Duckworth opposes candidate to replace Platner: ‘Maine deserves better’

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Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) on Thursday urged Democratic Maine Senate candidate Nirav Shah to end his newly launched campaign, reviving prior criticism of his handling of a deadly Legionnaires’ disease outbreak while he led Illinois’ public health department.

“Maine deserves better than someone who put his public image before the safety of our Veterans,” Duckworth wrote on the social platform X. “Too many of our heroes lost their lives under Nirav Shah’s watch as Illinois Public Health Director.”

Duckworth had called on Shah, who led the Illinois Department of Public Health from 2015 to 2019, to resign in 2018 following investigations into an outbreak at the Illinois Veterans’ Home that killed at least 13 veterans and sickened dozens more.

“There was definitive evidence that a serious public health crisis was underway at the veterans’ home in Quincy in 2015, and the Rauner Administration and Director Shah chose to sit on their hands as veterans and staff at the home fell victim to these deadly bacteria,” Duckworth said in a 2018 joint statement with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).

“I called for his resignation then, and I strongly oppose his run for Senate now,” Duckworth said in her recent post.

Shah, who was a gubernatorial candidate in Maine and finished third in this year’s Democratic primary, recently entered the Senate race after Democratic nominee Graham Platner dropped his bid following a series of scandals and sexual assault allegations.

Shah is one of several Democrats seeking the nomination to take on incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) in November.

Shah addressed the criticism over his handling of the outbreak under his leadership, saying during his gubernatorial campaign earlier this year that it was a “distraction” and “dirty politics.”

While he admitted he made some mistakes, he said he was following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention playbook.

“I could have done a better job communicating,” Shah said. “And I learned that lesson. And that’s why when I got to Maine, you all saw what you saw during the pandemic. No matter what was going on, every single day, hundreds of times, I showed up to make sure that Mainers knew what was going on. I was tested, and I learned a lesson, and I am better for it.”

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Dick Durbin

Nirav Shah

Susan Collins

Tammy Duckworth

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