Updated July 8, 2026 at 6:40 PM EDT
The Maine Democratic Party called out Graham Platner's team late Tuesday for pushing to influence the process to replace him, should he withdraw from the race for U.S. Senate.
"Unfortunately, Graham Platner's team has repeatedly reached out to us in an attempt to put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like," Maine Democratic Party Executive Director Devon Murphy-Anderson said in a video posted to social media. "We have repeatedly reiterated to Graham Platner's team that they have no role in determining our next Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate, nor in determining what this process looks like."
The Platner campaign did not respond to a request for comment, but in a statement to Politico denied it was trying to exert influence.
Pressure is building for Platner to withdraw from the race, following an allegation of sexual assault reported by Politico on Monday.
In the wake of the report, virtually all Democratic Party figures have called for Platner to exit the race and make way for another candidate to work to unseat incumbent GOP Sen. Susan Collins. That drumbeat continued Tuesday when Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont Independent who caucuses with Democrats, said Platner should withdraw. Sanders was one of Platner's earliest and most high-profile supporters.
Platner has until July 13 to drop out in order for the party to select a new nominee.
The state party has said it is working through what that process would look like — but won't make it public until Platner formally steps aside.
Potential candidates are already lining up to replace Platner if he withdraws. The list includes former Maine state Sen. Troy Jackson, who ran unsuccessfully for governor this year, but did so with the crucial backing of Sanders. Jackson told NPR's Morning Edition on Wednesday he would be the best alternative to take on Collins.
"I won two of the biggest cities, Bangor and Portland," he said. "I'm the only candidate that actually won from north to south. The message that Graham's campaign was going with has been my message forever. I think it's an easy transition to continue fighting for those things."
Nirav Shah, who led Maine's public health agency during the COVID-19 pandemic and who also ran unsuccessfully for governor, told All Things Considered he is also considering a run. Like Jackson, Shah said his gubernatorial campaign had support from every corner in Maine. The question now, he added, is how best to take his Maine-centric message and expand it.
"It's the same set of issues, Medicare for all, making sure that working folks have a shot at getting ahead, holding corporations accountable, but now then zooming them out, so that we can talk about them, not just in Maine, but at the national level," he said. "My priority in my organizational principle is that right now, in 2026 no one should live in poverty, and that's the approach I'm going to be taking."
If Platner doesn't withdraw by this coming Monday, he'll remain on the ballot come November.
The stakes are high for Democrats. The party needs to net a total of four seats to win back the majority in the Senate, and Maine is key to that effort. President Trump lost the state in 2024, and party officials believe Collins could be vulnerable in a year when the GOP is facing political headwinds.
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