{"id":789949,"date":"2026-07-09T06:32:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T06:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/789949\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T06:32:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T06:32:12","slug":"patrick-dempsey-shuts-down-senate-buzz-amid-graham-platner-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/789949\/","title":{"rendered":"Patrick Dempsey Shuts Down Senate Buzz Amid Graham Platner Scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Patrick Dempsey to Maine Voters
\n Count Me Out to Replace Graham Platner!!!<\/p>\n

\n Published
\n July 8, 2026
\n 5:45 PM PDT\n <\/p>\n

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Patrick Dempsey<\/a> heard the calls for him to run for Senate … he just isn’t answering them.<\/p>\n

The “Grey’s Anatomy” star is officially shutting down any speculation he could jump into Maine politics … revealing in a lengthy open letter Wednesday that he seriously considered a run before deciding his future isn’t in Washington … amid talk over who could replace now-former Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Dempsey says he gave the idea “real thought” and asked himself whether he could make a meaningful difference in Congress … but after plenty of soul-searching, he landed on one answer — no.<\/p>\n

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Dempsey suddenly found himself in the political conversation after — as TMZ previously reported — Platner’s campaign was rocked by multiple misconduct allegations. Platner has denied<\/a> sexual assault claims from one ex-girlfriend … and has also denied another ex’s allegation that he secretly removed condoms<\/a> during sex without her consent.<\/p>\n

Platner officially suspended <\/a>his campaign on Wednesday night, and party leaders have until July 27 to decide on a replacement candidate.<\/p>\n

Rather than launch a campaign of his own, Dempsey says he’ll stick with the work that’s defined his life off-screen … helping cancer patients and their loved ones through the Dempsey Center.<\/p>\n

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His letter — titled “Why I\u2019m not running for US Senate” published in the\u00a0Portland Press Herald<\/a> —\u00a0also doubles as a message to whoever ultimately lands the Democratic nomination … with Dempsey saying Maine deserves a leader who puts service before power, leads with empathy, works across the aisle and tells the truth.<\/p>\n

Bottom line … Dempsey isn’t chasing a Senate seat … he’s challenging the people who are.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Patrick Dempsey to Maine Voters Count Me Out to Replace Graham Platner!!! Published July 8, 2026 5:45 PM…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":789950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[49,48,75],"class_list":["post-789949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=789949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/789950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=789949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=789949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=789949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}