Every Dem Seeking Maine Senate Seat Has Lost A Recent Election
Maine Democrats are scrambling to salvage one of their party’s most important Senate opportunities after nominee Graham Platner abruptly withdrew, leaving party officials to choose a replacement through an unprecedented convention process.
The contest to challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins has taken an unusual turn. Many of the Democrats now competing for the nomination are familiar names who already lost campaigns earlier this year.
Platner formally withdrew after a former girlfriend accused him of rape, an allegation he denies. His departure triggered a compressed replacement process, with Maine Democrats facing a July 27 statutory deadline to submit a new nominee.
County meetings held July 18 and 19 are selecting delegates from all 16 Maine counties. A total of 601 delegates are scheduled to convene at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor on July 25 to select the party’s replacement nominee.
The field initially featured eight prominent contenders before expanding to roughly a dozen candidates. Yet the most recognizable names largely share the same political résumé: recent defeat.
Nirav Shah Tries Again After Ranked-Choice Loss
Former Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Nirav Shah enters the abbreviated contest as one of its highest-profile candidates.
Shah received the most first-choice votes in the June Democratic gubernatorial primary but failed to win the nomination after Maine’s ranked-choice tabulation redistributed ballots. Former Maine House Speaker Hannah Pingree ultimately prevailed, leaving Shah in second place.
Only weeks after that loss, Shah pivoted to the Senate contest and immediately began courting Platner’s progressive supporters.
“My message to those supporters of Graham’s is a very clear one,” Shah said. “You have a home in this campaign.”
Shah is presenting himself as a political outsider capable of holding together the coalition Platner assembled. That coalition, however, may prove difficult to transfer to an establishment-backed replacement.
Troy Jackson and Shenna Bellows Seek Political Comebacks
Former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson is also attempting a rapid political comeback after finishing third in the Democratic gubernatorial primary.
Jackson, a fifth-generation logger with close ties to organized labor, campaigned alongside Platner and received support from progressive organizations associated with Sen. Bernie Sanders. Our Revolution, the organization Sanders founded, has now backed Jackson in the replacement contest.
Secretary of State Shenna Bellows is making another run for federal office after finishing fourth in the gubernatorial primary.
“Flipping the Senate in November is crucial,” she wrote on social media.
Bellows previously challenged Collins in 2014 and lost by more than a two-to-one margin. Her latest campaign therefore represents not only a rebound from June’s gubernatorial defeat but also a second attempt to unseat the same Republican senator who defeated her overwhelmingly more than a decade ago.
At a televised debate, Bellows acknowledged that she had been on vacation shortly before entering the sudden Senate contest and stumbled when questioned about recent foreign-policy developments. The episode illustrated how little preparation time the candidates have before the convention.
Jordan Wood Returns to the Race He Abandoned
Former congressional aide Jordan Wood has also returned to the Senate campaign trail.
Wood initially entered the Senate race but switched to Maine’s competitive 2nd Congressional District after Democratic Rep. Jared Golden announced that he would not seek reelection.
Wood lost that Democratic primary and is now once again pursuing the Senate nomination he previously abandoned.
He has attempted to portray himself as a break from Platner personally while simultaneously embracing several elements of Platner’s progressive platform.
During Thursday’s debate, the leading Democrats supported policies including eliminating the Senate filibuster, government-run health care and dismantling or replacing Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Every leading candidate except Jackson also accused Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza.
That ideological continuity could create an opening for Republicans to argue that Platner may be gone, but the far-left agenda that powered his campaign remains firmly in place.
David Costello Launches Yet Another Senate Bid
David Costello is making his second Senate campaign of 2026.
Costello received approximately 8 percent of the vote in the June Democratic Senate primary, finishing third behind Platner and Gov. Janet Mills, whose name remained on the ballot despite suspending her campaign.
He was also the Democratic Senate nominee in 2024 but finished a distant third behind independent Sen. Angus King.
Costello’s return underscores the limited choices confronting party delegates. Democrats are attempting to replace a nominee who received more than 150,000 primary votes with candidates whom voters rejected only weeks earlier.
Dan Kleban Reenters After Dropping Out
Maine Beer Company co-founder Dan Kleban briefly sought the Senate nomination earlier in the election cycle before ending his campaign and endorsing Mills.
Following Platner’s withdrawal, Kleban reversed course and returned to the contest.
“I fully support an open, transparent process to earn the trust of our delegates,” Kleban said.
Kleban’s renewed candidacy gives Democrats another contender with statewide campaign experience, but it also adds to the appearance that the party is recycling candidates who previously withdrew or failed to win voters’ support.
Paige Loud Enters, Then Quickly Withdraws
Social worker Paige Loud also launched a Senate campaign after losing the Democratic primary in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District.
“The grassroots movement in Maine is more powerful than ever,” she wrote.
Loud argued that the political organization developed during the earlier campaigns should continue under a new nominee. However, she withdrew from the Senate contest on July 16, leaving the party with 12 declared candidates facing a July 20 signature deadline.
Her brief candidacy further demonstrated the disorder surrounding a process in which Democrats have only days to recruit delegates, collect signatures, debate and build statewide campaign operations.
Former Legislator Joins Crowded Contest
Former state Rep. Elizabeth Dickerson is among the candidates who did not lose another campaign this year.
Dickerson served in the Maine Legislature before resigning more than a decade ago. Her campaign is centered on economic inequality and expanding government support for working families.
Other declared contenders have included Elizabeth Cote, Joseph Leveille, Kristina Libby, Saundra Pelletier and activist Ashley Webb, bringing the post-Platner field to 12 candidates after Loud’s withdrawal.
Platner’s Progressive Machine May Not Transfer
Platner, a combat veteran and oyster farmer, won the June Democratic primary with more than 150,000 votes after building an energetic progressive movement and receiving Sanders’ endorsement.
That campaign collapsed after the accusation from his former girlfriend became public and major Democratic organizations withdrew their support. Platner denied the allegation but ultimately left the race.
His former organizers have since warned Maine Democratic officials that the political infrastructure they built cannot simply be handed to whichever candidate is selected by 601 party delegates.
The volunteer network said its organization “does not transfer automatically to whoever the Party selects.”
That warning exposes the central problem facing Democrats.
Platner was selected by more than 150,000 primary voters. His replacement will instead be chosen at a party convention by several hundred delegates, many of whom are being selected only days before the vote. The party’s nominee will then have barely three months to unite Democrats, rebuild campaign operations and take on an experienced Republican incumbent.
The circumstances provide Collins with a powerful contrast. While Democrats sort through a crowded field filled with recent losers, withdrawn candidates and recycled campaigns, Maine’s senior senator can present herself as the stable alternative to a party thrown into turmoil by its own nominee.