MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Who should replace Graham Platner in Maine's U.S. Senate election? A lot of Democrats in Maine and around the country would like to know. They expect him to drop out of the race following an allegation of rape, an allegation that Platner denies. Democrats see this race against Republican Senator Susan Collins as critical to potentially controlling the Senate next year. Well, Nirav Shah says he is evaluating throwing his hat into the ring. He led Maine's public health agency during the COVID pandemic. He recently finished second in the Democratic primary for governor of Maine. Nirav Shah joins us live from Brunswick, Maine. Hi there. Welcome.
NIRAV SHAH: Hi, Mary Louise.
KELLY: Hey.
SHAH: Thanks for having me on.
KELLY: Glad to have you with us. So your name is one of a handful of names that keeps coming up as a possible replacement for Platner on the ticket. How fast did your phone start ringing after this...
SHAH: Oh, boy.
KELLY: ...Latest allegation against him, sir?
SHAH: Well, you know, on Monday afternoon, when this story first came out, my wife and I started reading the story, and we both simultaneously developed a pit in our stomach because of the horrific and appalling allegations that were made. I raced to my phone, grabbed all my social media and called for Graham to drop out as quickly as possible. But around that same time, as you noted, I started getting calls and emails and text messages urging me to consider throwing my hat in the ring. I am evaluating it, and my wife and I are having discussions because a national Senate race is a horse of a different color as compared to a gubernatorial primary.
KELLY: So this prompts the question of what the process should look like for how a replacement candidate would get decided. As best you know, how's it going to work?
SHAH: Well, the process is still being debated. In fact, as we are speaking right now, party officials are hashing out what that might look like. But (ph) I have called for is a process that's open, that's transparent, that's robust. Anything short...
KELLY: What does that mean, though? Is that like new caucuses, a new state convention? What?
SHAH: There are different options on the table. One option would be essentially a mini convention to be convened here at the end of the month, where the delegates that we already have in place would come together and make a determination. Of course, that requires a lot of coordination. Another option would be more local caucuses where even more Mainers could participate. The key here is making sure that we give voice to a full-throated process so that whoever the nominee is has the full support of the party and is not hobbled out of the gate on minute one.
KELLY: Is there time to do that on this very short timeline that would be unfolding?
SHAH: The time is compressed, but we have no choice. Anything short of a full, open and robust process means that whoever the nominee is will not be able to unify the party. Bottom line, Mary Louise, we have done harder things in even less time. We can do this.
KELLY: I think hanging in a lot of Democrats' minds, both in Maine and nationally, would be how not to repeat 2024 when Democrats elevated then-Vice President Kamala Harris in what a lot of voters saw as a coronation 'cause they didn't have a say.
SHAH: If what we have is an anointment or a passing of the torch, then again, that eventual nominee will not have the legitimacy to be able to prosecute the case against what we are really trying to do here, which is to unseat Senator Susan Collins. She has been bad for Maine, and her alliance with Donald Trump is actually what this race is going to be about.
KELLY: If it's you, how would you convince Maine voters who did not choose you to run for governor to back you in the race for U.S. Senate?
SHAH: That's the exact right question. I'm really proud of the race we ran. And I did come in in the first round of votes, in first-choice tallies, with the highest number of votes across the state in both congressional districts, north and south, in large and small towns across the state of Maine. And so we've got the enthusiasm to be ready to go.
Now the question is going to be to take the priorities that I outlined and zoom them out to focus on a national issue. It's the same set of issues - Medicare for all, making sure that working folks have a shot at getting ahead, holding corporations accountable - but now then zooming them out so that we can talk about them not just in Maine but at the national level.
KELLY: Or the...
SHAH: My priority and my organizational principle is that right now, in 2026, no one should live in poverty, and that's the approach I'm going to be taking.
KELLY: Are there Nirav Shah pieces of Graham Platner's policy platform that you would embrace? I mean, whatever his flaws may be as a person, he was very popular for his anti-Washington, antiestablishment, pro-working class message.
SHAH: Well, when we look at the voters who voted for me in the gubernatorial primary, there is a high degree of overlap between Graham Platner supporters and Nirav Shah supporters. And there are two reasons for that. No. 1 is on matters of policy. We both embrace progressive ideas like Medicare for all, holding corporations accountable and taxing billionaires. But the other piece, Mary Louise, is that both Graham and I are outsiders to the political process, and that is what we need, given the brokenness of Washington.
KELLY: I suppose, pertinent to ask you, on the record, do you have any skeletons in your closet that voters should know about?
SHAH: I do not. And one way that voters can know that is No. 1, I have been in public office since 2015 and have been put through multiple ringers. In addition, when I served in the Biden administration, I had the highest - I held the highest security clearance in the U.S. government. Anything that I've done in my life has been fully vetted. Every rock has been looked over.
KELLY: A yes or no question - if given the chance, could you beat five-term Republican Senator Susan Collins?
SHAH: The answer is yes. That's what the stakes of this election are. Senator Collins has had the opportunity to deliver for Mainers in her 30 years in the U.S. Senate. The problems that we are facing today - housing, healthcare, the high cost of heating oil - are ones that she is contented with and not solved.
KELLY: Nirav Shah - Colby College professor, former No. 2 at the U.S. CDC and maybe a candidate for U.S. Senator in Maine. Thank you for your time.
SHAH: Thank you, Mary Louise. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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