ME-SEN: Maine Democrats to Chuck Schumer: Stay Out of Our Senate Race

[RandySF]

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York is accustomed to getting his way in Democratic primaries for Senate.

But even as Mr. Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate for nearly a decade, has successfully recruited a number of nominees in marquee races this year, he is getting a clear message from his party’s voters, candidates and local leaders in all-important Maine: Stay away.

In Maine, a pivotal battleground in the fight for control of the Senate, Democrats are trying to flip the seat of Senator Susan Collins, a five-term Republican. In the spring, they soundly rejected Mr. Schumer’s choice, Gov. Janet Mills. Graham Platner, an oysterman running on a progressive and anti-establishment message, forced Ms. Mills out of the race weeks before Primary Day.

Now that Mr. Platner has ended his campaign after a rape allegation that he denies, voters and state party leaders are warning Mr. Schumer and other Democratic leaders in Washington, D.C., not to intervene in the process the state party is using to replace Mr. Platner. All the leading candidates running to replace Mr. Platner have signaled interest in replacing Mr. Schumer as leader after the midterms.




https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/13/us/politics/maine-democrats-schumer-stay-out-senate-race.html