By Nolan D. McCaskill
WASHINGTON, July 17 (Reuters) – Four top candidates vying to replace Graham Platner as the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee in Maine took to the debate stage on Thursday to make their case for why they should be the one to face Republican Senator Susan Collins in November.
Here are some takeaways from the first hour of debate featuring Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, former Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Nirav Shah and ex-congressional aide Jordan Wood:
DEMOCRATS AVOID INFIGHTING
The Democratic candidates repeatedly attacked Collins and President Donald Trump rather than tearing one another down on stage.
The strategy is perhaps a reflection that the party will need to quickly coalesce behind the next nominee to unseat Collins, a well-funded moderate Republican with an independent streak who has represented the state for nearly 30 years.
Some 600 delegates will select a nominee next weekend to replace Platner, who withdrew last week after losing widespread support following sexual assault allegations that he denies. Twelve people are vying for the nomination.
Candidates went after the president over his foreign policy and immigration crackdown, which resulted in the death of a Colombian man in Maine on Monday.
They branded Collins as an enabler, criticizing her support for immigration enforcement funding without guardrails and her vote to advance the One Big Beautiful Bill’s nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts despite voting against its final passage.
SHAH SHOWCASES DEBATE SKILLS
Shah stood out as the most skilled debater, quickly invoking what he called the infuriating “murder” of Joan Sebastian Guerrero by an ICE agent in his opening statement and later connecting the administration’s crackdown to his story as the son of immigrants.
Shah blamed Collins and Republicans for making life less affordable for Mainers, citing increased costs from tariffs and the Iran war, as well as the loss of Affordable Care Act subsidies.
“The question we should ask ourselves is not what we can do or how we can live without her,” Shah said. “It’s whether we can afford to live with her for six more years.”
BELLOWS TRIPPED UP ON FOREIGN POLICY
Every candidate opposed the war in Iran and supported Ukraine aid. But Bellows stumbled over a question about Trump’s raid to abduct Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
“We should look at the facts,” she said. “It’s sometimes confusing who’s right and who’s wrong, but what we need in Congress are strong moral compasses to help make that decision.”
Told that Collins supported a Venezuela war powers resolution in the Senate, Bellows asked the moderators to forgive her.
“A week ago, I was on vacation on a river on the Kennebec, and I’ve been running for governor for a long time,” she said, noting she narrowly lost that race.
Jackson said the raid was “perfectly fine” if there was credible intelligence that Venezuela was a problem. But he doesn’t trust Trump or Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, he said. Shah and Wood opposed the president’s actions.
DEMOCRATS EMBRACE PLATNER’S POLICIES
The candidates embraced Platner’s progressive policies throughout the night as they collectively spoke about the corrupt influence of billionaires while advocating for Medicare for All, abolishing ICE and the Senate filibuster and reforming the Supreme Court. Every candidate but Jackson also accused the Israeli government of committing “genocide” in Gaza.
Their full embrace of Platner’s progressive agenda will allow Republicans to try to paint the new nominee as a radical Democrat in lockstep with Platner, who also faced controversy over Reddit posts, his treatment of women, his faithfulness to his wife and a Nazi tattoo.
Despite initially distancing himself, Wood credited Platner with his eventual acceptance of the term “genocide.”
“When I got into this race, I was very hesitant to use the word genocide,” he said. “Graham got into this race saying, ‘This is genocide.’ And I learned that it is so important in these moments to draw those moral lines.”
DEMOCRATS SPAR ON ELECTABILITY
Maine is the only Republican-held Senate seat up for reelection this year in a state Democrat Kamala Harris won in 2024. That makes it a top target for Democrats, who would need to net four seats to win control of the Senate, where Republicans have a 53-47 majority.
Shah pitched himself as the most electable candidate, pointing to his status as runner-up in last month’s gubernatorial primary.
Bellows framed herself as a fighter who’s never backed down from Trump despite being doxed, swatted, and threatened.
“When Donald Trump came for your voter data, I said hell no,” she said. “I fought in court to keep your data safe, and we won.”
Jackson said he’s a logger from the same part of the state as Collins who’s been able to unite Republicans and Democrats around issues.
Wood said he’s the cleanest break from Platner, noting he called on him to drop out in October. But he also made a case for generational change. Collins, 73, turns 74 in December. If she wins reelection, she would be 80 when her term ends.
“I was in second grade when Susan Collins was first elected our senator,” he said.
(Reporting by Nolan D. McCaskill. Editing by Michael Learmonth and David Gaffen)
Comments