Maine's U.S. Senate race just got a lot stranger, and it has nothing to do with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).
An opinion contributor at the Bangor Daily News wants Maine voters to write in Graham Platner for Senate this November, arguing it would "give abandoned voters a voice." That's one way to describe resurrecting a campaign that collapsed under the weight of a credible rape allegation. But, hey, I guess that’s the kind of person the party rallies behind these days.
We all know that Graham Platner is a degenerate. Between his Nazi tattoo and social media history, which includes using an app notorious for being a haven for predators, there were plenty of red flags. On top of that, there were credible allegations of domestic abuse, which apparently didn’t sway Maine Democrats. It finally took credible allegations of rape to get the party to realize it had to get rid of him. But he still has enough loyal followers behind him.
In fact, a Facebook group of Platner supporters claims to be in direct contact with him, and according to the group, Platner has endorsed a write-in scheme to claw his way back into the race. Supporters would write in his name as their first choice, then list the party's new anointed candidate, Troy Jackson, second. Because Maine uses ranked-choice voting, the group insists that a Platner write-in won't be a wasted vote.
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Graham Platner supporters in a Facebook group claim to be in contact with Platner.
The group says Graham Platner has endorsed the idea of a write-in campaign where his supporters would write-in Platner’s name first and Troy Jackson’s second. pic.twitter.com/d5p6EOcA2G
There's another wrinkle here involving Platner’s replacement, Troy Jackson. It turns out that Jackson has openly admitted he never really wanted this job in the first place
Jackson said he never expected or even really wanted to run for the U.S. Senate — he instead ran for governor this year and finished third in the Democratic primary — but told supporters in Belfast that he felt it was important to carry forward the progressive movement Platner helped galvanize, even as Republicans run ads attacking Jackson for his association with Platner.
“I wish nothing would have happened with Graham,” Jackson said in Belfast on Aug. 22. “I wish, you know, things would have continued like all that. It would have been much better. But when it did, I just didn't want to see all these people that are looking for somebody to fight for them go away once again broken and hopeless.”
Jackson compared the moment to the aftermath of Bernie Sanders' unsuccessful 2016 presidential campaign, which Jackson worked on, saying many Sanders supporters believed the process had been unfair and subsequently left the movement.
That admission says more than Jackson probably intended. He's little more than a placeholder, standing in only because leftist voters need somewhere to direct their anger before November. His heart clearly isn’t in this race.
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Republicans are already running ads tying Jackson to Platner's wreckage, and it's hard to blame them. Meanwhile, Jackson’s lead in recent polls is within the margin of error, and considering that Collins has a history of outperforming the polls, I think the odds that Collins wins this one are pretty good.
Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
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