Democratic infighting roils process to replace Platner in Maine Senate race

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Maine Democrats are looking to quickly turn the page on Senate candidate Graham Platner’s imploding campaign and select a new nominee ahead of a looming Monday deadline, but escalating tension between his campaign and the state party is threatening Democrats’ hopes of salvaging a race critical to flipping the Senate this fall.

Devon Murphy-Anderson, the Maine Democratic Party’s executive director, posted a video to social media on Tuesday vowing the state party would create a candidate selection process that was “open, inclusive, transparent and fair” while accusing Platner’s team of trying to tip the scales on the selection process.

Yet, the process is contingent on Platner dropping out — something he has yet to do — and the situation reached a boiling point on Wednesday.

Platner campaign manager Ben Chin reportedly sent out a mass text in which he alleged the state party had allowed the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm “to send staffers to plan a potential nominating process behind closed doors.” He said the campaign was excluded from the process and solicited feedback from Platner’s supporters about their thoughts toward the state party and the Senate Democratic candidate.

The Hill reached out to the campaign for comment.

A spokesperson for the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm contested the statement, calling it “false.”

“The Maine Democratic Party has made it clear that they are working to put forth an open process to select a nominee. Graham Platner — who was credibly accused of rape — needs to drop out immediately so that Maine Democrats can begin the process of fielding a new candidate and focus on defeating Susan Collins,” the spokesperson said, referring to the GOP incumbent senator.

Maine Democrats also fired back, with Murphy-Anderson accusing the Platner campaign of remaining “focused on distracting from the job of defeating Susan Collins in November with false accusations against us” in a statement posted on social media.

“The Maine Democratic Party remains hyper-focused on developing a representative, transparent and inclusive process to select a new nominee when he chooses to withdraw from the race,” Murphy-Anderson added.

Democrats are now looking at the best way forward to select a new nominee who can placate all sides of the party, but infighting has made that mission especially difficult.

“There’s a lot of frustration that he’s not getting out. He obviously can’t survive,” Bev Uhlenhake, the previous chair of the Maine Democratic Party, told The Hill.

“The party is still in process and figuring out what’s going to happen, but I feel confident knowing that given the people involved with that conversation, that it will be a fair process, and it will be as inclusive as possible,” she added.

A handful of Democrats have signaled interest in or already launched campaigns for the Senate Democratic nomination, including Troy Jackson, former Maine Senate president; Nirav Shah, former Maine Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director; Shenna Bellows, Maine secretary of State; and Dan Kleban and Jordan Wood, both former Maine Senate candidates.

Jackson, Shah and Bellows all ran for Maine governor and lost in the primary to former Maine House Speaker Hannah Pingree.

Some Democratic strategists expect the three former gubernatorial candidates to rise to the top of the pack, even if the candidate pool becomes significantly larger.

Uhlenhake said it’s important Democrats are “pragmatic” in selecting the replacement candidate, noting the individual should already have campaign trail experience, have thought about running for major office and have been thoroughly vetted.

Guidance around replacing nominees at this stage of the process is vague, and there is little precedent for replacing a candidate on this large of a scale, political experts say.

The process is entirely up to the state party, which is likely to choose between a caucus or convention — either in person or virtually. It will need to balance logistical constraints with the party’s aim to ensure transparency.

“I do think that there will be some kind of good faith effort by the Maine Democratic Party to do something as open and accessible as possible,” Amy Fried, political science professor emerita at the University of Maine, told The Hill.

“It could be there’ll be also some controversy about that, and some people will think it’s insufficient, but it’s just not an easy thing to pull off in a short period of time,” she continued.

State party conventions draw approximately 1,500 delegates, and few spaces in Maine could accommodate that many people on short notice. Organizing an in-person convention is also a significant undertaking and expense, one the state party would not have much time to prepare for.

Uhlenhake said she thinks the process might look like a convention with a virtual process for voting, which has been standard since COVID-19. The former party chair said the convention could also include an in-person component but stressed that “everything at this point is speculation.”

“The last thing they want to do is set up a process that then has technical glitches, so they’re going to test it, test it and test it to make sure that it works … before they announce anything,” Uhlenhake said. “So, I assume that that’s what they’re doing right now.”

Maine Democrats have experience with caucuses — having last held a presidential caucus in 2016 — but some say the process was ditched for good reason and doubt that the state party would choose to go down that path again.

Peggy Schaffer, who served as vice chair for the Maine Democratic Party during that most recent caucus, called the absentee ballot process they used a “nightmare” because organizers were unprepared for the volume of ballots.

Political scientists also suggest that caucuses tend to be less reflective of popular opinion within the party.

“Caucuses typically are not as representative, but somehow there’s a feeling people have that they’re more democratic, a lot of times. But, really, they don’t rank very well for representativeness,” Fried said, noting the process is long and often requires participants to take time off work.

It’s fraught terrain for Maine Democrats who have a short runway to unify all elements of the party — including Platner supporters — in a race that became yet another high-profile proxy battle between the centrist-moderate and progressive wings.

Platner has until Monday to drop out of the race, which would allow the state party to choose a replacement before November. Maine Democrats would have until July 27 to complete their nominating process to select a new candidate.

Organizers could technically launch a write-in campaign for a candidate by Aug. 25, but Democrats say that situation creates immediate headaches.

Schaffer, who’s not involved in discussions around the nominating process, said the onus is on Platner’s supporters to ensure a unified front heading into the general election as Democrats eye a rare chance to oust Collins.

“His supporters are going to have to figure out whether he is more important or the issues he talked about are more important,” said Schaffer, who backed Gov. Janet Mills (D) in the primary.

Platner’s candidacy garnered national attention, with early support coming from progressive leaders like Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), both of whom have since withdrawn their endorsements in light of the allegations.

Uhlenhake said she doesn’t expect the national influence to be as significant in such a short candidate-selection process, but she urged out-of-state Democrats to trust Maine to select the best candidate.

“I think Mainers are really wary of allowing other people to come in and tell them who to vote for because that’s sort of what got us into this mess,” she said.

She also said the state party recognizes unseating Collins is critical to Democratic hopes of flipping the Senate in November.

“We’re being incredibly thoughtful and deliberate about how this is handled, and we also understand the gravity of the decision,” Uhlenhake said. “Because we know that if Susan Collins stays in, we’re unlikely to flip the Senate, and that changes the outcome for the entire country.”

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