I don’t know anything about Costello so I can’t say he’s a stupid choice. My point is that your reason for selecting him, that he was a distant third place in a race where two dropped out, is a stupid reason to pick him as the candidate.
The centrist Janet Mills was the strong preference of party leadership until she dropped out.
Cite? Since Platner got plenty of endorsements from highly placed Democrats.
In primaries, you are correct.
In general elections, sure it does. See Professor Anthony Fowler Discusses the 2024 Presidential Election and the Median Voter.
If you look at the Democratic House members in districts Trump wins the most strongly, like Jared Golden and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, they do ignore the Democratic Party base.
If we go back further, the Democrats got the era of relative dominance over the GOP, that began in the 1930’s, by turning against their base in the South so they could win over Black Republicans.
Platner got endorsements from progressives like Bernie. All the other highly placed Democrats you mention only endorsed Platner after Mills had sunk so low that her defeat was obvious.
That analysis starts with the statement that Donald Trump is moderate and Kamala Harris was extreme. Do you really want to use that to prove your point?
Here we go. Broadly, Collins’ percentages in the US Senate general elections have been moving with the gubernatorial primary percentages. The upcoming Maine US Senate general election, Collins vs Democratic opponent, will be a test of the hypothesis.
EDIT: Sorry, that’s gonna be rough on a phone.
This nicely explains the situation. The people who are concerned about the process are progressives worried that the Party elites will take advantage of the situation to nominate someone well to the right of Platner. They are not, for the most part, “Platner supporters”, in the sense that they are not motivated by a belief that Platner himself has been ill-treated.
It does seem, though, that a consensus is forming that Jackson is the logical choice, so hopefully this can be resolved quickly.
Obviously, yes. But consider that the word extreme has no meaning except in comparison to something else. In this case, it is the opinions of the median general election voter. They had a different take on Kamala Harris than I did, and probably different from yours as well. As for Trump, based on polls, I think they are finally noticing he is extreme.
I am not saying that Maine Democrats need to pick Jared Golden to beat Collins. I think they can get away with someone less conservative.
If Democrats mostly care about winning, just so long as the candidate isn’t the next Sinema or Manchin, they should ignore their base and pick a less progressive liberal – ideally who isn’t a senior citizen. As I’ve said, Nirav Shah seems to meet the bill. Progressives will notice that he isn’t white, and talks about a rigged economy. I think that will be enough to get their votes.
It sounds like Maine has settled on a process for selecting their Democratic nominee, and I’m relieved it’s an actual structured process with real voting involved. That at least prevents Collins from claiming it was all back‑room politics or that the party just hand‑picked someone. It’s not perfect — nothing thrown together on this short notice would be — but it’s a legitimate mechanism.
From what’s been reported:
A nominating convention of a little over 600 members will make the final choice.
The 113 members of the state party are automatically part of it.
500 additional delegates will be selected proportionally by their county committees.
To get on the ballot, a candidate needs 200 signatures from Maine voters.
Hopefully there’s still time to organize at least a single debate. I don’t know much about how the Maine Democratic Party works at the local level, but my guess is that this setup probably favors centrist Democrats over more left‑leaning progressives. On the other hand, Platner did have a lot of local support, so it’s entirely possible those county committees are more progressive than I’m assuming.
I feel a little bad for the people of Maine. Can you imagine how many polls they’re going to be subject to in the next two weeks?
Politics is not one-dimensional. There are some voters who like “moderate” candidates. There are also some voters who like extreme candidates, including some who like both extremes, but don’t like the center. Clinton was surely more moderate than Sanders, but Sanders polled better against Trump than Clinton did.
Moderating
Reminder, this thread is about current Maine Senator election and not any past Presidential elections. Don’t use Chronos’ post to go off topic.
Ugg, that is painful to even contemplate.
I know for at least me, that after a certain point of seeing enough TV ads, the TV ads actually push me away from a candidate and not towards them, even if it is someone I like. At a certain point, I just get tired of being screamed at and want them to just go away. I don’t think I am the only one with that reaction. I wonder if anyone has done a study showing that campaign advertising after a certain point is having negative effects for their candidate.
Is it that bad? I live in FL and have never been polled. They only call like a thousand people, usually less.
They might only call 1000 people, but if you’re one of the 1000 they pick, they will keep on calling, again and again, as long as it takes, until you answer the survey. Because if they only get answers from those people eager to complete surveys, it’ll skew their sample. So if you do find yourself getting called by pollsters, just cooperate and get it done with; it’ll be easier in the long run.
And it’s not just one survey. It’s surveys sponsored by every potential candidate plus surveys from every media outlet, all compressed into two weeks.
For those who are interested, the Maine Democratic Party announced the procedures for the upcoming nominating convention.
Key points:
Delegate Nominating Meetings will be held July 18-19 in all 16 counties, either in person or virtually, as determined by each county chair.
The date, time, and location of each meeting will be announced by the Maine Democratic Party by Wednesday, July 15.
All Democrats registered in the county as of June 9, 2026, and listed as verified in the MDP Voter File, are eligible to participate and vote in their county’s Delegate Nominating Meeting.
Participants are encouraged to pre-register by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 16 through the MDP website.
Anyone interested in serving as a delegate must file a declaration of intent by 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 15 through the MDP website.
Counties will administer one round of voting. The people receiving the most votes up to the number of delegates and alternates will be elected as such to the Nominating Convention.
Delegates elected during the county meetings will represent their counties at the July 25 Nominating Convention, where 601 delegates will select the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate.
Nice Cite thank you.
Looks like a pretty good procedure considering the time limitations.
From the link:
I’m confused about those 101, and whether they’re likely to vote as a bloc. Obviously I’m on the far left end of things and want someone with strong progressive values to win, and I’ve been deeply skeptical of the Democratic Party for the last 40 years; but I also don’t want to see scale-thumbing in a process when it’s not there.
