Graham Platner Quits Maine Senate Race, Handing Democrats a Scramble to Take On Collins

Graham Platner, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Maine, has withdrawn from the race, ending a candidacy that unraveled after a woman he once dated accused him of sexual assault in 2021 — and throwing his party into a last-minute scramble to field a challenger against Republican Sen. Susan Collins.

Platner announced his plan to leave the race in an 11-minute video posted to social media on July 8, then made it official two days later, filing the necessary paperwork with the Maine Secretary of State and posting his formal withdrawal letter online. Because he stepped aside before a July 13 deadline, his name will not appear on the November ballot and the state Democratic Party is free to name a replacement.

The collapse came fast. As the allegation drew attention, Platner's top Democratic backers rescinded their endorsements and publicly urged him to quit. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the Democrats' campaign arm delivered the decisive blow, warning that the national party "will not invest in the Maine Senate race if Platner remains on the ballot." Platner said he ultimately had little choice, telling supporters he would "lose all of the things that any campaign needs on the basic level simply to function."

His exit sets off a frantic replacement contest with a hard deadline of July 27 for Maine Democrats to choose a new nominee. Several candidates have already jumped in, including former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, former state Center for Disease Control and Prevention director Nirav Shah, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, Maine Beer Company co-founder Dan Kleban and social worker Paige Loud, among others.

The stakes are considerable. Collins, one of the Senate's longest-serving Republicans, has repeatedly survived tough re-election fights in a state that often splits its ticket, and Democrats view the seat as one of their few genuine pickup opportunities in the 2026 map. Losing weeks of campaign time to an intraparty reshuffle — and burning through the summer without a settled nominee — complicates that effort against a well-funded incumbent.

For Democrats nationally, the episode is a self-inflicted setback in a cycle where every competitive seat matters for control of the chamber. The party now has to unify quickly behind a replacement, rebuild an organization Platner had assembled and reintroduce a new face to Maine voters, all on a compressed calendar. The withdrawal removes an increasingly untenable candidate, but it hands Collins a divided, rushed opposition at precisely the moment her challengers can least afford the chaos.