2026-07-08T18:14:10.324Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/08/politics/graham-platner-replacements-maine-senate
缅因州民主党人仅剩不到三周时间来选出新候选人，迎战该国最具实力的蓝州共和党籍议员，这也是民主党今年中期选举中至关重要的一场角逐。
据知情人士告诉CNN，该党现任提名候选人格雷厄姆·普拉特纳正面临党内巨大压力，最快将于本周三退出竞选，因此一批潜在候选人正迅速浮出水面，准备挑战已连任五届的共和党联邦参议员苏珊·柯林斯。
华盛顿的民主党人正密切关注这场幕后争夺，他们将缅因州的参议员席位视为今年11月参议院控制权争夺战中的关键一役。但目前民主党内部尚未达成共识的候选人选择，随着普拉特纳在距离选举仅100天时曝出备受关注的丑闻，党内对如何推举顶级候选人的焦虑与日俱增。
三位潜在竞争者——尼拉夫·沙阿、特洛伊·杰克逊和申娜·贝洛斯——都刚在今年的州长选举中失利，随即瞄准联邦参议员席位。前州参议员杰克逊和现任缅因州务卿贝洛斯自称进步派民粹主义者，而前州级和联邦高级卫生官员沙阿则被视为温和派，有望获得跨党派支持。
在周二接受CNN记者艾琳·伯内特采访时，杰克逊承认，接替普拉特纳参选的候选人将面临紧张仓促的竞选节奏。“时间紧迫，显然还要筹集资金等等。这将是一项挑战，但我确实认为这可行，”他说。
但曾参与缅因州全州竞选的一名策略师对CNN表示：“与州长竞选相比，挑战苏珊·柯林斯完全是另一回事。”
另一位民主党人、缅因啤酒公司联合创始人丹·克莱班周三正式宣布参选。他去年曾首次参选该席位的党内初选，后因全国民主党人推举心仪候选人、时任州长珍妮特·米尔斯参选而退选。克莱班需要从零开始组建竞选团队，此前一直在缅因州同僚中试探支持度。
“我相信我能够团结我们的政党，并最终在11月击败苏珊·柯林斯，”克莱班在Substack帖子中写道，随后他将该帖子分享至X平台。
一位知情人士透露，普拉特纳曾鼓励缅因州至少一名民主党人在他退选后考虑参选。
该消息人士称，普拉特纳致电长期支持者、州议员瓦利·吉格，“感谢她的支持，并鼓励她在他退选后考虑参选”。
“他尚未做出任何背书决定，”该消息人士补充道。
目前无人知晓确切的后续流程。缅因州民主党仍在确定替换普拉特纳参选的流程。但多名消息人士告诉CNN，这绝不会是一场“加冕式”推举：民主党预计将举行临时党代会或正式党团会议，由选民选出候选人。只要普拉特纳在周一下午前退选，民主党将有至7月27日的时间选出替代人选。
现年58岁、行事张扬的杰克逊已正式提交文件，探索参选联邦参议员的可能性。杰克逊在缅因州进步派中广为人知，今年州长竞选期间曾与普拉特纳和参议员伯尼·桑德斯一同竞选。
作为第五代伐木工和工会成员，杰克逊曾是共和党人，2016年转为支持桑德斯。但他也存在可能令部分民主党人犹豫的意识形态记录：在其漫长的州参议员生涯中，杰克逊曾投票反对同性婚姻合法化，且此前除特定情况外反对堕胎权。
这位前州疾控中心主任最初在今年州长选举中获得最多票数，但在重新计票的优先选择投票分配后最终位居第二。
沙阿于2019年被米尔斯任命领导缅因州卫生机构，随后主导了该州的新冠疫情应对工作。尽管他在此期间是缅因州家喻户晓的人物，但批评者指出他并非在该州长大，并指出他在2024年大选时在佐治亚州投票。（他曾被拜登政府任命为亚特兰大美国疾控中心二号官员，该职位任职至特朗普任期结束。）
贝洛斯作为缅因州务卿的角色已获得全国关注，今年1月6日国会山骚乱后，她曾宣布特朗普无资格进入缅因州2024年大选选票。（最高法院后来推翻了她的决定。）
这位自称民粹主义者的候选人此前曾挑战过柯林斯，在2014年的选举中以30个百分点的差距落败——那是民主党表现糟糕的一个选举周期，且未获得全国政党的任何支持。
但她的支持者坚称，情况已大不相同。今年，贝洛斯获得的第二选择票数超过其他任何候选人。这意味着如果该州在今年州长选举中重新进行优先选择投票，且排除获胜者汉娜·平格里，那么贝洛斯将位居首位。
贝洛斯在巴港附近的小镇长大，小学阶段家中仍无电力和自来水，她将自己定位为工人阶级的拥护者。
克莱班是目前唯一一位关注该竞选的政治圈外人。他居住在缅因州坎伯兰，位于波特兰以北，2009年在大衰退期间失业后联合创立了缅因啤酒公司。在去年首次退出联邦参议员竞选前，他的竞选主题聚焦于经济负担能力和气候问题。
此次参选，克莱班明确表示将把竞选目标直接对准“被操纵的企业利益集团”和“华盛顿政坛内部圈人士”。
这位前罗克兰市长、现任州议员一直是普拉特纳的热情支持者，去年秋天曾在当地报纸发表题为《格雷厄姆·普拉特纳应获得宽容》的专栏文章。
吉格在医疗保健领域工作数十年，包括担任注册护士，并于2020年当选缅因州议员。
CNN的阿莱特·萨恩斯对本文亦有贡献。
These Maine Democrats could run to replace Graham Platner in the Senate race
2026-07-08T18:14:10.324Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/08/politics/graham-platner-replacements-maine-senate
Maine Democrats would have less than three weeks to find a new candidate to take on the nation’s most formidable blue-state Republican in one of their party’s most important midterms contests.
With the party’s current nominee, Graham Platner, seeking to navigate an exit from the race as soon as Wednesday in the face of heavy intraparty pressure, people familiar with the matter told CNN, a field of prospective candidates is quickly emerging to take on five-term GOP Sen. Susan Collins.
The behind-the-scenes scramble is being closely watched by Democrats in Washington, who see Maine as a critical seat in their effort to flip the Senate this November. But so far there’s no consensus pick, and anxiety is mounting inside the Democratic Party about how to elevate a top-tier nominee after Platner’s high-profile meltdown just 100 days from the election.
Three of the possible contenders — Nirav Shah, Troy Jackson and Shenna Bellows — are eyeing the Senate race fresh off their own failed gubernatorial bids. Jackson, a former state senator, and Bellows, the current Maine secretary of state, have described themselves as progressive populists, while Shah, a former high-ranking state and federal health official, is considered more moderate, with possible bipartisan appeal.
In an interview Tuesday with CNN’s Erin Burnett, Jackson acknowledged the manic sprint that any post-Platner candidate would face. “Short timeline, obviously money and all that. It’s gonna be a challenge, but I definitely think it’s doable,” he said.
But as one strategist who’s worked on statewide Maine races acknowledged to CNN: “Running against Susan Collins would be night and day compared to a governor’s race.”
Another Democrat, Maine Beer Company co-founder Dan Kleban, formally declared for the race on Wednesday. He had initially run for this same primary last year, only to drop out when national Democrats brought their preferred candidate, Gov. Janet Mills, into the race. Kleban, who would need to build a campaign from the ground up, had been gauging interest among fellow Mainers.
“I believe I can unite our party and finally defeat Susan Collins in November,” Kleban wrote in a Substack post he later shared on X.
Platner has encouraged at least one Democrat in Maine to consider running if he steps aside from the race, a source familiar with the matter said.
Platner called state Rep. Valli Geiger, a longtime backer, to “thank her for her support and encouraged her to consider running if he stepped down,” the source said.
“He’s not made any decision on endorsing,” the source added.
No one yet knows the precise path forward. Maine’s Democratic Party is still determining the process to replace Platner on the ballot. But multiple sources told CNN that it will be anything but a coronation: Democrats are expecting a snap convention or a formal caucus where voters can choose their candidate. As long as Platner drops out before Monday afternoon, Democrats will have until July 27 to choose an alternative.
The brash 58-year-old Jackson has already filed the paperwork to officially explore a possible Senate run. Jackson is perhaps best-known to Maine progressives, campaigning alongside Platner and Sen. Bernie Sanders during his gubernatorial run this year.
A fifth-generation logger and a union member, Jackson is a onetime Republican turned 2016 Sanders voter. But he also comes with an ideological record that could give some Democrats pause: In his long state Senate career, Jackson voted against legalizing same-sex marriage, and has previously opposed abortion except in certain circumstances.
The former director of the state’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention had initially received the most votes in this year’s gubernatorial election, though he ultimately placed second after ranked-choice votes were reallocated.
Shah was tapped by Mills to lead the state’s health agency in 2019 and then led the state’s pandemic response. While he was a household name in Maine during the time, his critics point out that he did not grow up in the state and point out that he voted in Georgia in the 2024 election. (He had been tapped by the Biden administration as the No. 2 official at the national CDC in Atlanta, a job he held through Trump’s election.)
Bellows has gained national attention for her role as Maine secretary of state, once declaring Trump as ineligible for her state’s 2024 ballot after the January 6 Capitol riot. (The Supreme Court later overturned her decision.)
The self-declared populist has run against Collins before, losing by 30 percentage points in the 2014 election — a terrible cycle for Democrats — without any support from the national party.
But her supporters insist that much has changed. This year, Bellows got more second-choice votes than any other candidate. That would mean that if the state re-ran the ranked choice votes for this year’s gubernatorial election without the winner, Hannah Pingree, then Bellows would be first.
Raised in a small town near Bar Harbor, Bellows grew up without electricity or running water until she was in grade school and has pitched herself as a champion for the working class.
Kleban is, so far, the only political outsider eying the race. A resident of Cumberland, Maine, which is just north of Portland, Kleban co-founded Maine Beer Company in 2009 after losing his job during the Great Recession. Before dropping his initial Senate bid last year, he focused his campaign on affordability and climate issues.
This time around, Kleban is signaling that he’ll aim his campaign squarely at “rigged corporate interests” and “Washington establishment insiders.”
The former Rockland mayor and current state represenative has been an impassioned supporter of Platner, writing an op-ed in a local paper last fall headlined “Graham Platner deserves grace.”
Geiger spent decades working in health care, including as a registered nurse, and was elected to the Maine statehouse in 2020.
CNN’s Arlette Saenz contributed to this report.
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