Overview
- Jackson captured the vast majority of delegates awarded in Saturday’s county caucuses, winning at least 290 of 319 slots and leaving him roughly 11 delegates short of an effective lock on the nomination.
- Secretary of State Shenna Bellows withdrew from the replacement contest on Sunday and urged Democrats to unite behind their eventual nominee.
- Maine Democrats created a compressed process to meet a July 27 state filing deadline by electing about 500 county delegates this weekend who will join roughly 101 state committee members to form a 601-person convention on July 25 in Bangor.
- Eight counties were finishing delegate selection on Sunday, but most are small and present little opportunity for rivals to overturn Jackson’s lead unless they run near-perfect delegate sweeps.
- The nominee will face Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November and will have little time to raise money or build a statewide campaign, with outside tracking showing Republican-aligned spending outpacing Democratic funds so far.