Platner quits Maine Senate race, reshuffling midterm elections

Democratic Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner said Wednesday he plans to drop out of the race after a woman accused him of sexually assaulting her in 2021, sparking an insurmountable rift with his closest allies.

Platner’s fall is a seismic shift in the 2026 midterm elections, where Democrats seek to wrest control of Congress from Republicans and weaken President Donald Trump’s grip on power. Replacing five-term Republican Sen. Susan Collins’ seat in Maine is critical to those goals, and Democrats in the state must now field a new candidate with less than four months until Election Day.

Platner, an oysterman and former military man, said in a statement that he was “suspending campaign operations” after his support dried up and national fundraisers threatened to divert money from his campaign.

His fall from grace is a colossal miss for Democrats, who had hoped the once scrappy, progressive Mainer could help the party reconnect with disaffected blue-collar voters who have turned to Trump. And the implosion of his campaign is jeopardizing Democrats’ hopes for Senate control by pushing a must-win state into harder-to-reach territory.

Members of the Maine Democratic Party voted Wednesday night to hold a nominating convention to determine Platner’s replacement. The party said it would provide more information about the congress in the coming days. Maine law provides that the party can replace it on the ballot by July 27.

Multiple candidates have already competed to replace him, but the process of selecting a replacement remains largely unclear.

Maine Beer Company founder Dan Kleban, who ran in the Democratic primary earlier this year, said Wednesday he will try again for the nomination.

“We are all sick and tired of a system rigged by corporate interests and subject to enough interference from Washington establishment and New York City consultants trying to dictate who represents us,” Kleban said. “I am ready to fight for the Mainers and bring a new generation of leadership to Washington.”

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who recently lost the primary gubernatorial election, also said she would consider entering the contest. Bellows ran against Collins in 2014 and was defeated by more than 30 percentage points, but the terrain is much more favorable for a Democrat this term.

Nirav Shah, a public health official and gubernatorial runner-up, also expressed interest in joining the ring.

And Troy Jackson, a former Maine Senate leader from rural Aroostook County who was a close ally of Platner until the latest allegations, has already prepared an exploratory bid to potentially replace him.

Jackson showed in his poll on Wednesday that he was ahead of Collins and that he fits well into the mold Platner created with his candidacy.