When Graham Platner's U.S. Senate campaign ended in July 2026, one big question was: "What is going to happen to all of the grassroots energy it generated?"
Now, People Powered Maine has an answer: a permanent, volunteer-led 501(c)(4), with more than 1,000 volunteer leaders across all 16 counties, that will organize through Election Day and well beyond.
After the Senate campaign ended, volunteers kept meeting. Here’s the story in their own words:
On June 9, 2026 more than 150,000 Mainers voted for a bold platform; a new vision for Maine. It was never about one race or one candidate, it was always about the platform. Then, when the ballot line changed hands later that summer, the people didn't go away.
More than a thousand volunteers, from towns in all sixteen counties, wrote to the Democratic party and to every candidate, stating that they would not automatically transfer support to any candidate just because they appeared on the ballot line. All three leading candidates for the United States Senate race agreed to stand at a public forum, in front of the people, and pledged to carry forward that same platform.
This is the whole idea, shown before we had an office, a staff member, or a dollar. Organized people made the powerful people answer to them.
“One of our big founding ideas is if people are going to hold power, they have to stay organized together,” one of the group's lead organizers, Crystale Lapham, told the Maine Morning Star.
Days from the election, Maine’s Senate race remains one of the country’s closest and most unpredictable races: About one-third of Maine voters are not affiliated with a political party, and every major forecaster from Cook Political Report to Decision Desk HQ to Silver Bulletin rates the seat a toss-up. In 2020, Sen. Susan Collins won 51.0% to 42.4%.
If Democrat Troy Jackson bucks the trend and defeats her on November 3, he will have People Powered Maine partially to thank.
