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by\u00a0David Dayen<\/a><\/strong> July 13, 2026 (Prospect.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Men](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prospect.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Dayen-ME-Senate-071326.jpg?fit=1200%2C761&ssl=1\")
This week kicks off a 14-day sprint to choose the Democratic nominee in Maine, a race that could decide the U.S. Senate. When it became clear that Graham Platner wasn\u2019t going to remain the nominee, I wrote<\/a> that keeping the record number of Mainers who turned out for last month\u2019s primary engaged and energized required a process that would allow them to participate, rather than a backroom affair. The Maine Democratic Party came up with something that I\u2019m sure I can quibble with at the edges, but which recognizes that imperative and creates an organizing opportunity for the grassroots volunteers who really built the new kind of politics in the state. It\u2019s a credit to state party chair Charlie Dingman, who so far has navigated a treacherous path pretty well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More from David Dayen<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n From the outset, Maine Democrats listed two possible choices to decide the nomination: a statewide caucus, or a nominating convention. In the end, they chose a hybrid of both. The formal nomination will be made at a convention on July 25 in Bangor, conveniently located in the interior of the state. But instead of being decided by 101 members of the state party committee, 500 delegates from all 16 counties will also participate in the vote. And those delegates will in turn be voted into the convention at county meetings this coming weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Any registered Maine Democrat can participate in the delegate meetings; they\u2019ll have to sign up, but they can do that beforehand and even on the day of the meeting. Delegate candidates need to declare by Wednesday at 5 p.m. Eastern; already, over 2,000 people have filed to run, according to the state party<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It will almost be a time warp to the days before the modern presidential primary process.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The number of delegates<\/a> from each county is based on the Democratic vote from each county in the 2024 election. About 30 percent of the total, 149 in all, will come from Cumberland County, home to Portland, the state\u2019s largest city; Piscataquis County, the least populous in the state, will send four delegates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A parallel participatory process is being held to qualify candidates for the Senate seat. Each must gather 500 signatures, with at least 50 signatures from eight of Maine\u2019s 16 counties. Candidates have already gotten to work on this process; Nirav Shah, the former Maine health official who finished second in the gubernatorial primary last month, announced<\/a> that he had already secured more than 800 signatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It won\u2019t be determined until Tuesday whether the county meetings will be in-person or virtual; that\u2019s at the discretion of the county chairs<\/a>. But Oxford County\u2019s chair has already announced an in-person meeting<\/a>, and I\u2019d expect the vast majority of them to be live. The in-person meetings will include a one-hour mingling session where delegate candidates can generate interest in their candidacies. Then voting will commence, and those with the most votes to fill the slots win. (No ranked-choice voting will take place here; there are some diversity \u201cgoals,\u201d but county chairs are merely encouraged to take them into account.)<\/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 In addition to Shah, the most competitive replacement candidates<\/a> include former state Senate leader Troy Jackson and Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, both of whom also ran for governor and lost the primary (they came in third and fourth, respectively, and formed an alliance with Hannah Pingree, the eventual winner). Also in the field are Jordan Wood and Paige Loud, both of whom lost the open-seat primary for Maine\u2019s Second Congressional District; brewery owner Dan Kleban, who briefly announced<\/a> for the Senate race last year but quickly withdrew; and David Costello, who did run for Senate and got 8 percent of the vote. State Rep. Valli Geiger, a Platner ally, has expressed interest but has not formally declared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Candidates\u2019 ability to turn out supporters to the delegate meetings will almost certainly have a determinative effect on the winner of the nomination. There will not be formal slates, but clearly candidates will inform supporters who to vote for as delegate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The speed of the process will be ruthless. Since none of these candidates were running for Senate and only a couple for federal office prior to this, they don\u2019t really have any money to devote to the effort yet. There won\u2019t be ads of any kind, and ads wouldn\u2019t have much time to work if they existed. It\u2019ll be a pure grassroots organizing challenge; how many people can you get to a county meeting? In a national political environment dominated by money and influence, this is about as quaint a procedure as there will ever be. And it\u2019s kind of a capsule of what politics can look like under campaign finance reform, albeit an unusual one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Organizers not tied to a candidate can also impact the process. Platner\u2019s volunteer network, which numbers over 15,000, has signaled through an open letter<\/a> that it will only work for candidates aligned with the policies that Platner supported, including \u201chealthcare as a right, housing affordability, an economy that works for regular people and not billionaires, strengthening workers and unions, end forever wars, oppose complicity in atrocities, an end to mass-deportation enforcement, energy and climate accountability, and human rights for all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n You could see this volunteer network pushing voters to select their preferred delegates or running as them themselves. If they have critical mass, they can make demands at the convention for candidates to align with their priorities. Frankly, most of them already do; Jackson (who already snagged the Maine AFL-CIO endorsement) and Bellows are progressives, and Shah has been publicly stumping for Medicare for All and against the genocide in Gaza. Kleban had a platform when he was in the primary that largely mirrored Platner\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With a premium put on generating enthusiasm, the process can help wash away the past few weeks and put the focus on defeating Susan Collins by talking neighbor to neighbor about the stakes and the kind of political leadership they want. That\u2019s really unique and can slingshot the right candidate into the general election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maine\u2019s Democratic leadership still holds some sway on the process with the 101 superdelegate-like votes at the convention. The 601 convention delegates will hold ballots until a candidate gets to a majority, narrowing to five candidates after the first ballot and eliminating the lowest performer on each subsequent ballot until emerging with a winner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A balloting process rather than an instant-runoff vote with ranked-choice allows time for horse trading in between. But this is how most conventions are run. The 101 insiders will have a say, but they are much smaller in number than the elected delegates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It will almost be a time warp to the days before the modern presidential primary process, where nominating speeches mattered and coalitions had to form. Candidates can withdraw during balloting and throw their supporters to someone else. For decades, journalists and those drunk on nostalgia have fantasized about the mythical \u201cbrokered convention,\u201d but on July 25 in Bangor, that will actually come to life. And unlike a smoke-filled room where insiders dominate politics, the tools are in place for the grassroots to be the kingmakers.<\/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> June 15, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n July 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n May 29, 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 process to replace Graham Platner on the November ballot is an organizing opportunity. by\u00a0David Dayen July 13, 2026 (Prospect.org) This week kicks off a 14-day sprint to choose the Democratic nominee in Maine, a race that could decide the U.S. Senate. When it became clear that Graham Platner wasn\u2019t… Continue reading \n
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