If Platner Drops Out Of Maine Senate Race, Which Democrat Will Replace Him?

The writing is on the wall for Graham Platner, who after being credibly accused of rape by a former girlfriend and multiple other red flags is now facing calls to drop out of the Maine Senate race by Democrats on all sides of the ideological spectrum . Platner has yet to announce whether he’ll drop out, but it is clearly untenable for him to continue as national Democrats are pulling the plug on funding his race and even his own base of supporters is abandoning ship. If Platner drops out by 5 PM on July 13, Democrats will be able to replace him on the ballot with a candidate of their choosing. And that puts the Maine Democratic Party in the unenviable position of choosing from a large list of possible contenders. Here are the potential Platner replacements: Troy Jackson Jackson just ran for governor in the Pine Tree State, coming in third in the primary. Like Platner, Jackson touts his working-class, populist bonafides, making him seem like an obvious choice to replace Platner. Jackson wants to be chosen, filing paperwork with the Federal Election Commission in the case he is the candidate. But Jackson had closely aligned himself with Platner , defending him after past scandals had dropped. And Republican Sen. Susan Collins could use that as a weapon in a general election matchup. “The Democratic nominee, if there is a new one, has to be someone who is independent minded from Platner, otherwise they will be viewed by voters as a protege. Any connections to Platner will doom that person’s campaign from the very beginning,” Maine state Sen. Joe Baldacci wrote in a post on X, adding that he has no interest in being the nominee himself, only “Democrats retaking the majority in the US Senate.” Nirav Shah Shah, an epidemiologist who helped Maine handle its COVID-19 response, came in second in Maine’s gubernatorial primary a few weeks ago, meaning he had strong support from Maine Democratic voters. Shah said he wants to be considered as a replacement, and added that interested candidates should be required to agree to a debate and town halls to show what kind of support they would have. Dan Kleban The co-founder of Maine Beer Company, Kleban was running for the Senate seat in 2025, but suspended his campaign shortly after Gov. Janet Mills announced her candidacy Kleban endorsed Mills over Platner, touting Mills’ experience. Since dropping out of the race, Kleban had avoided the Platner drama and was instead focused on attacking Collins for her record . He also has a progressive message, focused on taxing the rich . Jordan Wood Wood, a former congressional staffer who came in third in the Democratic primary for Maine’s open Second Congressional District, also threw his hat in the ring of Democrats hoping to replace Platner on the ballot. “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 said in a post on X. “I am continuing conversations with voters across Maine if I should enter an open Senate race. If my fellow Maine Democrats decide through an open and democratic process that I am the best candidate to defeat Susan Collins, I would be humbled by your trust.” Wood, who is gay, had called on Platner to suspend his campaign all the way back in October 2025, after anti-gay Reddit posts Platner had made surfaced. “I believe deeply in second chances,” Wood said at the time. “But what I saw was someone who doesn’t understand what’s wrong with these statements—how offensive and threatening they are, not just to LGBTQ people, but to people of color and women.” Shenna Bellows Bellows, who serves as Maine’s secretary of state, also ran for governor this cycle but lost the Democratic primary, coming in fourth out of five candidates. The big knock against Bellows is that she ran against Collins once before and lost—miserably. To be sure, it was in 2014, which was a lifetime ago in politics and was a bad year for Democrats. But losing to Collins by nearly 40 points is not a great resume booster. Patrick Dempsey A poll conducted over the weekend tested the favorable numbers of the very attractive actor who earned the nickname “McDreamy” for his long-running role on the TV medical drama Gray’s Anatomy . Dempsey, who was born and raised in Maine, hasn’t said he is looking to run. But clearly someone out there was pushing that trial balloon. Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos