A growing list of Democrats is gearing up for an unconventional and expedited campaign to replace Graham Platner as the party’s candidate for Senate.

Just a month after clinching the Democratic nomination, Platner, the 41-year-old oysterman from Sullivan, announced Wednesday that he is suspending his campaign for Senate following an allegation from a former romantic partner that he drunkenly raped her in 2021.

The announcement has put Maine Democrats in an unprecedented spot. With fewer than four months before the general election, and just two weeks out from a state filing deadline, the party must name a replacement to take up the mantle and mount a speedy campaign if it hopes to oust five-term incumbent Sen. Susan Collins in November.

Party officials have said they are planning a convention of about 600 people to select a new nominee. With Platner out of the race, a growing slate of candidates is forming.

Here’s a list of all those who have announced their intent to run:

TROY JACKSON

Perhaps no candidate matches Platner’s progressive overtures better than Jackson, who announced his intent to run for Senate on Wednesday night.

The 58-year-old is a former logger from Allagash who previously served as the Maine Senate president. He campaigned this year for governor and finished third in the Democratic primary.

Jackson has touted his role in Maine’s organized labor movement and said his top priorities are taxing the rich, lowering healthcare costs and making housing more accessible.

Both Jackson and Platner were endorsed by independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, and the duo had campaigned together for much of the race until Platner’s withdrawal from the race this week.

Asked if he would accept an endorsement from Platner, Jackson told NBC’s Meet the Press NOW “it’s unfortunate, but I just don’t want it.”

NIRAV SHAH

Shah, 49, announced his campaign for Senate this week following a strong showing in the Democratic gubernatorial primary last month.

The former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention finished second in the primary for governor. His main priorities in that race were scaling up affordable housing projects, lowering healthcare costs and “safeguarding Maine from the threats of Donald Trump’s extremist agenda.”

The Brunswick resident cultivated a dedicated following across Maine as the face of the state’s coronavirus response in the early days of the pandemic. He later served as deputy director of the U.S. CDC under President Joe Biden.

Shah has said he plans to hold a “Defeat Susan Collins Town Hall Tour” across the state as he mounts his Senate campaign, echoing Platner’s strategy of holding barnstorming events to rally supporters and spread his message.

SHENNA BELLOWS

Bellows, Maine’s secretary of state, formally announced her intent to run for Senate Thursday afternoon.

The 51-year-old former state lawmaker and head of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine was put in the national spotlight several times over the last year, first for attempting to remove Trump’s name from the presidential primary 2024 ballot over the Jan. 6 insurrection, then later for rejecting the Trump administration’s efforts to obtain Mainers’ voter data.

Bellows mounted an unsuccessful campaign for governor this year, finishing fourth behind Jackson, Shah and the eventual winner, Hannah Pingree. She centered that campaign around a “New Deal for Maine,” which included implementing universal healthcare, investing in public education and raising taxes on “out-of-staters who buy up our homes.”

Bellows, Jackson and Pingree, the three most progressive candidates in this year’s gubernatorial race, formed an alliance with one another, asking supporters to rank the three of them while leaving Shah and Angus King III off the ballot.

DAN KLEBAN

Kleban, 49, declared this week that he’s entering the race for Senate — again.

The co-owner of the Maine Beer Company briefly entered the Senate race late last year but dropped out and endorsed Gov. Janet Mills shortly after she entered the race.

In a Substack blog post shared hours before Platner formally abandoned his campaign, Kleban said his primary concerns are rising costs in “Donald Trump’s economy” and taking on “a system that’s been rigged by corporate interests.”

In an interview with CNN on Wednesday night, Kleban said he would not accept an endorsement from Platner.

PAIGE LOUD

Loud, a 29-year-old social worker, preemptively announced prior to Platner’s withdrawal that she would “carry forward” his policies in her own bid for the nomination.

Loud has pitched herself as a “pro-worker, anti-imperialist, antibillionaire” candidate, making opposition to the Trump administration and Israel’s war in Gaza central to her campaign.

She ran for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District earlier this year, finishing fourth out of four candidates.

She formally filed paperwork with the Federal Elections Committee to run for Senate on Tuesday.

JORDAN WOOD

Wood bounced between several different races for several different offices prior to his announcement this week that he’s back in the running for Senate.

The 36-year-old former congressional staffer initially declared his run for Senate last April before dropping out, endorsing Mills and shifting his focus to Maine’s 2nd District late last year. He finished third in that race.

His top priorities in that campaign were ending “political corruption,” establishing a Medicare for all healthcare system and providing low-cost childcare to all.

In announcing his latest campaign for Senate this week, Wood said he will “continue to build on the powerful populist movement Graham (Platner) started.”

DAVID COSTELLO

Costello, who finished a distant third behind Platner and Mills in last month’s Senate primary election, said Tuesday that he’s “back in” the race.

The 65-year-old Democrat made opposition to the Trump administration central to his campaign. His top priorities in his initial run were “reversing detrimental actions” done by the administration, protecting against “future efforts to undermine American democracy” and establishing universal healthcare and childcare systems.

As the Maine Democratic Party scrambles to sort out how it will nominate Platner’s replacement, Costello has suggested using the results of the June primary, “treating Graham Platner’s withdrawal as if he had come in last place” and using ranked-choice voting to anoint him or Mills as the nominee.

ANDREA LAFLAMME

LaFlamme ran as a write-in candidate during the Democratic Senate primary, receiving about 1,100 votes.

The 38-year-old came to prominence after Sen. Collins called the police on her for scrawling messages in chalk on the sidewalk outside Collins’ home in Bangor. She announced her campaign in February and said in a social media post this week that “I still believe that I’m the best person to take on Susan Collins.”

LaFlamme’s campaign was (and still is) centered around support for Medicare for all and opposition to federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

VALLI GEIGER

Geiger, a 70-year-old state representative from Rockland, has emerged as one of Platner’s top choices to take his role.

Geiger said Platner called her on Monday to express his support were she to enter the race — though she stopped short of saying she was Platner’s preferred candidate.

Geiger has been one of Platner’s most ardent supporters, passionately defending him during previous scandals surrounding Platner’s Nazi-linked tattoo and allegations of extramarital sexting.

In the wake of the latest allegations against Platner, Geiger said Tuesday that she “will not throw Graham under the bus” and that she “acknowledge(s) the pain on all sides.”

WHO’S OUT?

In the immediate aftermath of the allegations against Platner, national pundits, local politicos and social media commenters alike all pitched a slew of candidates, some more unlikely than others.

Patrick Dempsey, a Lewiston native and actor best known for his role in “Grey’s Anatomy,” was among the names pitched for an outsider candidate who could take on Collins.

Dempsey responded to calls for him to run in a Portland Press Herald op-ed Wednesday, saying his energy would be better spent on managing the Dempsey Center, a cancer care and support organization.

Another name highlighted by some has been Mills, 78, who Platner handily defeated in the primary last month. But Mills has remained silent in the time since, both on the Platner campaign’s implosion and on her potentially reentering the race in wake of his withdrawal.

Rep. Jared Golden, a moderate Democrat finishing his fourth term in Congress, also fielded a few calls to make a run for the Democrats’ senate nod. The 43-year-old had announced last fall he was not seeking reelection.

On Tuesday, a spokesperson said, “If Congressman Golden wanted the nomination, he would have put his name forward many months ago.”