I don’t want to say that the U.S. Senate race in Maine is over, but new numbers out today show incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins has $11 million cash on hand. We don’t know how much money the Democratic candidate has on hand, because we don’t yet know who the Democratic candidate will be.
Democrats will select their nominee at a convention on July 25. Despite the fact that the electorate at large will not be voting on the nominee, CNN and the Bangor Daily News are teaming up for a televised debate on July 23.
Collins will not only have the advantages of incumbency and a history of overperforming her polling numbers, but her campaign also will have plenty of cash to define that Democratic nominee, right out of the gate. While the new nominee will probably get an influx of cash from the grassroots early on, an $11 million advantage is a lot of ground to make up.
Even though Maine Democrats have demonstrated terrible judgment in their primary, you can’t begrudge them for being irritated that their nominee will be selected for them by 601 delegates. Don’t get me wrong: Graham Platner, a.k.a. Nazi tattoo guy, needed to be defeated, and defeated thoroughly. But this comes after . . .
(A) The Democratic Party decided to just make Vice President Kamala Harris the nominee in 2024, after President Biden withdrew from the race, with little real discussion of any potential alternatives.
(B) Over the course of the past few months, a whole lot of red flags suggested that Platner might be a spectacularly flawed candidate and be forced to withdraw, and third . . .
(C) In South Carolina, because of their state’s laws, Republicans will vote for the replacement for Lindsey Graham for this year’s November election through a special statewide primary held August 11, and if necessary, a runoff August 21. Maine Democrats can understandably ask, “Wait, if those guys get to pick their nominee this late in the process, why don’t we?” The short answer is that Maine law covers the deadlines for replacing a withdrawn candidate but doesn’t say anything about how a party must replace its withdrawn candidate.
Its hard to beat somebody with nobody, and at least until July 25, Maine Democrats have nobody.