After Platner withdraws, what next?

Lots of uncertainty remains about next steps.

There are two big issues: logistics and the next nominee.

Graham Platner hasn’t withdrawn yet but he’s lost virtually all of his endorsements and won’t be able to raise money for a campaign. Plus his candidacy is no longer viable.

Unlike Republicans, Democrats will not back someone with credible allegations of rape against them. And anyone listening to Jenny Racicot’s interview with Jake Tapper would find her highly credible. I suggest watching it (link here).

But given the suspicions of some, it’s worth noting that Racicot was contacted by Tapper after her name appeared in the NYT abuse story.¹ That should be totally unsurprising. As I wrote in a pre-primary piece about how Platner could be replaced after he likely became the nominee, “there could be pressure after that for Platner to remove himself from the general election matchup, especially if these women start giving interviews and even more negative stuff comes out.”

So what comes next, assuming Platner does the right thing and drops out before the withdrawal deadline of July 13?

Logistics, logistics, logistics

It’s unclear how this will work. State law doesn’t say and the Democratic party leadership has some choices.

There’s no way to have do-over primary before the ballot deadline of July 27. That requires significant resources on the state’s part as well as the town clerks. There’d have to set candidates and printed ballots. It’s not going to happen.

So that leaves some process like a mini-convention or caucuses or the state party committee deciding. There will have to be a place or places, in person or virtual. State party leadership has to decide quickly and the ultimate process should be inclusive to the extent possible, given the short timeline.

The next nominee

As always, Democrats need a nominee who can beat Susan Collins and doing that requires bringing the party together and attracting independents.

Readers: These are initial thoughts to breaking news. Moreover, I’m spending time with visitors and planning on spending today kayaking on a remote lake out of cell phone range. I expect to have much more to say in the future as circumstances change and there’s time to reflect on what happened during this primary.

No one can guarantee the outcome of as an yet to be determined process for picking the nominee.

On June 4, I wrote:

I think that the best options are the three Democratic gubernatorial candidates who endorsed each other, all of whom Platner ranked. Those are Troy Jackson, Platner’s top rank, Shenna Bellows and Hannah Pingree.

Obviously Pingree is out of the picture now. She won the primary.

I still think Jackson and Bellows are excellent options. To them I’d add Nirav Shah, the top vote getter in the first round of the gubernatorial primary. And I’d add Attorney General Aaron Frey, who’s in his 40s, was born in Bangor, and has a history of litigation successes, both against the Trump administration and corporate wrong doers.

Any of these four — Bellows, Frey, Jackson and Shah — would represent the Democratic party well in an election.

Thoughts?

1. Racicot told the NYT she supports Platner’s policies and told Tapper that was a main reason why she didn’t share the full story with them.