By Nolan D. McCaskill
PORTLAND, Maine, July 15 (Reuters) - The news station hosting a Democratic U.S. Senate debate in Maine on Thursday has agreed to allow eight declared candidates on stage, yielding to campaigns' calls for broader participation after initially omitting half the field.
"News Center Maine reached out to my team to let us know that all announced candidates will now be invited to participate in Thursday’s debate," candidate Dan Kleban, co-founder of Maine Beer Company, said in a social
media post late on Tuesday. "I have accepted the invitation and am looking forward to having an exchange of ideas with the other candidates."
The additions are a boon for Troy Jackson, the former Maine Senate president who publicly called on News Center Maine to allow every declared candidate to participate in the 90-minute debate. Jackson's campaign said the host station invited only candidates who received at least 20% of the vote in their primary races last month.
Nine Democrats are vying to replace Graham Platner as the party's nominee to take on Republican Senator Susan Collins in November. Only four met the original threshold: Jackson, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, former Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Nirav Shah and ex-congressional aide Jordan Wood.
Collins is the only Republican incumbent up for reelection in a state that Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris won in 2024. Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, where flipping Maine is crucial to Democrats’ path to regaining control of the chamber.
Social worker Paige Loud and former longtime political aide David Costello finished under the 20% threshold in their respective races. But Kleban, former state Representative Elizabeth Dickerson and Ashley Webb, a transgender and intersex woman, were not on the ballot last month.
News Center Maine said it invited all candidates who had filed to run by close of business on Tuesday, meaning Webb will not participate.
"The fact that some candidates in this race weren't running for completely different offices last month shouldn't prevent us from taking the debate stage," Kleban had said.
Loud's campaign initially told Reuters that every candidate who filed their paperwork should be invited. In a social media post late on Tuesday, she credited "conversations with the station and pressure" from campaigns for widening the field.
PLATNER'S COLLAPSE SPARKS SCRAMBLE
As Platner was considering suspending his campaign last week, prospective candidates called for an open, fair and transparent process to replace him. The oysterman's campaign collapsed after sexual assault allegations, which he denies, prompting the Maine Democratic Party to select a new nominee.
The party has said the nominee will be selected at a July 25 convention in Bangor.
"I’m ready to take the stage Thursday and make my case to Mainers," Jackson said in a statement on Tuesday. "Every other candidate who has registered for the party’s nominating process should have the same opportunity to make their case to delegates and voters."
Candidates have until 5 p.m. on Wednesday to file their intent to seek the nomination and must collect 500 signatures by Monday, including at least 50 from eight counties. At the convention, hundreds of delegates will vote until a candidate reaches a majority. The top five candidates will advance to the second round, and the lowest vote getter will be eliminated in each subsequent round.
(Reporting by Nolan D. McCaskill. Editing by Michael Learmonth, Rod Nickel)
