2026-07-08T13:45:54.973Z / 美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）
缅因州波特兰——
据知情人士透露，格雷厄姆·普拉特纳及其竞选团队的几名核心策略师正设法体面退出缅因州这场事关重大的联邦参议员竞选，同时避免完全葬送他此前搭建起的竞选运动，而非继续硬扛或是寻找继续参选的途径。
普拉特纳预计将通过录制视频宣布这一决定，视频可能于本周晚些时候发布。知情人士表示，截至本周一上午，视频尚未录制完成。
缅因州民主党联邦参议员提名候选人本周遭遇支持率暴跌，此前他的一名前女友指控他在2021年强奸了自己，普拉特纳对此予以否认。
在CNN和《政客》报道这一指控后，普拉特纳称其“令人不安、性质严重且纯属虚假”，而这位提名候选人则表示，他将“反思自己竞选参议员的最佳前进道路”。
普拉特纳的顶级竞选策略师莫里斯·卡茨将于周三与这位身陷困境的候选人在缅因州会面。
卡茨同时也是纽约市长佐赫兰·曼达尼的关键顾问，他曾向身边人表示，考虑到针对普拉特纳的指控，他认为普拉特纳无法继续留在竞选当中。
“这场竞选可以——也应该——在今天结束，”一位接近竞选团队的人士告诉CNN，“我们将拭目以待，看能否如愿。”
谁将接替普拉特纳引发疑问与担忧
围绕缅因州政坛这场风波的一个核心疑问是，如果普拉特纳在7月13日的截止日期前退出竞选，他本人及其进步派支持者是否将参与挑选下一位民主党提名候选人。根据缅因州法律，民主党有至7月27日的时间提名替代人选。
缅因州民主党本周二晚间明确表示，普拉特纳的竞选团队“无权参与决定我们的下一任联邦参议院民主党提名候选人，也无权决定这一程序的具体形式”。
该党官员已于昨晚与律师会面，探讨如果提名候选人退选，潜在的提名程序将如何运作，但截至周三上午，官员们尚未公布该计划的细节。缅因州的一位民主党策略师表示，相关细节可能要等到普拉特纳正式退选后才会公开。
部分选民对这一替换程序表达了担忧。
“我们的时间非常紧迫，必须尽快整合起来找到合适人选，我只能向上天、向星辰祈祷，我们能顺利办成这件事，”来自肯纳邦克波特的南希说道，她曾在民主党初选中投票支持州长珍妮特·米尔斯。
“我认为找到一位合格且能胜任的人选并不难，”支持过普拉特纳的波特兰选民莉兹·格里芬表示，“但要找到真正能激发民众热情的合适人选……我认为这会很困难。”
与此同时，进步派团体担心普拉特纳会被一名中间派民主党人取代，他们呼吁缅因州民主党在提名候选人退选前公布挑选新提名候选人的计划细节。
曾背书普拉特纳、但随后呼吁提名候选人退选的进步变革竞选委员会联合创始人亚当·格林，严厉批评了缅因州民主党周二对普拉特纳的指责。
格林周三在接受CBS新闻采访时表示，如果不是缅因州民主党“无能且傲慢”，普拉特纳本已退出竞选。他敦促民主党官员立即公布替换普拉特纳的计划。
“即便已经没人希望他继续参选，格雷厄姆·普拉特纳作为卸任前的最后举动，也完全有权说‘我愿意退出，但请向公众保证他们将拥有话语权’，”格林说道，“但这种情况至今尚未发生。缅因州民主党必须拿出实际行动。”
部分左翼人士已表态支持前州参议院议长特洛伊·杰克逊，后者在上个月失利的州长竞选期间获得了佛蒙特州参议员伯尼·桑德斯的背书。与桑德斯立场一致的进步派团体“我们的革命”于周二背书杰克逊，并警告称这并非“民主党当局借机钦点替代人选的机会”。
“我们只有几天，而非几周的时间来确保真正的进步派人士出现在选票上，”该组织执行主任约瑟夫·吉瓦格斯在一份声明中说道，“如果我们现在不行动起来，就可能眼睁睁看着民主党当局给缅因州塞进一个企业代言人，而那些刚在选举中失利的政党却自以为比民众更懂行。”
该州部分民主党选民对7月仓促寻找替代候选人的过程将如何影响民主党11月的选情表达了担忧。缅因州联邦参议员现任共和党议员苏珊·柯林斯正谋求第六个任期，这场竞选对民主党拿下参议院多数席位的目标至关重要。
“现在已经到了竞选的关键时刻，”支持过普拉特纳的波特兰民主党选民弗雷德里克·费伊说道，“他们必须找到一位优秀的候选人，能迅速跟上竞选节奏并推进工作。即便在最理想的情况下，这也会非常困难。”
该州无党派选民伊恩·麦克雷表示，普拉特纳是否应该退选是个“艰难的抉择”，并补充说这一时刻让他想起了2024年夏季拜登总统退出总统竞选、民主党团结在前副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯身后作为提名候选人的场景。
“我不知道替代人选会是谁，我们当时也经历了哈里斯的情况，”麦克雷说道，“当时有人告诉你们候选人是谁，我不确定这次会如何发展，但情况很相似。”
CNN的艾莉森·梅因为本报道撰稿。
Platner’s campaign trying to navigate exit from consequential Maine race, sources say
2026-07-08T13:45:54.973Z / CNN
Portland, Maine—
Graham Platner and a small team of strategists behind his candidacy are trying to navigate an exit from the consequential Senate race in Maine without entirely squandering the movement he built, people familiar with the matter said, rather than digging in or trying to find a path forward for his candidacy.
Platner is expected to announce his decision through a recorded video, which could come later Wednesday. As of this morning, the message had not been taped, the people familiar said.
Support for Maine’s Democratic nominee in the Senate race collapsed this week after a woman he previously dated alleged that he raped her in 2021, which he has denied.
After CNN and Politico reported the allegation, which Platner called “troubling, serious and false,” the nominee said he would “reflect on the best path forward” for his Senate bid.
Morris Katz, a top campaign strategist for Platner, is set to meet with the embattled candidate in Maine on Wednesday.
Katz, who also is a key adviser to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, has told associates he does not believe Platner can remain in the race, given the allegations against him.
“This could – and should – end today,” a person close to the campaign told CNN. “We’ll see if it does.”
Questions and concerns over who would replace Platner
A question looming over the Maine political embroglio is whether Platner and his progressive supporters will play a role in choosing the next Democratic nominee, should he leave the race by the July 13 deadline. Under Maine law, the party has until July 27 to name a replacement.
The Maine Democratic Party pointedly said Tuesday night the Platner campaign should “have no role in determining our next Democratic nominee for the US Senate, nor in determining what this process looks like.”
Party officials met with lawyers last night to work through what a potential nominating process would look like if the nominee steps aside, but as of Wednesday morning, officials have yet to communicate what that plan will entail, with one Democratic strategist in Maine saying it may not be publicized until Platner officially drops out of the race.
Some voters have expressed anxiety about the process for replacing him.
“We have a very short window here to pull ourselves together and find somebody, and I’m just praying to the universe, to the stars that we can pull it together,” said Nancy, a voter from Kennebunkport, who voted for Gov. Janet Mills in the Democratic primary.
“I don’t think it will be difficult to find somebody who’s qualified and could do a good job,” said Liz Griffin, a Portland voter who backed Platner in the Democratic primary. “I think finding the right person that will really motivate people … I think that’s going to be tough.”
Meanwhile, progressive groups, wary of seeing Platner replaced by a centrist Democrat, have called on the state’s Democratic Party to release details about the plan to pick a new nominee before the nominee drops out.
Adam Green, the co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which endorsed Platner but has since called on the nominee to drop out, sharply criticized the state party over its Tuesday rebuke of Platner.
Green said in an interview with CBS News on Wednesday that Platner would have exited the race already if not for the “incompetence and arrogance” of the state party. He urged party officials to share their plan for replacing Platner immediately.
“It is reasonable for Graham Platner, as his last act, even though nobody wants him around anymore, to say, ‘I’m willing to leave, just assure the public they will have a voice,’” Green said. “That has not happened yet. The Maine Democratic Party needs to get their act together.”
Some on the left have aligned behind former state Senate President Troy Jackson, who had the backing of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders during his failed gubernatorial bid last month. Our Revolution, a progressive group aligned with Sanders, endorsed Jackson on Tuesday, warning this is not “the Democratic establishment’s opening to handpick a replacement.”
“We have days, not weeks, to make sure a real progressive is on this ballot,” Joseph Geevarghese, the group’s executive director, said in a statement. “If we do not organize now, we risk watching the Democratic establishment hand Maine a corporate placeholder while the party that just got outvoted decides it knows better.”
Some Democratic voters in the state have expressed anxiety about how a July scramble to find a replacement could impact Democrats’ ability to win in November. The race in Maine, where incumbent GOP Sen. Susan Collins is running for her sixth term in office, is key to Democrats’ hopes of winning the Senate majority.
“It’s getting late in the game,” said Frederic Fahey, a Democratic voter in Portland who supported Platner in the primary. “They’d have to find a good candidate who could come up to speed really fast and then move forward. I think even under the best circumstances that would be very difficult.”
Ian MacRae, an unenrolled voter in the state, said it was a “tough call” on whether Platner should drop out, adding the moment reminded him of President Joe Biden bowing out of the presidential race in the summer of 2024 and the Democratic Party rallying around former Vice President Kamala Harris as the nominee.
“I don’t know who the replacement’s going to be, and we went through this with Harris,” MacRae said. “You were told who your candidate was going to be, and I’m not sure how that’s going to play out here, which is a similar scenario.”
CNN’s Alison Main contributed to this report.
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