When Senator Susan Collins of Maine appeared at a ribbon-cutting in the small town of Searsport this week, protesters awaited her. A now-viral video of the event shows Collins, a moderate Republican, at something of a loss. “Shame! Shame! Shame!” protesters shouted at her, until she said, “I have a suggestion. Would you listen to the suggestion?” One protester had an idea of their own. “Vote Graham Platner!” they replied .

Platner was national news by the time Collins arrived in Searsport. On August 19, he announced that would run as a Democrat to unseat Collins, who has been in the Senate since 1996 and chairs the powerful Appropriations Committee. The state of Maine has become “essentially unlivable” for working-class people on her watch, he said in a campaign video, and he was “

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