Shenna Bellows drops out of Maine Senate race

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows announced Sunday she is withdrawing from the race to nominate a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate. Bellows was considered among the leading candidates to replace Graham Platner, who won the June primary but withdrew earlier this month following a former girlfriend’s accusation of sexual assault, which he denied. Her decision came as Troy Jackson, a longtime lawmaker and former Maine Senate president, appeared to be taking a commanding lead in the Democratic party’s process to replace Platner on the ballot. County committees are holding caucus meetings this weekend to elect delegates to a state nominating convention to be held next weekend. The 601 delegates, including 500 elected delegates and 101 state committee members, will select the next nominee. Of the 319 delegates elected in eight counties by Saturday evening, 100, or about 31%, had publicly disclosed their support for Jackson ahead of the July 25 convention. “This has been an unprecedented nominating process, compressed into days instead of months, and I’m grateful to every volunteer who worked around the clock for this movement,” Bellows said in a written statement. “That energy is exactly what we need to beat Susan Collins in November — and Democrats don’t have a day to waste in unifying around that shared goal.” This is a developing story.