{"id":4877,"date":"2026-07-13T16:35:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T16:35:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4877"},"modified":"2026-07-13T16:35:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T16:35:30","slug":"maine-democrats-to-chuck-schumer-stay-out-of-our-senate-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4877","title":{"rendered":"Maine Democrats to Chuck Schumer: Stay out of our Senate race"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FREEPORT, Maine — Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York is accustomed to getting his way in Democratic primaries for Senate.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Aortic tear blamed in Senator Lindsey Graham\u2019s sudden death is a fast-killing emergency<\/a><\/p>\n

But even as 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\u2019s voters, candidates and local leaders in all-important Maine: Stay away.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Maine, a pivotal battleground in the fight for control of the Senate, Democrats are trying to flip the seat of Sen. Susan Collins, a five-term Republican. In the spring, they soundly rejected Schumer\u2019s choice, Gov. Janet Mills. Graham Platner, an oysterman running on a progressive and antiestablishment message, forced Mills out of the race weeks before primary day.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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

\u201cDo you want Maine to decide for you if you vote in New York?\u201d said Paige Zeigler, chair of the Waldo County Democrats in Maine\u2019s Midcoast region. \u201cDo I want Washington to decide for me? No. Christ no.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Schumer\u2019s aides say he will accede to Maine Democrats\u2019 requests.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLeader Schumer has been clear that he will play no role in selecting Maine\u2019s new Democratic nominee,\u201d a spokesperson for Schumer, Allison Biasotti, said in a statement. \u201cHe has full faith in Maine Democrats to choose their nominee. Once they do, Democrats will unite to defeat Susan Collins and take back the Senate.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Candidates vying to replace Platner have sought to separate themselves from Schumer, with several saying he should not stay on as leader after the midterms. They have been united in their calls for Schumer not to play a role in the race to replace Platner on the ballot.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a process for Maine and Mainers,\u201d Dr. Nirav Shah, a former public health official who is competing to replace Platner, said in an interview Saturday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shah, who lost in the state\u2019s primary for governor last month, also said he would want to press Schumer to advance a more progressive vision for the Democratic Party before he could support him remaining as leader.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs currently constituted,\u201d Shah said, \u201cI\u2019m a no.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Jordan Wood, who is running to replace Platner and narrowly lost a House primary last month, echoed Shah, saying in an interview, \u201cWe have made it clear in our state that this is a decision that should be made by the voters of Maine.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Wood has long said that Schumer should not remain as party leader. Other candidates, including Paige Loud, a social worker; Dan Kleban, a founder of a brewery; and David Costello, an environmental policy consultant, also favor replacing Schumer as leader, their campaigns said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The campaigns of two other candidates, Troy Jackson and Shenna Bellows, who both ran for governor this year, said it was time for Democrats to have new Senate leadership.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more The next big races between moderates and progressives are in pivotal Midwestern states<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWashington, D.C., is broken and has all the wrong priorities, with the working class being left behind while corporations and billionaires get all the special favors,\u201d Bellows, Maine\u2019s secretary of state and the party\u2019s Senate nominee in 2014, said in a statement. \u201cWe clearly need new leadership.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The opposition to Schumer in part reflects the antiestablishment mood among many Democrats in Maine and other states. That sentiment helped propel Platner to victory in the primary.<\/span><\/p>\n

The replacement for Platner will be decided by about 600 delegates at an unusual nominating convention in late July.<\/span><\/p>\n

Schumer, who has at times angered the Democratic base with his approach to President Donald Trump\u2019s second term, finds himself in a delicate spot. As the party leader in the Senate, few Democrats have more riding on the result in Maine.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, Democratic leaders and candidates in Maine say they believe Schumer has so far followed through on his pledge to stay out of the race. Wood said he thought Schumer had \u201clearned a lesson\u201d from Mills\u2019 failed bid.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Although many Democrats are now critical of Schumer, the eventual nominee is likely to be reliant in the general election on some of the tools that Schumer and his vast political network can provide. He holds immense influence over strategy and spending decisions by national Democratic groups and donors in the most competitive Senate races.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some Democrats argue that Schumer represents an old guard that they say has not fought Trump hard enough, and that he is too focused on appealing to the political center at the expense of advancing progressive causes. Schumer enraged some Democrats last year when he supported a Republican-written bill to avert a government shutdown.<\/span><\/p>\n

Griffin Scott, 27, a Democrat from Portland, Maine, said Schumer had shown a \u201clack of judgment in trying to prop up Janet Mills without really understanding where Maine voters are coming from.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He said that he believed Schumer held a \u201cClintonian view\u201d that Democrats could win by peeling off moderate voters, but that Mainers were hungry for progressive policies. He urged Schumer to stay away from the search for Platner\u2019s replacement.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s completely out of touch with where Democrats are,\u201d Scott said of Schumer. \u201cHe\u2019s acted as a force that is counter to the will of the party constituents.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more With threats rising, Supreme Court asks Congress to increase security funds<\/a><\/p>\n

This article originally appeared in <\/i>The New York Times<\/i>.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Local Democrats are warning the top Senate Democrat to keep away as they replace Graham Platner, and the candidates are giving his leadership in Washington low marks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4876,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nMaine Democrats to Chuck Schumer: Stay out of our Senate race - Boston Relocation Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4877\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Maine Democrats to Chuck Schumer: Stay out of our Senate race - 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