Costello keeps pushing in crowded Maine Senate race
Costello is still chasing attention in Maine’s Senate race, even as Platner and Collins dominate the money fight. He says experience, not outsider energy, is his path back into the conversation.
David Costello kept making his case from Brunswick even as the Maine Senate race has hardened around Graham Platner and Susan Collins. In a virtual town hall Wednesday, Costello argued that Democratic voters still have choices before the June 9 primary, and he pushed back on the idea that a long-shot campaign should be ignored.
The contrast is stark. Costello has raised less than $145,000 through the end of March, while Platner had raised nearly $12 million and Collins about $13 million. In Maine polling, some surveys have not even included Costello’s name, a sign of how far he has had to reach simply to stay visible in a race now shaped by Platner’s rise and Janet Mills’ exit.
Costello’s answer is experience. He has worked in federal, state and local government, including as a deputy secretary at the Maine Department of Education, in Baltimore city government and at USAID. News Center Maine reported that the 65-year-old had $47,000 cash on hand at the end of March after raising $143,000 and spending $96,000. Platner’s $2.7 million cash on hand and Collins’ $10 million underscored the scale of the campaign he is trying to break into.
The Brunswick Democrat was asked how he differs from Platner and said he believed he would be a harder target for Republicans to attack. He also stressed that his own background compared favorably with Collins, framing the race less as a test of celebrity or momentum than of who could withstand a long general-election fight.
Costello’s campaign has already survived one round of skepticism. He qualified for the ballot by turning in more than 2,000 signatures before the March 16 deadline, and he ran in Maine’s 2024 U.S. Senate race, winning 11% of the vote against Angus King. Bangor Daily News also noted that he sought the Democratic nomination in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District back in 2002, giving him a familiar profile in a state where political memory runs long.
The Democratic primary itself is still moving. Platner withdrew from upcoming primary debates after Mills suspended her campaign, but the Maine Democratic Party scheduled a Bangor rally for Friday, May 22, with both Costello and Platner aimed at holding Collins accountable. Maine uses ranked-choice voting in the relevant federal primary races, so the June 9 contest is still formally open, even if the path narrows by the day.
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