Graham Platner's Senate campaign collapsed weeks ago under rape allegations that shocked Maine Democrats.
Eight Democrats scrambled onto a debate stage this week fighting to replace him.
One candidate's answer to a simple qualifications question is now Susan Collins' newest weapon and then there’s the “mucus.”
Eight Candidates Scrambled to Replace a Senate Nominee Facing Rape Charges
Maine Democrats had one job this month.
Find a candidate who could actually beat Susan Collins in November.
Instead they got eight Democrats crammed onto a stage in Portland on Thursday night, none of whom could touch the charisma of the man they're replacing.
Platner rode a populist wave to a primary win in June.
Then a woman accused him of rape, and he was gone within days.
That left Democrats with less than three weeks to collect signatures, court delegates, and produce a nominee before their July 25 convention.
What they produced instead was a debate that Republicans are still laughing about.
Webb's Answer to the Most Basic Question in Politics Was Songwriting and Wait ‘Till You Hear About the “Mucus”
A moderator asked a straightforward question.
What qualifies you to serve in the United States Senate?
Ashley Webb, a transgender activist and long-shot candidate who has run for office multiple times without winning, had an answer ready.
Webb said they’re a songwriter, writes his own books and that her honesty sets him apart from politicians who "lie" and "deceive" the public.
Conservative commentator Dave Rubin summed up the reaction for millions of people watching the clip spread across social media: "Surely you can't be serious… ," Rubin posted on X.
He wasn't the only one.
Maine Beer Company founder Dan Kleban, one of Webb's rivals on that same stage, didn't even need Webb's answer to land the harshest line of the night.
"The reputation of the Democratic Party is is in the toilet," Kleban said, out loud, on a debate stage, about his own party.
Webb wasn't finished generating material for Republicans either.
Within hours, promotional copy for Webb's self-published memoir resurfaced online, describing the book as far more than just a memoir.
"More than just a memoir – it's a spark," the Amazon listing read, according to RedState.
A candidate who built her entire pitch around never deceiving voters got fact-checked by her own book jacket in under a day.
https://x.com/FoxNews/status/2078186989967335909“>https://x.com/FoxNews/status/2078186989967335909
Democrats' Two Frontrunners Both Want ICE Abolished
Buried underneath the songwriter clip is the part Maine Democrats actually need voters to forget.
The debate happened three days after federal agents fatally shot a Colombian national in Biddeford, Maine.
Former Maine CDC Director Nirav Shah, one of the field's two frontrunners, didn't soften his position after that shooting.
He hardened it.
"I don't think this agency can be reformed. The rot has gone to the core and that's why we must abolish it," Shah said.
Former state Senate President Troy Jackson, the other frontrunner, went just as far.
"I support law enforcement, but ICE is not law enforcement," Jackson said, according to the Washington Examiner.
Every Democrat on that stage called for eliminating ICE outright.
Not reforming it.
Not adding oversight.
Eliminating the agency that enforces America's immigration laws, days after one of its operations turned fatal, months before a general election against Collins.
Webb, for her part, wasn't shy about her own priorities either, framing her candidacy less around policy specifics than personal identity.
"I suppose the biggest thing is, like, I'm just an angry citizen now," Webb said during the debate, describing what kind of senator he'd be.
An angry senator, by his own description.
That's the pitch.
Maine is not a state where "abolish ICE" plays in a general election.
Collins has held her seat through five terms by running as the Republican Mainers can live with even when they don't love Washington.
Handing her a Democratic opponent who wants to dismantle federal immigration enforcement does her campaign's job for her before Labor Day.
Whichever of the two frontrunners wins Saturday's convention spends the general election explaining an ICE-abolition position to voters who watched federal agents work the border crisis Biden created for four straight years.
Republicans Didn't Have to Do Anything
Republicans didn't script a single line of Thursday night.
They didn't have to.
The RNC's opposition research account, RNC Research, was already clipping and posting the footage as the debate happened.
Democrats handed them a songwriter with no legislative record, a rival candidate trashing his own party on camera, and two frontrunners calling for ICE's elimination days after one of its operations killed a man.
Whoever wins Saturday's convention inherits every second of that debate as a ready-made ad for Collins' campaign team.
The Platner scandal was supposed to be Maine Democrats' low point.
Thursday night, they found a way to go lower, and this time nobody accused them of anything.
They did it themselves, on camera, with no one forcing their hand.
Sources:
- Paul Steinhauser, "Transgender Maine Senate candidate sparks online frenzy over response to debate question: 'Can't be serious'," Fox News, July 2026.
- Nick Arama, "What a Debacle: Lowlights From the Maine Dem Senate Debate to Replace Platner," RedState, July 17, 2026.
- Rusty Weiss, "Trans Candidate to Replace Platner Vowed Not to Deceive, Then a Hilariously Glowed-Up Memoir Pic Surfaced," RedState, July 17, 2026.
- Katherine Mosack, "Transgender candidate hoping to replace Graham Platner in Maine Senate race cites songwriting as a qualification," One America News Network, July 18, 2026.
- Fox News Staff, "Maine Senate candidates call to abolish ICE after Biddeford shooting," Fox News, July 2026.
- Washington Examiner Staff, "Nirav Shah and Troy Jackson solidify status as top contenders in Maine as other Senate candidates flounder," Washington Examiner, July 2026.
