Progressive groups and lawmakers who supported Graham Platner’s insurgent bid for a US Senate seat in Maine are now scrambling to transfer their support after his withdrawal due to another sexual assault allegation. This development has created uncertainty within Platner’s coalition, which had championed an anti-establishment progressive agenda.

Our Revolution, a group descended from Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign, quickly endorsed Troy Jackson, the former Maine state senate president, who announced his candidacy within an hour of Platner’s exit. Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution, emphasized that the progressive mandate — including Medicare for All, a campaign free of corporate money, and ending “forever wars” — remains valid despite Platner’s departure. Jackson, a longtime union member and fifth-generation logger, ran for governor earlier this year and positioned himself as a continuation of the progressive movement.

Congressman Ro Khanna of California, who had initially backed Platner but rescinded his endorsement, has shifted his support to Jackson, as has political streamer Hasan Piker. Meanwhile, the Maine People’s Alliance, a 32,000-member progressive grassroots organization that had supported Platner, has not yet endorsed a new candidate.

Centrist candidate Nirav Shah, former director of Maine’s center for disease control and prevention and runner-up in the recent gubernatorial race, announced his Senate bid and expressed opposition to sending aid to Israel, describing the Gaza situation as a genocide on social media.

Other candidates entering or considering the race include Jordan Wood, former chief of staff to US representative Katie Porter; state representative Valli Geiger, who said Platner asked her to run as his replacement; Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows; and Maine Beer Company founder Dan Kleban.

The progressive coalition faces a pivotal moment in deciding whether to unite behind a successor to Platner or await the party’s replacement process, amid calls from centrists for a more moderate nominee.

Sources