Maine Democratic Senate Debate Shows Just How Far the Bar Has Fallen, Update

Maine Democratic Senate Debate Shows Just How Far the Bar Has Fallen, Update

For months, we wondered whether there was any red line former Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner could cross that would prompt Democrats to abandon him as their nominee. From the Nazi tattoo on his chest, a trove of deleted social media posts featuring crude, offensive, and inflammatory remarks, revelations that he exchanged sexual messages with women after he was married, and allegations of abuse by a former girlfriend, Platner’s past produced one controversy after another, each seemingly pushing the limits of what would ordinarily be disqualifying in a candidate for public office.

Although allegations of sexual assault from a liberal accuser ostensibly doomed his campaign, the decisive factor may have been Democrats’ realization that he was no longer capable of defeating incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R).

On Thursday evening, four of the twelve Democratic candidates vying to replace Platner squared off in a debate at the WCSH-6 studio in Portland. The group included David Costello, Elizabeth Dickerson, Dan Kleban, and Ashley Webb.

The moment that has everyone talking came when participants were asked, “What qualifications do you have to serve in the U.S. Senate?”

Candidate Ashley Webb, a transgender, replied, “I ran for office several times, didn’t win, but I did run and then, I’m a songwriter and then I write my own books.”

She added, “I suppose my transparency, I wouldn’t lie to people and I wouldn’t deceive the people, like, we’re being deceived right now, like we get lied to, smoke and mirrors, like what’s going on with ICE.”

Attaching a video of Webb’s incredible response to a social media post, Manhattan Institute’s Jesse Arm quipped, “I think Susan Collins is going to win.”

I think Susan Collins is going to win. https://t.co/RY4oQBwn7X

— Jesse Arm (@Jesse_Leg) July 17, 2026

Responses to the video were as expected. One X user wrote, “This has got to be an SNL skit!”

Washington Examiner writer David Harsanyi replied, “To be fair, that’s more relevant experience than Platner.”

Another noted, “‘I wouldn’t deceive the people’ Says the man pretending to be a woman!”

“I wouldn’t deceive the people” Says the man pretending to be a woman!

— Rebecca Woodbury (@Rebecca46790441) July 17, 2026

While Webb’s biography on the Maine Democrats’ website doesn’t tell us anything about her employment history, the excerpt below implies she will use her experience in “fighting for my own medical records and accountability” to help “every Mainer the system has failed.”

As an openly trans and intersex woman, I know what it means to be told to wait, to be quieter, to let someone else speak for you. I won’t do that in this campaign, and I won’t do it in the Senate. No Mainer – rural or urban, Democrat, Republican, or unenrolled – should have to fight this hard just to be heard by the people meant to represent them.

This movement doesn’t end at the convention. It continues every time someone calls my office With a problem and gets a real answer instead of a form letter.

Last year, Webb self-published a memoir titled, I Am Ashley: A True Story of Growing Up Trans in a World That Said I Couldn’t Be Her. While it boasts a five-star rating on Goodreads, it is based on only one review. The site lists a second book under her author profile, “60 Recipes Under 600 Calories: Healthy, Satisfying Meals for Every Craving,” but provides no additional information.

I suppose if Maine Democrats believed that a degenerate oyster farmer was suitable to represent their state in the U.S. Senate, a trans, intersex “woman” who pledges to help Mainers navigate their medical care is okay too.

Local media outlet Maine Public reported that three of the contenders ran against Platner in the June primary: Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, and former Maine CDC director Nirav Shah.

David Costello, a Maine native who worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development as well as in state government in Maryland, is also back after finishing third in [the] Senate primary.

And one other former 2nd Congressional District candidate, Jordan Wood, remains in the Senate race. A former senior congressional aide and campaign finance reform advocate, Wood had initially run for Senate only to switch to the 2nd District race after Gov. Janet Mills joined the Senate primary.

Dan Kleban, the Maine Beer Co. co-founder who briefly ran for the Senate last year, has also declared his candidacy. And rounding out the field are Elizabeth Cote, Elizabeth Dickerson, Joseph Leveille, Kristina Libby, [and] Saundra Pelletier.

Next, according to Maine Public, candidates must “gather 500 signatures from registered Maine Democrats — including 50 voters from at least eight different counties — and submit them to the party by next week.”

Additionally:

Democrats will hold caucus-style meetings in each county on Saturday and Sunday to select 500 of the 601 delegates who will get to choose the nominee. As of Tuesday night, more than 5,000 people had already registered to either participate in the weekend meetings or to seek a spot as a delegate.

Lastly, those delegates plus alternates will gather in Bangor on July 25 to officially select a new nominee to challenge Collins in a race with potential national implications. Collins is the only Republican senator up for reelection this year in a state that supported Democrat Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential election. And both parties regard her seat as key to control of the Senate next year.

Frankly, I’m with Jesse Arm on this race. I think Susan Collins will cruise to victory in November.

Update added 7/18, 7 pm: Manhattan Institute fellow Colin Wright gathered a number of Webb’s past social media posts that shed light on the depth of Webb’s apparent delusion.

Warning: Content is graphic and may be offensive.

Wright’s posts can be viewed here and here. Some readers may find this content interesting and others may want to pass.

Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.