How Graham Platner’s potential replacements compare on policy
With Graham Platner having officially withdrawn from his Senate race last week, the Maine Democratic Party has been left scrambling to find a replacement that can mount a challenge to the incumbent Senator Susan Collins in this year’s midterms.
Platner won the Democratic nomination on June 9, but withdrew on Friday after an accusation of rape eroded his remaining support on Capitol Hill. His exit—which came after months of separate scandals—complicates the party’s hopes of putting a Democrat in a Maine Senate seat for the first time this century.
The party has given itself only two weeks to select a replacement, but progressive voices within Maine believe that Platner’s candidacy has shaped the race to come.
“Mainers are looking for someone who understands what families are going through and will focus relentlessly on lowering costs and expanding opportunity,” said Garrett Martin, president and CEO of the Maine Center for Economic Policy.
“They’re worried about paying for groceries, housing, health care, and energy, not about ideological labels,” he told Newsweek. “They want someone who will stand up to powerful interests and make sure the economy works for people who earn a paycheck, not just those who already have wealth and influence.”
What Were Platner’s Key Policies?
Platner, a former marine and oyster farmer by trade, fashioned his campaign around anti-establishment rhetoric and pro-worker policies. Key elements of this included support for universal health care—as well as staunch defense of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid—higher taxes on the wealthiest Americans, stronger union protections and a focus on housing affordability and campaign finance reform.
On foreign policy, Platner criticized U.S. support for Israel’s actions in Gaza, which he considers a genocide, and vowed to never send Americans “into a pointless war.” As stated on his campaign website, Platner believed “everything we went through in Iraq can be laid at the feet” of politicians—such as his former rival, Senator Collins—who “knew better but voted ‘Yes’ on a disastrous, deadly war.”
This blend of left-wing economic populism, labor politics and progressivism proved resonant with Mainers, and Platner won the June primary with 72 percent of the vote—a record majority for a Democrat Senate primary in the state.
“Maine voters have made clear they’re hungry for a leader who will stand up for working people and take on the corporate interests controlling Washington—that hasn’t changed,” Georgia Hollister Isman, New England regional director for the Working Families Party, told Newsweek.
“The best candidate to take on Collins is a proven fighter for working people who will take on corporate power, not cut deals with it,” she added.
How Does Platner Compare to the Potential Replacements?
And a series of new candidates have come forward to announce their hopes of being the party’s nominee following Platner’s withdrawal. This choice must legally be made by July 27, though Maine’s Democratic Party is set to hold a convention on July 25 where 601 delegates will vote to select Platner’s replacement.
As far as prediction markets are concerned, there are three main front-runners—former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and Nirav Shah, former director of Maine’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who came in second in Maine’s Democratic gubernatorial primary.
Newsweek contacted the candidates—who all ran in the gubernatorial primary—through their respective campaigns on Monday for comment, but they did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Troy Jackson
Where Their Policies Overlap
Troy Jackson is a fifth-generation logger, former Maine Senate President, and progressive leader who previously ran a joint primary campaign alongside Platner.
The pair overlap in their support for Medicare for All, their pro-union credentials and their opposition to U.S. military aid to Israel as well as foreign entanglements more broadly. Jackson therefore represents arguably the clearest continuation of Platner’s platform, a fact that has seen him win the support of prominent progressive groups like Our Revolution, while becoming the front-runner on the prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket.
Where They Differ
Unlike Platner, Jackson boasts a significant degree of political experience, having served in the Maine Senate between 2008 and 2024, which included a six-year stint as its president.
This long career has also seen Jackson go through several ideological stages. He first ran for office as a Republican and opposed abortion and same-sex marriage, though he has since shifted to a vocal supporter of LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights.
Shenna Bellows
Where Their Policies Overlap
The Maine Secretary of State is a former state senator, civil rights advocate and former executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) Maine wing.
Bellows and Platner occupy similar ideological ground on issues like labor and housing, environmental policy, immigration and campaign finance laws—with both strongly opposing Citizens United and supporting public financing of elections to curb the influence of wealthy donors.
Where They Differ
The pair differ in their approach to certain central issues, however.
On health care, while Platner campaigned on universalizing access, Bellows’ platform puts greater emphasis on defensive and expansionist strategies, such as protecting the Affordable Care Act and expanding existing Medicaid and Medicare coverage.
Bellows is also a longtime advocate for stricter firearm regulations, an issue that barely featured in Platner’s platform or campaigning.
Nirav Shah
Where Their Policies Overlap
A former Maine CDC director, Shah recently lost the Democratic gubernatorial primary to Hannah Pingree, who will be taking on Republican Bobby Charles in November. Shah has now entered the Senate race, framing himself as a candidate who can unite the moderate and progressive wings of the party and help Democrats flip the seat.
Like Platner, Shah has explicitly championed “Medicare for All,” arguing that no American should face bankruptcy due to medical bills. He has also criticized defense spending at the expense of domestic priorities, as well as Republican-backed tax cuts used to finance this.
Where They Differ
As well as a disparity in experience—Shah having been credited with leading Maine through the COVID pandemic—the candidate has been viewed as more policy-oriented and centrist than the progressive populist Platner.
Shah, in response, has argued that he is both a progressive and a pragmatist.
“If there’s anyone out there that’s trying to tell you that I am not progressive, you tell them…that you heard me in Bangor and I told you how unbelievably p***** off I am,” he said during a recent campaign event, as quoted in Bangor Daily News.
When Will Platner’s Replacement Be Chosen?
This weekend, all 16 counties in Maine will hold meetings to nominate the delegates that will go on to select Platner’s replacement. From these meetings, 500 individuals will be selected to attend the July 25 convention in Bangor, joining 101 members of the state Democratic Party committee to decide who will take Senator Collins on come November.
Over 2,000 people have filed either to run as delegates or attend county meetings, according to Maine Democratic Party Executive Director Devon Murphy-Anderson.
And Platner has said he hopes the process to replace him on the ticket is “open, transparent and democratic.”
“It needs to be reflecting the will and the values of the people that built this movement,” he said in a video message posted to X last week.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Tobias Meyjes and James Debens
