his hold on the nomination to influence the nomination process, drawing a strong rebuke from Murphy-Anderson.

Platner’s campaign manager sent a message to volunteers Wednesday morning criticizing the state party and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for “planning a potential nominating process behind closed doors,” drawing another sharp response from Murphy-Anderson as well as the DSCC.

“While we may be frustrated with Graham Platner’s continued efforts to manipulate this process, we are so thankful for his supporters and all of their efforts to defeat Susan Collins — they are a vital part of our Party and deserve to participate in an open process to select Platner’s replacement,” she said.

Platner appeared to acknowledge the accusations that he was meddling in the process in his video announcing the end of his campaign, when he urged Maine Democrats to prioritize the will of the voters in choosing his replacement.

“I’m not trying to dictate to anyone who it should be or how we get there, but I will say this: It needs to be open, transparent, and democratic,” Platner said in the video. “People in DC need to stay in DC. Decisions should not be made in back rooms by people in places of political power. Party apparatchiks are not the ones to make these decisions. These decisions need to be made in the open by the people of this state, the people who got us here.”

It is unclear whether he will attempt to influence the process publicly or behind the scenes once he exits the race.

Politics

Crypto weighs revenge against Democrats — and the risks that come with it

Published

4 hours ago

September 23, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The cryptocurrency industry is at a political crossroads.

Reeling from the demise of its longtime top legislative priority, crypto companies must now decide how scorched-earth to go against Senate Democrats, who last week voted unanimously against the so-called Clarity Act, a sweeping bill that would create a bespoke new regulatory framework for digital assets.

A crypto-backed PAC network’s move this week provides a hint of what may be to come. The group, known as Fairshake, announced it would spend at least $30 million to help block Democrat Sherrod Brown from recapturing a pivotal Ohio Senate seat, representing the first major signal of how the industry plans to deploy its massive campaign war chest in the final weeks before the 2026 midterms.

Some crypto executives have publicly signaled an appetite in recent days for punishing Democrats. But a partisan strategy carries major political risk for the industry: A broad offensive against Democrats ahead of an election where they have a chance to reclaim power on Capitol Hill could further alienate lawmakers the industry may soon need to revive its agenda.

“As much as some people may want to, they can’t wave a wand and make Democrats go away,” said Sheila Warren, the former CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation, an industry trade group. “Every industry — not just crypto — has to figure out what to do with that reality.”

The crypto industry’s spending could have immediate consequences after the election. Democrats are signaling that a Senate GOP-aligned spending spree would suppress any appetite for lame duck dealmaking involving the Clarity bill — although it remains a long shot that it would come back to life regardless. A Senate Democratic aide involved in the crypto effort said a full-scale assault on the party’s Senate candidates “would absolutely eviscerate any hope” of a post-election deal.

The Fairshake PAC group, funded primarily by crypto firms Coinbase and Ripple and venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz, had more than $120 million at its disposal as of the end of August. It has previously deployed its war chest to help members of both parties who support industry-friendly policies.

Fairshake is preparing to announce additional spending decisions supporting both Democrats and Republicans in the coming days, according to a spokesperson for the group, Geoff Vetter. But it’s unclear what races — or which chamber — it will target next.

Kara Calvert, Coinbase’s vice president of U.S. policy, said in an interview that bipartisanship has been crypto’s “superpower.”

“Nobody is eager to erode that,” she said.

Though Fairshake says it will maintain a bipartisan approach, it hasn’t specified what shape that will take. One potential avenue for the PAC is to continue to back crypto-friendly Democrats running for the House — where the Clarity bill advanced with 78 Democratic votes last year — but primarily help Republicans in the Senate.

Fairshake spent in favor of several Senate Democrats in the 2024 elections, including in battleground general election races in Michigan and Arizona, where it backed Democratic Sens. Elissa Slotkin and Ruben Gallego, respectively. It also plowed more than $40 million into the effort to help defeat Brown in his 2024 reelection campaign — by far its biggest spend of the cycle.

This time, Republicans are pressing the industry to recalibrate its approach and ditch the Democrats.

“To reward people who voted against the motion to proceed on Clarity after the Democrats got 126 amendments in the bill would be a huge mistake,” said Sen. Cynthia Lummis, the crypto bill’s leading champion in the Senate. The Wyoming Republican is retiring when her term ends in January.

Democrats, who feel increasingly confident about their chances in November despite the GOP’s spending advantages, say Republicans are trying to play the crypto industry.

It’s “been the goal of Republican colleagues all along to try to get folks to invest in races, versus them trying to get a piece of legislation done, and someone needs to call the Republicans out on their bullshit,” said Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), who added: “Sherrod’s gonna win.”

Politics

Can Mitch Landrieu break through in 2028?

Published

4 hours ago

September 23, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Can Mitch Landrieu break through in 2028?

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Politics

Sen. Jon Husted: Iran war ‘needs to come to an end as quickly as possible’

Published

19 hours ago

September 22, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Jon Husted became the latest battleground Republican this week to call for a quick end to the Iran war, as panic grows over how high gas prices and President Donald Trump’s agenda could imperil the party’s chances in November.

“The war needs to come to an end as quickly as possible so that we can lower gas prices,” the Ohio senator told Blue Light News, in his furthest comments yet on the matter.

Coming after Iowa Senate nominee Ashley Hinson, who broke from Trump over the war on Monday, and Michigan Senate nominee Mike Rogers, who followed suit hours later, Husted’s comments are another example of the pressure he and other Republicans are under to address prices at the pump. Several candidates are creating some distance from Trump, as voters continue to blame the president for the current economy and the Iran conflict for high costs of living.

Husted said in the interview that he still thinks Iran needs to reach a deal with Trump to end the conflict, but added: “I don’t know anybody that doesn’t want the war to come to an end.”

He has a finer line to walk with Trump in his state, and Republicans close to him say he can’t and won’t completely break with the president. Husted does not plan to support the Democratic-led war powers resolution when it comes up for a vote in the Senate this week, a spokesperson said. And Trump and Vice President JD Vance are expected to visit the state in the coming weeks to shore up his campaign and drive GOP turnout.

Husted is staring down a tight race against former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, where millions in spending and recent polling have put Brown slightly ahead. Top Hill Republicans and Senate GOP operatives have said the Ohio Senate race is among their primary concerns in the battle to keep control of the chamber.

But Ohio is just one in a series of battlegrounds where rising gas prices have become a defining issue. Beyond Hinson and Rogers, a growing number of Republicans are starting to call for emergency actions like a diesel export ban to lower gas prices, including Iowa GOP Reps. Zach Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks.

“Hinson broke the dam,” said one GOP operative, who was granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), who is locked in an incredibly competitive race, called Tuesday for a diesel export ban to provide voters relief. He didn’t mention the Iran war.

The panic is being felt most acutely in the Midwest, as high gas and diesel prices and Trump’s tariffs hammer families, truckers and farmers just a few weeks ahead of the peak harvest season with no relief in sight.

By Sunday night, Rogers had filmed an ad at a grocery store decrying high prices and, straight to camera, breaking with Trump to call for an end to the Iran war, according to two Republicans involved in the matter, granted anonymity to discuss internal conversations.

Rogers’ team was putting the finishing touches on the ad Monday morning when Hinson posted her break with Trump over the war directly on social media.

“The war’s just gone on too long. Mike still thinks Iran shouldn’t have a nuclear weapon, but we originally thought this would take six weeks,” said one person with direct knowledge of the conversations in Rogers’ camp about the move. “Voters have been paying for it at their kitchen tables for too long.”

Michigan’s GOP nominee for governor, Rep. John James, also said Tuesday the Iran war needs to end “quickly.” And Rep. Tom Tiffany, Wisconsin’s GOP governor nominee, said Tuesday he believes “we should be exiting Iran, that it’s time to move on, we’ve degraded their nuclear facilities, we’ve degraded their military … time to come home, take care of business here in America.”

Trump, for his part, told reporters Tuesday that he asked his team to consider a diesel export ban, and that his administration is mulling it.

But the move is rife with internal GOP fighting behind the scenes: Trump’s team is getting an earful from GOP lawmakers in oil states who oppose the move, according to four people with direct knowledge of the matter who were granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. That makes any decision before the midterms highly problematic with at least one corner of the party.

Both the top House GOP leaders — Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise — have opposed similar measures from the past to protect their oil state of Louisiana. The Texas GOP delegation is also “strongly opposed,” according to another Republican.

Husted told Blue Light News on Tuesday that he supports his state legislature suspending Ohio’s gas tax for a period. Democrat Amy Acton, who is running for governor, called for a gas tax suspension Monday. Her GOP opponent Vivek Ramaswamy and a broader swath of Republicans called for the state legislature to convene and pass legislation to suspend the state’s gas tax hours later.

“I think in the long run we are going to have lower gas prices,” Husted said, citing the war in Ukraine as a factor for spiking diesel costs as well as the war with Iran. “It’s taking longer than any of us wish it would. So in the interim, while those things are concluding, the idea of providing relief from the gas tax for Ohioans for a short period of time is a reasonable thing for Governor [Mike] DeWine to consider.”