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Just hours before Maine Democrats are scheduled to meet in Bangor to select a replacement nominee for the U.S. Senate, a Republican state lawmaker is asking Secretary of State Shenna Bellows to determine whether former Senate President Troy Jackson is legally eligible to receive the nomination at all...

Maine has a "sore loser" law that says a candidate that runs for one office and loses cannot run for another office in the same cycle. After Graham Platner dropped out, Maine Dems are poised to nominate Troy Jackson. But Jackson ran for Governor (and lost the primary). Eligible?

Congress on Thursday split on advancing a pair of war powers resolutions aimed at forcing President Donald Trump to abandon his war with Iran, as the conflict escalates into a deadly new phase and oil tops $100 a barrel. The moves were the first vote since Trump informed Congress that he restarted the war with Iran following the breakdown of peace negotiations. The conflict’s revival after weeks of a shaky ceasefire comes just months before the U.S. midterm elections. It threatens to scramble the majority Republicans’ plan to maintain their razor-thin majorities. The Senate on Thursday voted 47-49 to kill...

On July 8, within minutes of Graham Platner abandoning his campaign for U.S. Senate, a 29-year-old Democratic activist named Cheyenne Hunt took to X to declare that his downfall would not be the last. “What happened in Maine should serve as a clear message: The days of women being sacrificed at the altar of our elections are over,” she wrote of Platner, who was accused of sexual assault. You may not have heard of Hunt, but you are almost certainly familiar with her work. A lawyer and progressive content creator, Hunt worked with Platner’s accusers to help orchestrate the media...

Background: Just saw an AI vid in which two talking chimps in a car beat up a Maine Senatorial candidate. Question: Do you think AI vids with violence will eventually end up as prosecutable events? "Battery by artificial intelligence in the First Degree, Class A Felony", GA Code § 16-5-23.6

WASHINGTON — Former logger and onetime Maine Senate President Troy Jackson is on course to replace accused rapist Graham Platner as the Democratic Senate nominee following a series of party caucuses over the weekend. As results from the Pine Tree State’s 16 counties showed Jackson running away with the committed delegate count, would-be contenders Nirav Shah, former head of the state’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention; state Secretary of State Shenna Bellows; Maine Beer Co. founder Dan Kleban; and ex-congressional hopeful Jordan Wood dropped out one by one. “Today, I am stepping aside, and I am doing it for...

There’s a battle to shape the Democratic Party this fall, and two top Senate Democrats are taking different paths in their bids to put their mark on the process. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., endorsed Abdul El-Sayed in the duel for the Democratic Senate nomination in Michigan. It’s a break from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who is backing Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich. The diverging endorsements are emblematic of the fight going on behind the scenes and publicly in the Democratic Party as the old guard fights to stand its ground, while a progressive surge threatens to completely overtake the...

Democratic Senate contenders are dramatically out-raising their Republican peers, according to Federal Election Commission data — with Georgia’s Jon Ossoff and James Talarico in Texas leading the pack. Eight of the top 10 Senate candidate fundraiser this year are Democrats, whose top contestants have raked in $574 million, compared to the Republicans’ $336 million, per the FEC. Incumbent Sen. Ossoff (D-Ga.) is the biggest fundraiser on both sides, having raked in a jaw-dropping $77 million as of June 30, and has a staggering $42.5 million in cash on hand. He’s raised nearly $98 million as a Senate candidate, including the...

Former state Senate President Troy Jackson is racking up support to become Maine’s next Democratic Senate nominee, with both his top opponents ending their campaigns on Sunday. Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and physician Nirav Shah, a former top public health official in the state, both announced they would be leaving the race. Bellows made her announcement Sunday morning, while Shah exited the race Sunday evening after Democrats across the state selected delegates to next week’s state nominating convention. Shah threw his support behind Jackson. “To Maine Democrats: Susan Collins will not be defeated without a united Democratic Party....

SANFORD, Maine — Former state Senate President Troy Jackson is racking up support to become Maine’s next Democratic Senate nominee, with one of his top opponents ending her campaign on Sunday. “Donald Trump’s attacks on our democracy are only accelerating, and the best way that I can serve our state and country at this moment is by focusing exclusively on my role as Secretary of State,” Bellows said in a statement. York County Democratic Party Chairwoman Kathie Purdy announced the news just as Democrats gathered at a performing arts center began casting ballots for delegates to next week’s state convention,...

Fox News host Jesse Watters dissects the Maine U.S. Senate race while sounding the alarm over socialism’s influence within the Democratic Party on ‘Jesse Watters Primetime.’

Transgender and intersex Maine Senate candidate Ashley Webb sent social media astir after citing her ability to write songs as a qualification during a debate Thursday. 'What qualifications do you have to serve in the US Senate?' a moderator asked the outsized underdog attempting to replace Graham Platner. '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,' Webb responded, with a laugh. She went on to cite her 'transparency.' 'I wouldn't lie to people and I wouldn't deceive the people, like, we're being deceived right...

A trans and intersex activist vying to replace disgraced Maine Senate wannabe Graham Platner as the Democratic candidate has gone viral for their absurd answer about their qualifications in a debate Thursday. Asked by a moderator what qualifies them for the top office, longshot hopeful Ashley Webb responded with a bizarre rambling string of loopy reasons. “I ran for office several times. Didn’t win, but I did run,” Webb chuckled. “And then I’m a songwriter, and then I write my own books, and then I suppose my transparency,” Webb said. “I wouldn’t lie to the people, and I wouldn’t deceive...

This is "Ashley." Ashley thinks he can do a better job than the Nazi-tattoo guy at representing Maine in the United States Senate. MODERATOR: "What qualifications do you have to serve in the U.S. Senate?" Maine Democrat Ashley Webb: "I'm a songwriter and I write my own books." MODERATOR: David Costello said he's for Medicare for All. Is everybody? KLEBEN: Yes. DICKERSON: It's incredible. WEBB: I'm actually on Medicare. MODERATOR: Oh...ok.

When Graham Platner dropped out of Maine's Senate race, Democrats figured they'd dodged a bullet. All they had to do was find a competent replacement to take on Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), and the seat was theirs for the taking. That was the narrative, anyway. Then their candidates took the stage Thursday night for the first primary debate, and the bullet found them anyway. The debate, hosted by News Center Maine on July 16, featured four candidates in the first hour: former State Senate President Troy Jackson, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, former congressional aide Jordan Wood, and Dr. Nirav...

r/tankiejerk: ForwardDiamond3484. Ana Kasparian is victim-blaming Graham Platner's accuser. July 8, 2026. https://www.tiktok.com/@destinydebates/video/7660271699652250893 https://www.reddit.com/r/tankiejerk/comments/1uqz3c9/ana_kasparian_is_victimblaming_graham_platners/

Agents will now only pursue traffic stops targeting individuals with serious or violent criminal histories U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are being instructed to end "most" vehicle stops nationwide in a major policy shift, effective immediately. According to multiple federal sources, ICE agents will cease making traffic stops, which have played a significant role in the agency’s operations until now. A federal source told Fox News that ICE will continue conducting vehicle stops only for those considered to be the most egregious targets with serious or violent criminal histories. This comes after two people were killed in ICE...

ICE ordered its agents on Tuesday to cease vehicle stops in immigration enforcement activities following the fatal shooting of Joan Sebastian Guerrero, 26, of Colombia, in Biddeford on Monday. “While the investigation of the Biddeford shooting is not yet complete, it raises sufficient critical questions that I spoke with DHS Secretary Mullin last night and urged him to cease all non-urgent vehicle stops,” said Sen. Susan Collins on X on Tuesday. The Daily Wire first reported the new directive, citing three unnamed Homeland Security sources, and FOX News later confirmed the reporting with statements from other unnamed federal sources. According...

A large protest occurred Tuesday in Maine, a day after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were involved in the fatal shooting of a 26-year-old man, who officials say was not the intended target of the operation. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said he was briefed on the deadly encounter by Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin, who confirmed that ICE agents conducting an operation in the area were involved in the shooting. The man who was killed was identified as 26-year-old Johan Sebastián Guerrero, a spokesperson for King's office told ABC News. The officer involved in Monday's shooting was a...

Here Maine goes again. The state’s new far-left contender for the Democratic Party’s US Senate nomination is a faux populist with a wicked reactionary streak. Until five minutes ago, his immigrant-hating, anti-abortion platform was so extreme it would spook even the staunchest Republican. He’s a local pol so desperate to make it in the big leagues that he’s cosplaying as a progressive working man unafraid to get his hands dirty. He is Troy Jackson, fifth-generation Maine logger and wannabe US senator, and he’s got the Bernie Sanders seal of approval to replace accused rapist Graham Platner on the Democrats’ midterm...