Two of Maine’s top Democratic contenders for U.S. Senate announced Sunday they are withdrawing from the race, paving the way for former Senate President Troy Jackson to secure the party’s nomination at a convention next weekend.

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and former public health official Nirav Shah each announced separately Sunday that they would drop out of the race.

Both were considered among the leading candidates to replace Graham Platner, who won the June primary but withdrew earlier this month following a former girlfriend’s accusation of sexual assault, which he has denied.

Their decisions came as Troy Jackson, a longtime lawmaker and former Maine Senate president, appeared to be taking a commanding lead in the Democratic party’s process to replace Platner on the ballot.

County committees held caucuses Saturday and Sunday to elect delegates to a state nominating convention to be held next weekend. The 601 delegates, including 500 elected delegates and 101 state committee members, will select the next nominee.

By Sunday evening, Jackson’s campaign had claimed to have secured the support of at least 400 delegates across Maine’s 16 counties, including nearly every delegate in Cumberland and York counties, which together have 233 delegates.

In a written statement Sunday, Bellows said she believes she can best serve the state and country by continuing in her role as secretary of state, a job she has held since 2021.

“This has been an unprecedented nominating process, compressed into days instead of months, and I’m grateful to every volunteer who worked around the clock for this movement,” Bellows said. “That energy is exactly what we need to beat Susan Collins in November — and Democrats don’t have a day to waste in unifying around that shared goal.”

Bellows finished fourth of five candidates in a close Democratic primary for governor in June. She secured just under 21% of the vote in the initial round prior to a ranked-choice runoff. Jackson was just ahead of her after the first round, with 21%. Shah led in first-round votes in the governor’s race, with nearly 27% support, but ultimately finished as runner-up.

When Platner dropped out, all three announced they would seek the Senate nomination.

“A few weeks ago, I entered this race because I could not accept the idea of Susan Collins gliding to a sixth term at the very moment Maine families are being forced to pay the price for her votes,” Shah said in a written statement Sunday evening. “Today, I am stepping aside, and I am doing it for exactly the same reason that led me to get in: we must defeat Susan Collins, and the Democratic Party must be unified to do it.”

Shah noted in his statement that he is endorsing Jackson, while Bellows did not mention Jackson in her statement.

In May, Bellows and Jackson formed an alliance in the governor’s race primary with Hannah Pingree, the eventual winner. Platner said he voted first for Jackson, followed by Bellows and then Pingree, on his ballot.

Jackson posted messages thanking both Bellows and Shah on social media.

“Defeating Susan Collins will take all of us, and I’m grateful for your commitment to bringing Democrats together around that mission,” he said.

While she was initially viewed as one of the stronger candidates in a field of a dozen people seeking to replace Platner, Bellows stumbled at the first debate last week when a moderator asked her about a U.S. raid in Venezuela in January. The exchange highlighted the chaotic nature of a new Senate primary unfolding in a matter of weeks after Platner left the race.

“Susan Collins isn’t stopping (Trump) and helping him slow down,” Bellows said, to which News Center Maine moderator Phil Hirschkorn replied that Collins had voted for a war powers resolution to limit what Trump could do in Venezuela.

“Forgive me,” Bellows said. “A week ago I was on vacation on a river. I’ve been running for governor for a long time… I didn’t think I would be running for U.S. Senate a week later. What I do know is when I need to know the facts, I will.”