{"id":4869,"date":"2026-07-13T08:36:05","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T03:36:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=4869"},"modified":"2026-07-13T08:36:05","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T03:36:05","slug":"scoop-platner-privately-told-staff-hell-formally-exit-senate-race-monday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=4869","title":{"rendered":"Scoop: Platner privately told staff he&#039;ll formally exit Senate race Monday"},"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<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/3q_CHirn_S18OqUDOjwUc_bu12Y=\/0x0:3000x1688\/1366x768\/2026\/07\/09\/1783617115795.jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/09\/graham-platner-suspends-maine-senate-susan-collins\" target=\"_blank\">Graham Platner<\/a> privately told staff that he is planning to officially file paperwork to end his Senate campaign on Monday \u2014 the drop-dead deadline for him to exit the race.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why it matters: <\/strong>Though Democrats largely appear to think Platner is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/07\/republicans-8-million-ad-campaign-platner-replacement\" target=\"_blank\">done with his bid<\/a>, his last-minute timing is likely to cause a final pang of anxiety within the party.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Driving the news:<\/strong> Platner made the comments to his team Wednesday night shortly before he <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/grahamformaine\/status\/2075009677495058687\" target=\"_blank\">announced publicly<\/a> he was suspending his campaign.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;On Monday, I entire \u2014 I intend to file the requisite paperwork with the Secretary of State to remove my name from the ballot,&#8221; he said, according to a person on the call.<\/li>\n<li>Under <a href=\"https:\/\/legislature.maine.gov\/statutes\/21-a\/title21-Asec374-A.html\" target=\"_blank\">state law<\/a>, Platner has until Monday at 5 p.m. to drop out of the race in time for the party to replace him with a new nominee.<\/li>\n<li>As of about 1 p.m. Thursday, Platner had not officially withdrawn from the race, according to the Maine Secretary of State.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;No official withdrawal notice has yet been received from Mr. Platner,&#8221; said Jana Spaulding, deputy secretary of state for communications. &#8220;A public declaration is not an official withdrawal, and a candidate must formally withdraw to the elections office in writing, including signature.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Platner has sought to influence<\/strong> the process to choose his replacement. On Wednesday, he said in <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/grahamformaine\/status\/2075009677495058687\" target=\"_blank\">a social media video<\/a> that the protocol &#8220;needs to be driven not from back rooms, but by the will of the people.&#8221;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It &#8220;seems like people are underrating the odds he just doesn&#8217;t file the actual withdrawal,&#8221; Liam Kerr, co-founder of the center-left Welcome PAC, told Axios.<\/li>\n<li>Platner allies have described his comments as parting wishes, not hostage-taking.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What they&#8217;re saying: <\/strong>A Platner spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Between the lines: <\/strong>Progressive and establishment-oriented Democrats are feuding over how to pick the next nominee.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Maine Democratic Party said earlier this week that Platner&#8217;s team would have &#8220;no role&#8221; in determining his successor.<\/li>\n<li>On Wednesday, shortly before Platner said he was suspending his campaign, the state party announced that it would hold a nominating convention to pick his replacement in the event of a vacancy. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/09\/democrats-maine-senate-race-replace-platner\" target=\"_blank\">Several candidates have already jumped into the race<\/a>. <\/li>\n<li>The convention is expected to include roughly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/07\/09\/graham-platner-maine-democrats-replacement-process-00991464\" target=\"_blank\">600 delegates<\/a>, including 500 people chosen from county parties and 100 state committee members. <\/li>\n<li>Progressives worry that the process will be too insider-driven, while some moderates think it could empower activists on the left.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\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>Graham Platner privately told staff that he is planning to officially file paperwork to end his Senate campaign on Monday \u2014 the drop-dead deadline for him to exit the race. Why it matters: Though Democrats largely appear to think Platner is done with his bid, his last-minute timing is likely to cause a final pang&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4870,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/3q_CHirn_S18OqUDOjwUc_bu12Y=\/0x0:3000x1688\/1366x768\/2026\/07\/09\/1783617115795.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4869","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\/4869","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=4869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}