CNN and Bangor Daily News to host July 23 debate for Maine Democrats running to replace Graham Platner

By David Wright, CNN

(CNN) — As Maine Democrats scramble to find a new nominee for the state’s highly consequential US Senate race, CNN will host a debate in partnership with the Bangor Daily News on Thursday, July 23, two days before 601 delegates gather at a convention to choose a new candidate.

The two-hour debate will take place at 8 p.m. ET. The candidates will take questions from CNN anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash as well as Bangor Daily News Political Editor Michael Shepherd. There will be a live audience including some of the delegates who will vote to decide the nominee along with Maine primary voters.

A crowded field is vying to replace former nominee Graham Platner, whose campaign imploded earlier this month after he was accused of rape – an allegation he denies – weeks after he’d won the Democratic nomination for US Senate.

Under pressure in a key battleground contest, where incumbent GOP Sen. Susan Collins has defied Democratic opponents for nearly two decades, state party officials have assembled plans to replace Platner just before the legal deadline at a June 25 state party convention.

Two days after CNN’s debate, 601 delegates will meet in Bangor to vote on a new nominee, with 500 to be selected at county meetings across Maine this weekend, and the other 101 automatically included from Maine’s Democratic State Committee.

Candidates have until the end of Monday to submit 500 signatures to qualify for the convention ballot, including 50 signatures from at least eight separate counties.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.