July 9 (Reuters) – Maine’s Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Graham Platner said on Wednesday he would drop out of the race following a sexual assault allegation he has denied.
The state Democratic Party has until July 27 to name a replacement to take on incumbent Republican Susan Collins, in what is seen as one of the most competitive races in the November congressional elections. The party has said it will hold a convention to pick a candidate.
Here are six candidates who are running to replace Platner:
NIRAV SHAH
The former state health director, 49, is positioning himself as a political outsider and lifelong public servant.
Shah developed a following during the COVID-19 pandemic when he delivered daily briefings that drew large audiences. He mounted a bid for governor and won the most votes in the June 9 primary, but ended up losing the nomination under the state’s ranked-choice voting system, which takes voters’ second choices into account.
He ran as a “results-driven” technocrat in that race, but has also called for “Medicare for All” — a proposal for a dramatic expansion of public health insurance that has become a rallying cry for the party’s left wing.
He has said all candidates who want to replace Platner should agree to a televised debate and hold multiple town hall meetings.
TROY JACKSON
The former state Senate president has moved quickly to claim Platner’s populist mantle, portraying himself as a “progressive fighter” when he announced his candidacy.
A fifth-generation logger from remote Allagash, Maine, Jackson, 58, campaigned extensively with Platner during an unsuccessful run for governor and won the backing of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, an influential figure on the left. Jackson has already won the backing of a Sanders-affiliated group, Our Revolution.
As a state legislator, Jackson pursued progressive policies while representing a conservative and rural part of the state. But his early-career opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion rights may prove problematic for some Democrats, even though he has since shifted his stance.
SHENNA BELLOWS
Maine’s current Secretary of State, Bellows, touted her work to shield voter data from President Donald Trump’s Justice Department when she announced her candidacy on Thursday.
Bellows, 51, drew national attention as secretary of state when she ruled that Donald Trump was ineligible to run as a presidential candidate in the state because he had encouraged his supporters to attack the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that she did not have that authority.
She ran unsuccessfully for governor this year. Prior to that, she lost to Collins by nearly 40 percentage points in the 2014 Senate race.
DAN KLEBAN
The 49-year-old co-owner of the microbrewery Maine Beer Company is positioning himself as a populist outsider and says he will push for new leadership in the Senate if elected.
However, Kleban endorsed Platner’s establishment-backed rival, Governor Janet Mills, last year after mounting a brief run for Senate himself.
JORDAN WOOD
A former congressional staffer, Wood, 36, says he would build on Platner’s populist movement.
“I have been told that I am too progressive, that I am too young, that a gay man can’t win,” Wood said. “These cynics are wrong.”
Wood ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination in the state’s second U.S. House of Representatives district, coming in third place.
PAIGE LOUD
A social worker and political newcomer who worked on Platner’s campaign, Loud, 29, came in fourth place in the Democratic primary for the state’s second U.S. House of Representatives district.
(Reporting by Andy Sullivan and Nolan McCaskill; editing by Deepa Babington, Will Dunham and Nick Zieminski)
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