There’s a special kind of panic that grips a political party when it can’t find a single credible candidate for one of the most important races in the country. Not garden-variety disorganization. Real, structural rot — the kind that turns a nominating process into an open audition where nobody bothered to screen the applicants.
The pattern has become impossible to ignore. Elevate an unvetted radical. Watch the national media spin a mythology around them. Then scramble to clean up the wreckage when the whole thing detonates. The latest — and arguably most entertaining — chapter is playing out right now in a state Democrats absolutely cannot afford to lose.
From Fox News:
A group of eight Senate contenders running to replace Graham Platner as Maine’s Democratic Senate nominee sought to showcase how they align with the disgraced ex-candidate’s policy agenda on Thursday night ahead of an upcoming nominating convention in the state.
“Graham actually said he voted for me a few years ago,” said David Costello, who ran unsuccessfully for the nomination earlier this year and lost to Platner, in response to a question about whether he would carry on any of the policies Platner put forward during his campaign. “How’s that?”
Read that again. The guy who lost to Platner — a candidate who imploded amid a rape allegation and a Nazi tattoo — is now bragging that Platner once voted for him. That’s his selling point. That’s the caliber of candidate Democrats are working with in a race that could determine Senate control.
Welcome to the Maine Democratic replacement derby, where the floor has fallen out and nobody seems to notice.
A disgraced legacy, eagerly embraced
Here’s what makes Thursday’s debate genuinely jaw-dropping. These eight candidates didn’t run from Platner’s toxic brand. They sprinted toward it.
Former CDC official Nirav Shah demanded the abolition of ICE, calling federal immigration agents “Donald Trump’s masked marauders.” Subtle, right? Jordan Wood, a former congressional staffer, actually credited Platner with teaching him to label Israel’s military actions “genocide” — a position he’d previously been too cautious to adopt. And Secretary of State Shenna Bellows managed to squeeze “Medicare for all,” “getting ICE out of Maine,” and the word “genocide” into a single answer.
These aren’t moderate positions crafted to win a general election in a purple-ish New England state. These are San Francisco faculty lounge talking points, recycled by candidates too desperate to realize they’re inheriting a political dumpster fire.
Meet the replacements
Bad policy is one thing. But the people carrying that policy into battle matter too — and this roster is something else entirely.
Ashley Webb, a transgender activist, went viral when pressed on what qualifies her for the United States Senate. Her response: “I ran for office several times. Didn’t win, but did run. And then, I’m a songwriter, and then I write my own books.”
A songwriter. Running for the U.S. Senate. Against a five-term incumbent. You genuinely cannot make this up.
Even former state lawmaker Elizabeth Dickerson conceded that Platner “didn’t bring up a whole lot that was new” — he just had a knack for getting people excited. So the platform is stale, the messenger is disgraced, and eight replacements are fighting over the leftovers. Inspiring stuff.
Then there’s the process itself. Rather than letting voters decide, 601 party delegates will select the nominee at a convention in Bangor on July 25. The party that lectures America nonstop about “defending democracy” is picking its candidate behind closed doors. The irony practically writes itself.
What Democrats are actually up against
On the other side of this race sits Susan Collins — five terms, deep roots in every corner of the state, and now watching her opposition dissolve into factional chaos. Maine GOP communications director Kristina Parker summed it up with admirable bluntness, calling the field “cherry-picked replacements of the nazi-tattooed communist.”
Sharp? Sure. But none of these candidates did anything on Thursday night to prove her wrong. Every single one chose — on a public stage, on camera — to align with Graham Platner’s positions. They own that decision now.
This is a seat Democrats need to flip if they have any prayer of retaking the Senate. It’s supposed to be one of their premier opportunities. And the best they can produce is a songwriter, a bureaucrat who wants to dismantle immigration enforcement, and a half-dozen others squabbling over the remains of a media-manufactured campaign that collapsed under the slightest scrutiny.
When your grand strategy for a must-win Senate seat is recycling the platform of a disgraced candidate at a closed-door convention, you haven’t just lost the race. You’ve forfeited the argument.
Key Takeaways
- Eight Democrats are scrambling to replace a disgraced nominee — while eagerly adopting his radical platform.
- Debate lowlights included calls to abolish ICE, “genocide” rhetoric against Israel, and a candidate whose top credential is songwriting.
- Maine Democrats will select their nominee through an insider convention, not a voter primary.
- Susan Collins enters the general election from a commanding position against fractured, far-left opposition.
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