Former public health official Nirav Shah and former Maine state Sen. Troy Jackson solidified their status as the top two contenders in the Senate race for Maine during their first debate since former Democratic nominee Graham Platner dropped out of the race last week.
Both frontrunners took the opportunity on the debate stage Thursday night to blast Immigration and Customs Enforcement after an officer fatally shot a Colombian national earlier this week in Biddeford, Maine.
Shah reiterated his call to abolish ICE, saying “that must be our goal.” Jackson has called for the same thing. In his view, ICE is not a legitimate law enforcement agency.
“I support law enforcement, but ICE is not law enforcement,” Jackson said. “It’s a rogue agency that goes around doing things that they’re being told to [do] on high.”
Other candidates commented on ICE, but their comments weren’t as notable. In fact, the remaining candidates on the debate stage floundered in their answers.
In response to a question about a specific area of oversight she would want to focus on at a future Senate hearing if she were elected, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said she has “many ideas on this one.” When asked to give an example, she answered, “Well, I’d like to have a lot of hearings. But I will start with voting rights.”
On the topic of daylight saving time, which has been in the news after the House passed a bill to make it permanent, Bellows did not give a definitive answer on her position.
“I think there are reasons for and against,” Bellows said, followed by one of the two moderators saying she doesn’t have “a lot of conviction” in her answer. She added, “I love it when it gets light in the morning and gets dark at 8 o’clock or 9 o’clock. That’s my favorite.”
Bellows, Jackson, Shah, and former Capitol Hill staffer Jordan Wood participated in the first debate round. The second round saw less well-known candidates, including Maine Beer Company founder Dan Kleban and transgender activist Ashley Webb.
Webb gave an unclear response during the debate of the night when a moderator posed a question about qualifications.
“I ran for office several times, didn’t win,” Webb replied. “I’m a songwriter, and I write my own books. And then I suppose my transparency — I wouldn’t lie to people, and I wouldn’t deceive the people like we’re being deceived right now.”
Webb, a biological male who identifies as a woman, touched on the debate over gender identity.
“With the trans community, we’re being dehumanized. They say that we want to hurt people. I don’t want to hurt anybody. I just want to use the bathroom,” Webb said. “If they want me to use the men’s room, I will, but I don’t want to be assaulted.”
In a revealing moment, Kleban admitted the Democratic Party’s reputation “is in the toilet” because “we’ve lost focus of being the party about kitchen-table issues” and instead focus on cultural issues.
Many of the Senate candidates mentioned Platner during the debate, but they stayed away from criticizing him for fear of isolating his supporters.
David Costello, who finished third in the Democratic primary last month, noted Platner once voted for him in 2024. At the time, Costello was running for the Senate.
NO CLEAR FRONT-RUNNER EMERGES AS MAINE DEMOCRATS RACE TO REPLACE PLATNER
A dozen Maine Democrats are running for the state party’s nomination to challenge incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) in November.
CNN and Bangor Daily News will host the next debate in the race on July 23, two days before the Maine Democratic Party’s Senate nominating convention. A new nominee must be selected by 5 p.m. on July 27 to appear on the ballot against Collins.