![\"David](\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/cropped-DAVID-DAYEN_CIRCLE-80x80.png\")
by\u00a0David Dayen<\/a><\/strong> July 8, 2026 (Prospect.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Women](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Dayen-Maine-Senate-070826.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1\")
UPDATE: <\/strong>The Maine Democratic State Committee has voted for a 600-person nominating convention, not a statewide caucus, as the method to select a replacement nominee for Graham Platner. Five hundred of the delegates will come proportionally from Maine\u2019s counties, and then include the 100 state committee members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While a statewide caucus was previously seen by my sources as a likely outcome, the state committee went in a different direction on Wednesday night. I apologize for what was ultimately incorrect information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This could easily torch whatever remaining goodwill exists between the party and supporters brought into Platner\u2019s campaign, and brings back all of the unsavoriness associated with perceived backroom dealing. There is no real way to make a 600-person convention representative, and accusations of insiderism will proliferate. It also appears to conflict with the party\u2019s stated goals for an inclusive process where supporters can participate, unless by \u201cparticipate\u201d they meant \u201cwatch online.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is unclear whether the nominating convention will follow the Maine standard for all statewide primary races and use ranked-choice voting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The decision damages hopes for reconciliation and potentially affects Platner\u2019s decision to withdraw from the race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My original story, based on sourcing that proved incorrect, below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite much shouting and allegations on all sides, the Maine Democratic Party is moving toward finalizing a statewide caucus to select a replacement for Graham Platner in the U.S. Senate race, the Prospect<\/em> has learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Platner would initiate this process by withdrawing from the nomination that he won last month, something that has also been heavily rumored<\/a> to happen at any time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n State rules surrounding party nomination vacancies set a deadline for replacement on the ballot by July 27, but the party itself is not bound by a specific process. A state committee must hold a meeting and make a decision, but the committee could adopt the wishes of the voters as their selection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More from David Dayen<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Maine Democratic Party Executive Director Devon Murphy-Anderson said on Wednesday that the party is developing \u201ca representative, transparent and inclusive process to select a new nominee,\u201d and added that Platner supporters \u201care a vital part of our Party and deserve to participate in an open process to select [his] replacement.\u201d That statement was buried in between a good deal of invective over the past two days about Platner trying to \u201cmanipulate this process\u201d and vowing that he will \u201chave no role in determining our next Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, nor in determining what this process will look like.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Spencer Toth, organizing director of the party, resigned on Wednesday<\/a> over the latter remark, saying that \u201cthe future of this race and this Party should not be decided without the people who made [Platner\u2019s] movement possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A party spokesperson did not respond to questions from the Prospect<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some supporters of Platner have definitively expressed their preference<\/a> for replacing him with \u201ca progressive fighter.\u201d The Platner campaign has more obliquely talked about how its supporters \u201cdeserve to have a real role in any nomination process.\u201d Campaign manager Ben Chin sent supporters a survey Wednesday to give their thoughts to the party and Platner. The campaign did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The demand to not turn over a replacement nominee to an opaque committee of insiders does seem to have yielded a result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Analysis that goes beyond the noise, from Dayen, Kuttner, Meyerson, and more.Sign up<\/p>\n\n\n\n No paywall, no programmatic ads \u2014 just the reporting. Unsubscribe anytime. Submitting your email signs you up for The Daily Prospect, Today on TAP, Aftermath, and Weekend Reads.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The timeline is incredibly tight, but a statewide caucus could be held as late as the weekend of July 25-26 and still be completed in time for the deadline. Several candidates have already formed exploratory committees to run, including three people who ran for Maine\u2019s open governor\u2019s seat last month: former state senator Troy Jackson, health official Nirav Shah, and Secretary of State Shenna Bellows. Dan Kleban, a local craft brewery owner who was briefly in the Senate race, has also announced, along with Jordan Wood, who lost the primary for U.S. House in Maine\u2019s Second Congressional District, and state representative Valli Geiger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those candidates and potentially others would be voted on in the statewide caucus, the details of which have not been fully determined. Maine Democrats select convention delegates through a statewide caucus, and therefore have some experience with putting on such a process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The party has not detailed who would be eligible for a caucus, though the expectation is that it would be open to Maine Democrats. In recent years, caucuses in presidential primaries have been criticized for not allowing absentee ballots and reducing voter turnout. But with a little more than two weeks to assemble, and with the state not interested in putting on a traditional election, a caucus is the only real solution to give voters a chance to have a say in the next nominee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One rather dangerous idea floated has been to use a web-based technology the party employed during COVID to select state committee members. Cybersecurity experts have repeatedly warned against online voting as wholly unreliable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This was not an inevitable outcome. Initially, Maine party leaders were talking about a second convention, using delegates selected in February to choose a committee that would decide the nomination. But that was seen as too close to a backroom deal and too reminiscent of the 2024 anointing of Kamala Harris as the presidential nominee after the primaries concluded and Joe Biden said he would not seek a second term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/07\/06\/maine-needs-lighthouse-primary-graham-platner-senate-susan-collins\/embed\/#?secret=j5wbm4D8e7#?secret=pkbUpgqOCJ<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Supporters see a caucus as the only outcome that can keep the fragile coalition of Mainers wanting to defeat Susan Collins together, and if leveraged properly by the candidates and the eventual nominee, it could even make it more likely that Collins is defeated. The focus would be on organizing and building on momentum that led to record turnout last month, even as Platner faced only token opposition after Gov. Janet Mills dropped out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not yet clear under what terms the lead-up to the caucuses will be undertaken. Because this is a party-run affair, Democrats could, for example, disqualify any candidate who runs television ads or has a super PAC running ads on their behalf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The ability to come together has been marred by jockeying from both sides. The Platner camp intimated that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee was on the ground working with the state Democrats on selecting the nominee, something a spokesperson from the DSCC characterized as false. \u201cThe Maine Democratic Party has made it clear that they are working to put forth an open process to select a nominee,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The party, however, had not released the details of that process, and as of Tuesday were saying that they would not release such details until Platner withdrew. The statement on Wednesday said they were \u201cdeveloping\u201d the process, and while it nudged toward something allowing voters to choose the candidate, that had not been publicly confirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I hope that you found this article interesting and thought-provoking. The reason we\u2019re able to publish stories like this \u2014 free of programmatic ads and never behind a paywall \u2014 is because readers like you step up to support our work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Prospect <\/em>doesn’t answer to advertisers or billionaire owners. We answer to you and to our commitment to pursuing the truth, wherever that leads us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Independent, reader-supported journalism is critical at a time when the free press is under assault. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you believe this kind of reporting should exist and remain free to read, we hope you’ll consider chipping in. Every contribution, however modest, makes a real difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Donate Now<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n David Dayen<\/strong> July 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n July 9, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n May 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n ddayen@prospect.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n David Dayen is the executive editor of The American Prospect. He is the author of Monopolized: Life in the Age of Corporate Power and Chain of Title: How Three Ordinary Americans Uncovered Wall Street\u2019s Great Foreclosure Fraud. He co-hosts the podcast Organized Money with Matt Stoller. He can be reached on Signal at ddayen.90. More by David Dayen<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The state party could have decided that any process that didn\u2019t allow voters to get a say would be fatally compromised. It did not. by\u00a0David Dayen July 8, 2026 (Prospect.org) UPDATE: The Maine Democratic State Committee has voted for a 600-person nominating convention, not a statewide caucus, as the method to… Continue reading The Prospect <\/em>in your inbox<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Before you go.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Executive Editor<\/p>\n\n\n\nRelated<\/em><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Maine Needs a Lighthouse Primary<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Maine\u2019s Three Likely Replacements for Graham Platner<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Establishment Dems and the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of Moderation <\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
David Dayen<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n