For months, a crowded, collegial race for governor of Maine barely qualified as background noise amid the din of a high-stakes Senate campaign. Then Graham Platner, the populist newcomer in the Senate race, revealed his preferred candidates.
Mr. Platner, a self-proclaimed political outsider, named three Democrats with lengthy tenures in Maine government, who were at that moment pleased to receive his insurgent imprimatur.
“Those three candidates, whether it’s an issue of democracy and standing up to President Trump, or whether it’s around the environment, or broader progressive values, they are the ones that I think most represent my value set,” Mr. Platner said at a campaign event on May 21.
Two weeks later, as Mr. Platner faces new scrutiny after reports about his relationships with women, the shine may be off that endorsement. But the governor’s race has tightened, with a University of New Hampshire poll showing Troy Jackson, Mr. Platner’s top pick, tied with Dr. Nirav Shah, an epidemiologist who led Maine’s coronavirus response and had led the race in most previous polls. The primary election will take place on Tuesday.
Mr. Jackson, a logger and longtime state senator, stood beside Mr. Platner at a rally in Bar Harbor on Friday night as the Senate candidate railed against “politically motivated, serious and false allegations” against him.
Mr. Jackson’s campaign did not respond to questions about his view of the allegations. But he told reporters that he had not read all the details, and that he supported Mr. Platner because they cared about the same issues.
Maine uses a ranked-choice voting system, allowing voters to choose multiple candidates in order of preference. Mr. Platner said he ranked Mr. Jackson, a former president of the State Senate, first; he also voted for Shenna Bellows, the secretary of state, and Hannah Pingree, a former speaker of the State House whose mother is U.S. Representative Chellie Pingree. Ms. Pingree also has the endorsement of Gov. Janet Mills, who is term limited.
The other Democrats in the race are Dr. Shah and Angus King III, the businessman son of Senator Angus King.
On the Republican side, Bobby Charles, 65, a former assistant U.S. secretary of state under President George W. Bush, has maintained a strong lead among seven candidates. A conservative who fashions himself after Mr. Trump, he has focused on reducing crime and reining in state spending, while also speaking openly about his Christian faith.
Dr. Shah spent most of his career in the Midwest until Ms. Mills hired him in 2019 to lead Maine’s public health agency. He became a familiar face in the state during the pandemic, appearing with the governor at daily televised briefings.
He had already been campaigning as an “outsider” against well-connected rivals. That description looked more apt when Mr. Platner shared his picks, and when his three favored candidates released a joint statement emphasizing the close bonds between them, and urging voters to rank them in the top spots on the ballot. “I ask that if you plan to vote for me, you rank them right after,” Mr. Jackson said. “And if I’m not your first place vote, I’d love to have your second.”
In an interview, Dr. Shah said that he respected all three, but had heard from many voters who wanted independence, not strategic allegiances.
“I’m doing something different, taking a fresh look, and that is a benefit in this moment,” he said. “I haven’t been part of the Augusta machinery.”
The University of New Hampshire poll of 1,400 people, conducted from May 21 to 25, found Dr. Shah tied with Mr. Jackson for the lead, at 28 percent each. Ms. Bellows had 13 percent; Ms. Pingree, 12 percent; and Mr. King, 7 percent.
All five Democrats have described similar policy goals, including expanding access to health care and housing. In debates, they have highlighted their common ground more often than they have clashed; most have also sought to prove they will be champions of the working class.
Mr. Jackson frequently talks about lacking health insurance in the past, and reminds voters of his roots in rural Aroostook County, a conservative northern region. Ms. Bellows has emphasized her own upbringing in rural Hancock County, where her father was a carpenter and where she lived without electricity or running water until fifth grade.
Michael Franz, a professor of government at Bowdoin College in Maine, said their messaging showed Democrats’ keen awareness that they must appeal to “working-class voters intrigued by Trump populism.”
Yet the strategic alliance forged by Mr. Jackson, Ms. Bellows and Ms. Pingree seemed to spotlight their insider standing instead.
“I’ve known Troy and Shenna since 2002 — we grew up together in Maine politics,” Ms. Pingree said in the trio’s joint statement announcing their coalition.
In interviews over the past two weeks, a dozen Democratic primary voters said they were still sorting their options.
A few emphasized that the preferences of Mr. Platner — or anyone else — would not sway them.
“I like Graham, and I think he would be a stellar senator, but I’ll make up my own mind,” said Bob Nelson, a retired college professor in Clinton.
He was leaning toward ranking Ms. Bellows first, Ms. Pingree second and Dr. Shah third.
Mary Ann Larson, 78, a retired public health educator who lives in Bangor, said she, too, was inclined to rank Ms. Bellows and Ms. Pingree first and second, because of the specificity of their plans, and their gender; she wants to see capable women elected more often.
Mr. Nelson said that Mr. Jackson seemed like “less of a renegade” than the two women running, especially Ms. Bellows, who received national attention in 2023 when she tried to keep President Trump off Maine’s primary ballot because of his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
To Keith Smith, 67, a retired state employee who lives near Greenville, in northern Maine, and who voted for Mr. Jackson, the candidate’s connection to the region mattered most.
“He understands the problems of rural Maine,” Mr. Smith said. “And up here in rural Maine we seem to get lost in the Augusta shuffle.”
Amy Sowa, 41, of Troy, who works in sales, favors Ms. Bellows. She called Dr. Shah intelligent and charismatic, but cited his relatively recent move to Maine as an “outsider” factor that counts against him.
“I think it’s too big and complicated of a state to just jump in and represent us or make decisions for us,” she said. “I don’t think you have to be from here, but I think you should have at least spent the better part of your life here.”
Kathleen Tomaselli contributed reporting from Aroostook County, Maine, and Sydney Cromwell contributed reporting from Waterville, Maine.
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