2026-07-15T09:00:25.498Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/15/politics/graham-platner-maine-democrats-convention-us-senate-susan-collins
各县民主党主席的电话被打爆。无尽的谷歌报名表和电子表格接踵而至。而一位名誉扫地的前候选人如影随形，笼罩着一切，给民主党重启竞选的希望蒙上阴影。
这场旨在接替格雷厄姆·普拉特纳、今年秋季对阵共和党参议员苏珊·柯林斯的民主党紧急选举，开局便充满混乱与戏剧性。
普拉特纳在被指控强奸后（他本人否认指控）竞选团队崩盘，令缅因州民主党人仓促制定了极不寻常的选举流程，这反映出参议院控制权争夺战的高风险性。
7月25日，也就是普拉特纳正式退出仅15天后，601名代表将在州首府班戈集会，投票选出新的候选人。其中大多数代表——500名——将在本周末缅因州各县的会议上选出。其余101名代表将自动来自缅因州民主党州委员会，目前各方已在大力争取他们的支持。
至少有8名候选人正争相收集足够签名以获得大会参选资格，并组建代表团队支持自己。
“我们正处于危险境地，没有完美的办法来应对这种前所未有的局面，”候选人之一乔丹·伍德本周对记者表示。
普拉特纳的污点遗产影响深远，他的部分支持者希望找到一位继任候选人，延续他曾试图打造的工人阶级进步主义运动。
前缅因州参议院议长特洛伊·杰克逊在50多位现任及前任民选官员的支持下启动了参议院竞选，他似乎在这方面做出了最明确的呼吁。
“你们曾与另一位候选人并肩投入心血、时间和精力，在缅因州打造这场运动，我知道大家心中充满痛苦、愤怒和失望，我不会试图淡化这种情绪，”杰克逊周一在与全国进步组织“我们的革命”成员的电话会议上表示。“但请看，这场运动从来都不只是某一个人的。”
候选人需在周三下午5点前宣布参选意向，首场预定辩论将于周四举行。截至周一，候选人需提交500个签名以获得参选资格，其中包括至少来自8个不同县的50个签名。
周二晚间，缅因州民主党表示，已收到超过5500份民主党人的申请，他们要么希望成为代表，要么将参加县级会议选举代表。
这一流程的选民规模远小于传统初选，需要高度专注于组织工作和人际关系。至少部分竞选团队在代表们抵达班戈之前，可能已经接触过——如果说不上交谈过——所有601名代表。
缅因州民主党人容不得半点差错。7月27日——也就是大会召开两天后——是州法律规定的提交替代候选人姓名以列入选票的最后期限。
“我认为我们所有人都在努力让这一过程透明、包容且尽可能及时，”沃尔多县民主党主席佩奇·蔡格尔在一封部分针对州外政治观察家的邮件中表示：“我们缅因人将树立榜样，因为‘缅因州如何发展，全国亦将随之’。现在跟我们一起，在11月选出真正优秀的领导人吧。”
拥有现成政治人脉的前全州范围候选人可能拥有优势。
尼拉夫·沙阿的州长竞选在6月9日民主党初选中获得了最多的首轮选票，随后输给了汉娜·平格里。当普拉特纳结束竞选时，他的团队仍在收尾工作。沙阿的竞选团队原本准备召开最后一次会议，并讨论让支持者继续参与缅因州政治活动的想法，比如举办社区服务活动。
当参议院提名席位空悬的局势明朗后，他们迅速调整方向，于周五晚间召开了有100多名志愿者参与的电话会议，其中数十人在接下来的几天里忙着打印请愿书并收集签名。该竞选团队周日晚间宣布，已达到签名门槛。
“我们的团队基本从未松懈，”沙阿的竞选经理凯拉·范维林根表示。“所有人都彻底动员起来了。”
缅因州州务卿申娜·贝洛斯——另一位前州长候选人，如今也在角逐参议院提名——一直在联系其上次竞选活动中的“超级志愿者”和“各县负责人”，请他们协助收集签名和招募代表。其中包括今年早些时候为她举办数十场家庭聚会的支持者。
部分竞选团队已聘请新员工，但承认这场激烈角逐的初步工作主要由志愿者完成。
一位熟悉杰克逊竞选团队的人士以匿名方式表示，因未获授权讨论战略，其团队正在开展“全面闪电战”，联系潜在代表。“坦率地说，就是连续数小时打电话，”该人士说道。
公开层面，各竞选团队一直在询问支持者是否计划参加本周末的县级会议，如果参加，是打算自己竞选代表，还是支持该竞选团队的代表候选人。理想情况下，一场竞选活动可以从县级会议中获得参加大会的已知支持基线。
“目标是在本周末锁定尽可能多的代表，这样你就能信心满满地前往班戈的提名大会，”那位熟悉杰克逊竞选团队的人士表示。
即便如此，代表们在法律上并不受绑定支持特定候选人，他们的忠诚度可能会从县级会议转向大会，届时将进行多轮投票，直到有候选人获得多数支持。
“一切都没有定数，”一位参与此次竞选的人士表示。
果然，本周竞选启动之际，就有例证表明外部事件可能迅速颠覆竞选活动。周一，美国移民和海关执法局一名官员在比迪福德枪杀一名男子后，杰克逊前往这座沿海城镇参加了一场“紧急”集会，沙阿则于周二举行新闻发布会，批评柯林斯投票支持为ICE提供资金的记录。
各竞选团队正在权衡如何平衡线下活动与私下联系代表，他们承认，针对如此小规模的选民群体，电视广告等传统竞选工具效率低下。即便更精准的手段——比如数字广告或短信——可能也得等到下周代表完整名单出炉后才能使用。
普拉特纳在准备退出竞选之际，试图左右这场接替他的竞选。州众议员瓦利·吉格是普拉特纳的重要支持者之一，她表示自己是普拉特纳联系过的“数位”潜在候选人之一。她周一宣布不会参选，转而支持贝洛斯。
即便州内和全国的进步派人士已经与普拉特纳划清界限，缅因州似乎仍有相当一部分派系希望看到一位理念相似的候选人接替他。
杰克逊周二吹嘘称，他已签署一份请愿书，支持普拉特纳式的纲领：普及全民医保、对亿万富翁征税、结束所谓的“永久战争”。
杰克逊可以说是与普拉特纳关系最密切的人，曾多次与他一同竞选。他在强奸指控曝光后呼吁普拉特纳退出，并在上周接受MS NOW采访时表示，普拉特纳“对我撒谎了”，隐瞒了其过往是否有任何可疑之处。
伍德则走了不同的路线。他告诉记者，候选人需要能够“迅速与普拉特纳划清界限”的人。
伍德与普拉特纳也有过往交集：去年两人都在参议院初选中参选时，他就曾呼吁普拉特纳退出。后来伍德转战缅因州第二国会选区的初选，当普拉特纳的主要对手、州长珍妮特·米尔斯退出后，伍德转而支持普拉特纳参选参议院。
啤酒厂老板丹·克莱班曾短暂与普拉特纳竞争参议院席位，随后退出并支持米尔斯。他将自己定位为没有普拉特纳包袱的、类似普拉特纳的局外人。与普拉特纳一样，克莱班也是纽约州参议员查克·舒默的批评者，并誓言不会支持他担任参议院民主党领袖。
舒默曾在初选中支持米尔斯，但他的助手已承诺不会介入此次大会。
目前尚不清楚所有支持普拉特纳的全国进步派人士是否会在大会前背书。加利福尼亚州众议员罗·卡纳是普拉特纳在国会最忠实的支持者之一，他已表态支持杰克逊，但参议员伯尼·桑德斯和伊丽莎白·沃伦尚未做出背书。
桑德斯周一告诉CNN，他认为自己不会在大会前背书任何候选人。
大多数其他外部民主党人都不介入此次初选——但有两个明显的例外。伊利诺伊州的两位民主党参议员都公开批评过沙阿，因其曾在该州担任公共卫生主任期间的表现。
参议员塔米·达克沃斯上周表示，基于沙阿在该州的任职记录，她“强烈反对”他的参议院竞选。伊利诺伊州民主党另一位参议员迪克·德宾周二告诉CNN，如果沙阿获得提名，他不会支持他。
沙阿在周一的新闻发布会上对批评不以为然。
“我认为其他民主党人批评民主党人对民主党没有好处，”2019年离开伊利诺伊州前往缅因州担任类似公共卫生职务的沙阿说道。“我相信（缅因人）了解我，也看到我为他们挺身而出。这才是最终重要的。”
The frenzied sprint among Maine Democrats hoping to replace Graham Platner
2026-07-15T09:00:25.498Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/15/politics/graham-platner-maine-democrats-convention-us-senate-susan-collins
County party chairs inundated with calls. An endless stream of Google sign-up forms and spreadsheets. And a disgraced former nominee looming over it all, haunting the party’s hopes of starting anew.
The snap Democratic election to replace Graham Platner and face Republican Sen. Susan Collins this fall is off to a hectic and dramatic start.
The implosion of Platner’s campaign after he was accused of rape – an allegation he denies – left Maine Democrats scrambling to create a highly unorthodox process that reflects the high stakes for the battle to win control of the Senate.
On July 25, just 15 days after Platner formally dropped out, 601 delegates will meet in Bangor, the state capital, to vote on a new nominee. Most of the delegates – 500 – will be picked this weekend at county meetings across Maine. The other 101 delegates will automatically come from Maine’s Democratic State Committee, and they are already being heavily courted.
At least eight candidates are rushing to collect enough signatures to qualify for the convention and assemble slates of delegates to vote for them.
“We are in a perilous situation, and there is no perfect way to deal with an unprecedented situation like this,” one of the candidates, Jordan Wood, told reporters this week.
Platner’s tarnished legacy looms large, with some of his supporters looking for a replacement nominee to continue the working-class progressive movement that he tried to build.
Former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, who launched his Senate campaign with the support of over 50 current and former elected officials, appears to be making the most explicit appeal along those lines.
“You poured your hearts, your time and your energy into building this movement alongside another candidate in Maine, and I know that there’s real pain, anger and disappointment, and I’m not going to try and minimize that,” Jackson said Monday on a call with members of the national progressive group Our Revolution. “But look, this movement has always been bigger than one person.”
Candidates face a 5 p.m. Wednesday deadline to declare their intent to run, with the first scheduled debate on Thursday. By the end of Monday, candidates will need to submit 500 signatures to qualify for the ballot, including 50 signatures from at least eight separate counties.
On Tuesday night, the Maine Democratic Party said it had already received more than 5,500 submissions from Democrats who either want to be delegates or attend the county meetings to pick delegates.
It is a process with a far smaller electorate than a traditional primary, requiring an intense focus on organizing and interpersonal relationships. At least some campaigns may have reached out to, if not spoken to, all 601 delegates by the time they arrive in Bangor.
Maine Democrats have little room for error. July 27 — two days after the convention — is the last day under state law on which they can submit the name of the replacement nominee for inclusion on the ballot.
“I think that all of us are working hard to make this process transparent, inclusive and as timely as possible,” Paige Zeigler, chair of the Waldo County Democrats, said in an email that partly addressed out-of-state political observers: “We Mainers will show the way because ‘as Maine go, so goes the nation.’ Now follow us and elect some damn good leaders this November.”
Previous statewide candidates, with built-in political networks, could have an advantage.
Nirav Shah’s campaign for governor, which got the most first-round votes in the June 9 Democratic primary before losing to Hannah Pingree, was still winding down when Platner ended his candidacy. Shah’s campaign staff were preparing to have their final meeting and discussing ideas for keeping supporters engaged in Maine, such as hosting community service events.
When it became clear the Senate nomination would be up for grabs, they quickly pivoted and held a call on Friday evening with over 100 volunteers, dozens of whom spent the next couple of days printing petitions and gathering signatures. The campaign announced Sunday night it had hit the signature threshold.
“Our team basically never stood down,” said Kayla vanWieringen, Shah’s campaign manager. “Everyone just completely mobilized.”
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, another former gubernatorial candidate now seeking the Senate nomination, has been reaching out to “super volunteers” and “county captains” from her last campaign for help with collecting signatures and recruiting delegates. They include supporters who hosted dozens of house parties for her earlier this year.
Some campaigns have hired new staff but acknowledge that initial efforts in the frenzied race have been largely carried out by volunteers.
A person familiar with Jackson’s operation, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss strategy, described an “all-out blitz” reaching out to potential delegates. “It’s just hours on the phone, frankly,” the person said.
Publicly, campaigns have been quizzing supporters on whether they plan to attend their county meeting this weekend, and if so, whether they plan to run to be delegates themselves or support that campaign’s delegate candidates. Ideally, a campaign could emerge from the county meetings with a known baseline of support for the convention.
“The goal is to lock in as many delegates you can this weekend so that you feel good heading into the nominating convention in Bangor,” the person familiar with Jackson’s operation said.
Even then, delegates are not legally bound to support a particular candidate, and their loyalties could shift from the county meetings to the convention, where there will be multiple rounds of voting until a candidate wins a majority.
“Nothing is set in stone,” said one person involved in the race.
Sure enough, the race kicked off this week with an illustration of how external events could quickly upend campaigns. After a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot a man in Biddeford on Monday, Jackson attended an “emergency” rally in the coastal town and Shah held a news conference Tuesday to criticize Collins’ record of voting to fund ICE.
Campaigns are weighing how much to balance in-person events with private outreach to delegates, and they acknowledge traditional campaign tools such as TV ads are inefficient with such a small pool of voters. Even more targeted methods — such as digital ads or text messaging — may have to wait until the full list of delegates is available next week.
Platner sought to shape the race to replace him as he prepared to exit it. State Rep. Valli Geiger, a prominent Platner supporter, has said she was among “several” potential candidates Platner contacted. She announced Monday she would not run, instead backing Bellows.
Even if state and national progressives are done with Platner, it appears a sizable faction in Maine wants to see him replaced by a candidate with a similar vision.
Jackson boasted Tuesday that he had signed a petition supporting a Platner-like platform of universal healthcare rights, taxing billionaires and ending so-called “forever wars.”
Jackson was arguably the closest to Platner, campaigning alongside him multiple times. He called on Platner to drop out after the rape allegation, and in an MS NOW interview last week, Jackson said Platner “lied to me” about whether there was anything concerning in his past.
Wood is going in a different direction. He told reporters that the nominee needs to be someone who can “very quickly separate themselves” from Platner.
Wood has his own history with Platner, calling on him to drop out last year when they were both running in the Senate primary. Wood later switched to the primary for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District and backed Platner for Senate once Platner’s chief opponent, Gov. Janet Mills, stepped aside.
Brewery owner Dan Kleban, who briefly ran for Senate against Platner before dropping out and backing Mills, is positioning himself for the convention as a Platner-like outsider without the baggage. Like Platner, Kleban is a critic of New York Sen. Chuck Schumer and has vowed not to support him as Senate Democratic leader.
Schumer backed Mills in the primary, but his aides have promised he will not get involved in the convention.
It remains to be seen if all the national progressive figures who backed Platner will make endorsements before the convention. Rep. Ro Khanna of California, who was one of Platner’s most loyal supporters in Congress, has already backed Jackson, but Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have not made endorsements.
Sanders told CNN on Monday he did not think he would endorse a candidate ahead of the convention.
Most other outside Democrats are staying out of the primary – with two notable exceptions. Both of Illinois’ Democratic senators have spoken out against Shah over his time as the state’s public health director.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth said last week she “strongly opposes” Shah’s Senate campaign based on his record in her state. Sen. Dick Durbin, another Illinois Democrat, told CNN on Tuesday he would not support Shah if he wins the nomination.
Shah shrugged off the criticism at a Monday news conference.
“I don’t think Democrats are helped with other Democrats criticizing Democrats,” said Shah, who left Illinois in 2019 for a similar public health role in Maine. “I’m confident (Mainers) know me and they’ve seen me show up for them. That’s ultimately what matters.”