If one of the takeaways from the 2024 elections is that Democratic voters are looking for fresh candidates to revitalize the party, look no further than to Maine, set to hold one of the top Senate races next year.
Democrats have long sought to knock off Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who has proved tough to unseat in the blue-leaning state, dispatching Democratic elected officials in four of her five Senate races.
But this cycle, as national party figures try to convince Gov. Janet Mills to take on Collins, three electoral newcomers have drawn attention for their Senate campaigns, all arguing that voters are looking for someone outside the establishment who understands their challenges.
“The kind of status quo in American politics is entirely divorced from the reality that is happening out here on the ground right now,” said Graham Platner, an oyster farmer whose entrance into the race last month made national headlines.
“It’s politically appealing,” the Army and Marine veteran added, “but that’s not why I’m doing it. I’m doing it because it’s a bit of a necessity at this point.”
Platner, 40, has already secured the endorsement of Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, whom he joined for a Labor Day weekend rally in Portland.
Also sensing a public desire for new voices in the political sphere is Dan Kleban, a co-founder of Maine Beer Company, who launched his campaign earlier this month. Kleban, 48, said Mainers face an affordability crisis that politicians working within the current system can’t improve.
“People are just ready for generational change. They’re ready for folks who have shown that they’ve been embedded in their communities,” he said. “We’re at a point in time when we should be thinking outside the box and looking for candidates, like myself, who just don’t fit that traditional elected politician mold.”
The two join fellow Senate hopeful Jordan Wood, who launched his bid for the Democratic nomination in the spring. Wood, 36, brings some political experience to the role, having worked as chief of staff to former California Rep. Katie Porter and at Democratic nonprofit End Citizens United.
“I do very much consider myself an outsider, because most of my professional life has been fighting to change Washington and this broken political system,” he said.
A handful of other Democrats have also launched campaigns, though they haven’t gained as much traction so far. They include former U.S. Agency for International Development official David Costello, the losing Democratic nominee against independent Sen. Angus King last year, and cybersecurity professional Tucker Favreau.
Waiting on the governor
Hanging over the emerging Democratic primary is whether Mills, who is barred from seeking a third term next year, will launch a campaign. She has said she expects to decide by November.
If she enters the race, Mills would likely begin as the front-runner due to her name recognition after winning two terms as governor, in addition to her past stints as state attorney general and state legislator. She would join other seasoned Democratic politicians seen as prized Senate recruits, including former Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown and former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper.
But Mills, 77, would be the oldest freshman senator in history if she were elected. And Democrats have grappled with questions of age after President Joe Biden pulled out of the presidential election last summer.
Neither Kleban nor Platner nor Wood said they would drop out if Mills entered the race.
Reports due to the Federal Election Commission next month will show how much money each of the candidates have raised through the end of September, which could help determine their campaign’s staying power, as well as show what the response to their launches has been.
Wood closed the second quarter with $804,000 on hand at June 30, according to FEC records. He said he’s raised over $2 million so far. Platner’s campaign said he raised $1 million within the first nine days of his campaign.
Maine is a top target for Senate Democrats, as it’s the only state with a Republican senator that Kamala Harris won last year. The minority party faces a difficult Senate map in its quest to win the majority in 2026, and defeating Collins would be key to any Democratic hopes of flipping the chamber.
But Maine hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1988. (King, the state’s other senator, is an independent who caucuses with Democrats.) And Collins has demonstrated strong crossover appeal in her five previous elections.
In 2020, Collins faced then-state House Speaker Sara Gideon, a well-funded Democrat who was backed by several mainstream Democratic organizations. But Collins ended up prevailing by 9 points. Still, Democrats point to polls showing Collins’ popularity has taken a hit this year.
Collins, 72, hasn’t formally declared for reelection as yet, although she’s said she intends to run and has been raising money for a campaign. She had $5.3 million in the bank at the end of June, according to FEC records.
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates the race Tilt Republican.
Staking their positions
As Kleban, Platner and Wood look to stand out, the Democratic primary could become one of the biggest tests yet for Maine’s ranked choice voting system, which has been in effect since 2018. In 2020, Gideon took more than 50 percent of the Democratic primary vote, so the ranked choice system didn’t come into play.
The candidates acknowledged that ranked choice voting could shape the campaign in a new way.
“It’s interesting coming off the New York City primary where we just saw how candidates can work in coalition while running against each other,” Wood said.
Platner said it could have a greater impact with more candidates in the field.
“It is going to allow candidates to engage with each other in a much more, I would say, civil and decent way,” he said. “You don’t want to alienate other peoples’ supporters because you might actually really need them to rank you second.”
Dan Shea, a professor of government at Maine’s Colby College, said raising money is not going to be a problem for the eventual Democratic nominee.
“Because it is one of the few real possibilities for Dems to pick up a seat, you have to imagine that whoever the nominee is is going to receive a lot of funding, similar to to the Gideon race,” he said.
The three candidates have each claimed a slightly different lane in the primary so far, Shea said: a populist strain (Platner), someone with business experience (Kleban) and one with government experience (Wood).
Platner said he would support a “Medicare for All” system as a way to lower costs. He pointed to his veterans’ benefits, which he said have helped him live in his hometown and start a business, and said he thought all Americans should have access to similar benefits.
The nationwide attention his campaign has garnered has partly taken him by surprise.
“I went from being a guy who had a Bernie Sanders sticker on my fridge to 11 or 12 days after that was the extent of my involvement with Sen. Sanders, being on stage with him, giving a speech with him,” he said. “For me, this is an element of, like, surreal expansion.”
Kleban described himself as a “get-shit-done Democrat.”
He recalled being laid off from his job as an attorney 16 years ago, which led to him and his brother founding Maine Beer Company. Since launching his campaign, he’s highlighted the company’s “Do What’s Right” motto, touting that they’ve compensated employees with a “living wage,” fully covered health insurance premiums and helped provide for retirement. He said his company has donated millions back to the community, largely to environmentally focused nonprofits.
“People just want to see results and they’re sick of the politics that’s going on in D.C.,” said Kleban, who has the backing of Maine Senate President Mattie Daughtry.
Wood said his political experience has given him knowledge into how the system works in Washington. In addition to working as Porter’s chief of staff and at End Citizens United, he also more recently was the executive director of the group democracyFIRST.
Wood, who said he’d spent much of the summer traveling the state to hold town halls and other events to introduce himself to voters, sees the topics of affordability and democracy as interlinked.
“Voters need to trust the person they are going to elect to serve and represent them in Washington,” he said. “I think that trust has been lost.”
The name of Dan Kleban’s business, Maine Beer Company, was corrected in this report.
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