Maine Democrats vie for open Senate ballot line after Platner drops out

A dozen candidates qualified to be on the ballot of a July 25 convention to replace former Maine Senate nominee Graham Platner, according to a voter guide posted on the Maine Democratic Party’s website.

Platner suspended his campaign last week following controversy surrounding sexual assault accusations from at least one former girlfriend. He called them both troubling and categorically false in a video statement earlier this month. Plater also insisted that Democrats needed to band together and stand united for politics to change. Platner ultimately released a longer video on July 8 announcing his decision to suspend his campaign and said that the ballot line ultimately belongs to the people of Maine.

What’s next? The small window to replace Platner saw a rush of Democratic hopefuls attempting to earn support from Platner’s progressive base. New candidates faced several challenges in joining the running. Chief among them were moving out of Platner’s shadow, and campaigning in an extremely limited window. The brand new nomination process left candidates with less than three weeks to do what usually takes months, or even years.

The replacement nominee is expected to be chosen at the convention, and will be running against incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins in the November election.