Maine Democrats Navigate Urgent Senate Nomination Search Amid Unexpected Withdrawal

Standing between a video camera and a curtain of protestors, former Maine state lawmaker and logger Troy Jackson was quickly finding his footing in a Senate race he had not planned to enter, all while confronting a tragedy he had not foreseen.

Earlier on Monday, a federal immigration agent fatally shot a young Colombian man in Biddeford, a blue‑collar town outside Portland. Jackson sought to channel Democratic outrage over the incident and target Senator Susan Collins, the five‑term Republican who voted to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“Let’s tighten that up,” said Aren LeBrun, a campaign videographer, as he coached Jackson toward a cleaner script. “This is the big time now.”

With Democrat Graham Platner dropping out last week amid a denied rape allegation, Jackson and other party members are jockeying to secure the nomination, racing against a convention that will be decided by 601 delegates rather than the primary electorate.

In this sprint, traditional campaign tactics like door‑knocking and television ads have lost relevance. Candidates must now decide whether to focus public events and media outreach or to engage directly with the relatively small group of delegates who will choose their nominee.

To accelerate outreach, teams have resurrected dormant campaign operations, re‑hiring former staffers and bringing in new personnel.

“It’s a minute‑by‑minute effort,” said Dan Kleban, who is running for the nomination, when speaking at his brother’s brewery. “We’re juggling press opportunities and delegate outreach because time is tight.”

At present, only 101 members of the Democratic Party’s state committee hold formal delegate votes, while an additional 500 at‑large delegates will be selected over the weekend by Democrats in Maine’s 16 counties. Before those meetings, candidates are racing to recruit and pack backers into these county gatherings.

This election is rare—candidates are essentially choosing their own voters, while the process for selecting those voters is being defined for the first time. All registered Democrats present at county meetings can vote for delegates, but party leaders have yet to fully explain the mechanics.

Most campaigns are encouraging delegates to pledge their support by Wednesday’s deadline, hoping to field a slate of committed representatives.

In a Facebook post, Jackson urged backers to register as delegates: “We’re in a strong position to secure the U.S. Senate nomination and defeat Susan Collins, but we’ll need all hands on deck.”

Former public health official Dr. Nirav Shah, who ran for governor earlier this year, entered the race after highlighting his leadership in Maine’s COVID‑19 response.

His campaign highlighted his emergency response: “Dr. Nirav Shah stood with Maine when we needed him most,” the message read. “Now he needs our help to secure the nomination.”

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Over 5,500 people had expressed interest in serving as delegates or selecting them at county meetings, according to Maine Democratic Party executive director Devon Murphy‑Anderson’s social‑media video.

While candidates awaited delegate selection, many called the 101 state‑committee members seeking their support, according to campaign reports.

Taylor Grant, president of the Maine Young Democrats and a committee member, expressed discomfort with the lobbying Provence. She said that candidates targeting every committee vote to become the Senate nominee felt inappropriate and that the small pool could not match Platner’s prior support.

“The level of backing Graham had— I don’t think another candidate can replicate that in this shortened timeline,” Grant added.

Campaign volunteers distributed 500 required signatures—including at least 50 from eight counties—by next Monday, printing them out for events such as party meetings and farmers’ markets to meet the non‑digital requirement.

“We have people with clipboards everywhere,” said Alex Obolensky, a consultant on another candidate’s team, reflecting on the frantic signature drive.

The hurried pace has left little time for rest. Kayla vanWieringen, Dr. Shah’s campaign manager, warned loved ones on July 7 that she would likely be unreachable for at leastHalf‑a‑week.

“We’ve been on 18‑hour days,” she shared with the Times.

Some campaign staffers left Maine after their own campaigns ended, only to return on short notice after last week’s withdrawals. In contrast, Matthew Jeweler, Mr. Wood’s organizing director, found new purpose in reengaging after his candidate’s June exit.

“It’s rare to rejoin a campaign when you still miss it,” Jeweler reflected.

Dr. Shah has remained in the public eye, leading town halls on short notice and attending a rally for the ICE shooting victim in Biddeford before heading to a policy briefing in Freeport, just thirty minutes away.

“A Senate campaign is a different order compared to a gubernatorial race,” he told the Times after traveling to another news briefing.

Senate hopeful Shenna Bellows, Maine secretary of state, focused on contacting state‑committee members and coordinating volunteers, while also attending a vigil in Lewiston for the ICE shooting victim, Joan Sebastian Guerrero.

Jackson appeared at multiple rallies and vigils for Guerrero and joined an organizing call with Our Revolution, an advocacy group founded by Senator Bernie Sanders.

In a Monday interview at the anti‑ICE rally, Jackson admitted that “I had never considered the Senate before.”

“The governor’s race was the obvious avenue to address the issues I cared about,” he said. “But Platner’s withdrawal opened an opportunity to continue that message in the U.S. Senate.”

Jackson pressed on, and just before 8 p.m. that night the campaign released a tightly produced montage in which he used strong language to describe the tragedy.

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