Sen. Susan Collins’ campaign is giving her would‑be rivals the “Jeb!” treatment, casting them as low‑energy losers who have a long climb before they can recreate the Graham Platner buzz.
They started the “Campaign Energy Check” to mock the competition almost as soon as Mr. Platner’s replacements started lining up.
Mr. Platner — a Marine veteran, oyster farmer and political newcomer who electrified the left wing of the Democratic Party — ended his Senate campaign Wednesday after a woman he once dated accused him of rape, capping a series of scandals that included his Nazi tattoo and sexist and racist social media posts.
Ms. Collins, a Republican seeking a sixth term, posted the “Campaign Energy Check” on social media. It started with a video of Mr. Platner crowdsurfing at a roaring Dropkick Murphys concert, stamped with the tag: “How It Started …”
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A record‑scratch cuts to another video labeled “How it’s going …” It featured a bespectacled Nirav D. Shah, an epidemiologist and leading contender to replace Mr. Platner, driving down a quiet road in a collared shirt and a zipper sweater while narrating his excitement about the dogs he sees along the way.
“Look at all these doggos,” he says. “They are such good boys and girls. They are so excited.”
The vibe is reminiscent of the line of attack Jeb Bush suffered in the 2016 presidential race, when Donald Trump repeatedly branded the former Florida governor as “low energy” — a jab at his subdued style, his difficulty electrifying voters, and a contrast with Trump’s own high‑octane persona.
Others made fun of his “Jeb!” slogan, laughing it off as a desperate attempt to infuse energy into his bid.
But unlike Mr. Bush, most of the Democrats now vying to replace the gravelly-voiced Mr. Platner are coming off primary losses, giving the Collins team an opening to paint them as a bench of political also-rans.
“They only have losers running,” said Collins adviser Dave Carney.
Democrats likely need to defeat Ms. Collins to flip control of the U.S. Senate.
Maine Democrats, meanwhile, have released the criteria — including a July 21 voter‑signature deadline — for qualifying candidates in the race to replace Mr. Platner on the ballot. He officially withdrew from the ballot Friday. The state party now has two weeks under state law to name a replacement.
Mr. Platner built his winning primary coalition over nearly 300 days. The Democrats looking to fill his shoes will have roughly two weeks to win over Democratic convention-goers, and then have 100 days to win over the rest of the electorate before the November election.
Mr. Platner’s exit triggered a sprint to fill the vacancy, with a long list of Democrats jumping in and providing an early sense of how they will try to harness the movement that helped him push Gov. Janet Mills to suspend her Senate bid in late April and capture nearly 72% of the vote in the June primary.
The early contenders include former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, a favorite of the socialist wing, and Secretary of State Shenna Bellows — both of whom finished behind Mr. Shah in the gubernatorial primary.
Mr. Shah, an avid dog lover who served as director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention during the coronavirus pandemic, is seeking to assure voters he shares the policy vision and fresh face that Mr. Platner brought into the race.
“There is very little light between us,” he said on CNN. “What voters in Maine want is a clearly progressive candidate who can make issues like Medicare for All an actual reality.”
He added, “The other thing voters in Maine are looking for is someone who is an outsider.”
Mr. Jackson, who served in the Maine Senate and House from 2002 to 2024, is staking his claim to the working‑class mantle that Mr. Platner dominated in the primary.
“We are sick and tired of getting screwed and struggling to get by while greedy corporations get more and more,” he said in a video posted online this week, standing in front of a stack of wood. “I’ve been in tough fights, and I know how to win because working people know I have their back.”
Ms. Bellows is also echoing the Platner vision.
“What’s at stake is standing up to Donald Trump, protecting our neighbors, passing Medicare for All, and fighting for the working class, and holding big corporations and billionaires accountable,” Ms. Bellows said in an online video, speaking into a camera, seemingly in a room by herself.
