{"id":2317,"date":"2026-07-09T10:48:55","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T05:48:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=2317"},"modified":"2026-07-09T10:48:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T05:48:55","slug":"patrick-dempsey-shuts-down-maine-senate-buzz-as-democrats-weigh-a-replacement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=2317","title":{"rendered":"Patrick Dempsey shuts down Maine Senate buzz as Democrats weigh a replacement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"prism-article-body\">\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">Actor Patrick Dempsey said Wednesday that he will not run for a <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/maine-graham-platner-election-5ce04e85fc3f43a3faa90366dc3cd3a3\">Maine Senate seat<\/a>, quashing speculation that the \u201cGrey\u2019s Anatomy\u201d star and People magazine&#8217;s former <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/patrick-dempsey-people-sexiest-man-alive-2023-exclusive-8391684\">Sexiest Man Alive<\/a> was among those being considered to replace embattled Democratic nominee Graham Platner. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Platner has currently paused his campaign to mull withdrawing from the high-stakes Senate race following an accusation from a former girlfriend that he once sexually assaulted her. The oyster farmer and Marine veteran, who denies the allegation, had <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/maine-senate-election-susan-collins-graham-platner-202ba010d7281db0dcd840d6c3ca0020\">secured the Democratic nomination<\/a> in June to go up against longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">In an editorial published in the Portland Press Herald, Dempsey wrote that Mainers are facing challenges including housing, healthcare and education, and whoever is elected as Maine&#8217;s next senator should work to enact meaningful change.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cAs I reflected on all of this, I kept coming back to one question: Do I truly want to serve in Congress?\u201d Dempsey wrote. \u201cAfter a lot of thought, I realized the answer is no. Not because public service isn\u2019t honorable \u2014 it absolutely is. But because I believe I can contribute more effectively through the life I\u2019ve already built.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Dempsey did not endorse any other candidate from those currently teasing their interest in replacing Platner, nor did he name Platner. Instead, he wrote that the candidate should offer \u201ca new approach to how we govern ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cMost of all, I want integrity. That may sound idealistic today, but it shouldn\u2019t,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \">Dempsey grew up in the Lewiston-Auburn area and is the founder of The Dempsey Center in Maine, which provides free care to people impacted by cancer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Actor Patrick Dempsey said Wednesday that he will not run for a Maine Senate seat, quashing speculation that the \u201cGrey\u2019s Anatomy\u201d star and People magazine&#8217;s former Sexiest Man Alive was among those being considered to replace embattled Democratic nominee Graham Platner. Platner has currently paused his campaign to mull withdrawing from the high-stakes Senate race&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/942b2b67-5b92-4684-8e58-c95c501c84c9\/wirestory_e3bcbfb2950c878e2d2b747a74b9f972_16x9.jpg?w=1600","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}