Eight Democrats took the debate stage in Maine on Thursday, making their final pitches just days before 601 delegates decide who will replace former Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner.
News Center Maine, the debate host, split the candidates into two sessions. Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, former Maine CDC Director Nirav Shah, and former congressional candidate Jordan Wood participated in the first hour. The second featured David Costello, Dan Kleban, Elizabeth Dickerson, and Ashley Webb.
Bellows was the first candidate to address voters. She touted her career in public service and highlighted her past clashes with President Donald Trump.
“When Donald Trump came for your voter data, I said hell no go jump into the gulf of Maine,” she said.
Bellows also distinguished herself from the other candidates by revealing she grew up without running water or electricity until the fifth grade.
“I’m here because Maine deserves a senator with backbone,” she added.
Wood reminded viewers that he publicly spoke out against Platner last October, saying it cost him politically. As one of the younger candidates in the race at age 37, Wood also noted that he was in second grade when incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins was elected.
Jackson discussed how his political career began through union organizing with fellow loggers who were losing jobs to Canadian interests in the 1990s.
Shah focused on the recent ICE shooting in Maine while arguing he was best positioned to defeat Sen. Collins.
“Senator, what do you expect to accomplish in the next six years that you have not been able to accomplish in the last three decades?” Shah said.
Heading into the second hour, News Center Maine gave the remaining candidates an opportunity to explain why they were qualified to serve in the Senate, noting they were generally less well known than those who appeared in the first session.
Transgender-identifying man Ashley Webb said his background as a songwriter and author prepared him for office, but said his greatest qualification was that he was an angry citizen who would become an angry senator if elected, which he said would be Republicans’ worst nightmare.
Dickerson framed her candidacy around combating climate change. Costello highlighted his 27-year government career, arguing it wold help him repair America’s “broken” democracy and economy. Kleban emphasized his background as a Maine bar owner, pitching himself as part of the new generation of leadership.
Over the course of the debate, all the candidates were aligned on issues such as abolishing or reforming ICE, “standing up to Trump,” and Medicare for All.
Prediction Market giant, Kalshi, currently lists Jackson as the frontrunner to become the Democratic nominee. Traders give him a 74% chance of winning, followed by Bellows at 13%, and Shah at 11%.
