Kennebec Democrats consider the candidates, the issues and Platner’s legacy at nominating meeting

AUGUSTA — Hundreds of potential delegates and voters from around Kennebec County filled the Augusta Civic Center Saturday to select delegates to represent the county at next weekend’s Democratic Party convention. 

People milled around the space, many stopping to peruse the signs listing the nearly 300 people on the ballot to become a delegate, with others holding flyers from Senate campaigns listing out the names of potential delegates that have declared a pact for a specific Senate candidate.

When not sorting through the long lists of names, people spoke with the Senate candidates that made it to the meeting, and chatted with fellow voters, creating a cheerful atmosphere in the space. 

The 40 delegates picked here on Saturday will be among 601 delegates tasked with selecting a Senate candidate to replace Graham Platner, who withdrew from the race last week.

Among the crowd in Augusta was Lisa Ingraham, from Waterville, who was still undecided on who she liked best among the 12 Senate candidates, let alone the hundreds of delegate candidates. But she preferred delegates who were uncommitted. 

“The ones that kind of appeal to me are the ones who haven’t quite made up their mind, are keeping an open mind and listening to the people in their communities and what they would like to see,” she said. 

Other voters, like Ruth Stevenson, who wore a green Nirav Shah shirt and held a Shah sign, were clear about which Senate candidates they preferred, and planned to choose delegates that were like-minded.

“I worked in healthcare during COVID, and he did a wonderful job leading us through that,” she said. “He’s very well spoken. He has some interesting ideas, particularly about funding rural hospitals, and I think he can beat Collins.” 

She felt it was important to participate in the delegate process because “the nature of our politics in our country today is very distressing. And for my children and my grandson, I have to make a difference now.”

Mary Jean-Byk, from Litchfield, had supported Shenna Bellows in the gubernatorial primary last month, but said now she felt Troy Jackson was the best choice for Senate. 

“I feel like the people sort of already voted for him as a governor — he came in second — so that and also talking with people, he’s from the north or the 2nd District, so I really want to look at it from a political point of view,” she said. 

Patrick Banks, from Augusta, was another Jackson supporter in the room Saturday. 

“I think he has what it takes to win,” he said. “So he’s kind of unpolished, but in a good way. So I think he’s the one for me.”

The focus among Democrats was very much looking ahead to the general election, and who will be able to take on Collins. But when asked about Platner, there was a mix of opinions. 

Jim Betts, a Bellows supporter running to be a delegate, said as a veteran himself, he’d given Platner the benefit of the doubt in some of his earlier scandals, but the latest accusation was too much for him. 

“I think he’s genuinely rehabilitated,” Betts said. “I think none of the things that happened would happen today, but he’s carrying too much baggage. It’s unfortunate. Amazing speaker, and right on the issues, I’ve never heard anyone talk like he has when it comes to the issues. It’s very disappointing.”

Ingraham, the undecided voter, said she had never been a big Platner supporter, because she felt like the campaign was veering into a cult of personality around him. 

“So my radar went off pretty quickly with that candidate,” she said. “But I understand people’s disappointment.”

Jean-Byk, one of the Jackson supporters, said she would have voted for Platner in November if he’d stayed in the race. She said she felt there was a lot of money spent to target Platner, and he was pushed out of the race. And it felt hypocritical of Republicans, she said, when Trump has faced sexual assault accusations and they still voted for him. 

“I know the background of Trump, this guy hasn’t even gone to court or hasn’t had that, so I’m not going to go by just what people are saying, because I know there’s too much money out there,” she said. “So I don’t even trust them, and I don’t trust the money.”