The former Illinois\u2019 public health chief who oversaw a series of fatal Legionnaires disease outbreaks at the Quincy veterans home has dropped his bid for the U.S. Senate in Maine \u2014 becoming one of several Democrats who are instead supporting the candidacy of Troy Jackson, the state\u2019s Senate president. <\/p>\n
Nirav Shah dropped out of the race on Sunday after the Maine Democratic Party held weekend caucuses to determine who would be best to replace Graham Platner as the party\u2019s nominee to take on Maine\u2019s Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins. The race is pivotal in determining control of Congress\u2019 upper chamber. Platner dropped out of the race amid sexual assault allegations, although he has said his decision was not an admission of guilt.<\/p>\n
Shah, who also led Maine\u2019s Center for Disease Control and Prevention and served as deputy director for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, endorsed Jackson in a statement that also said Democrats can\u2019t defeat Collins \u201cwithout a united Democratic Party.\u201d Shah most recently ran for governor of Maine but lost in the primary.<\/p>\n
\u201cSusan Collins, Donald Trump, and Senate Republicans are banking on disunity and frustration from Maine Democrats to try and win this seat, and we are not going to give them that,\u201d Shah said. \u201cMaine Democrats are united, angry, and energized. Now, that energy moves to the most important fight of all: defeating Susan Collins and flipping the United States Senate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shah joined Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, Dan Kleban, a brewery owner, and Jordan Wood, a former Capitol Hill staffer, in suspending their campaigns over the weekend. Bellows is the only candidate who has not announced an endorsement of Jackson. <\/p>\n
Before moving to Maine, Shah presided over a series of fatal Legionnaires disease outbreaks at the state of Illinois\u2019 veterans\u2019 home in downstate Quincy. Those outbreaks were linked to 14 resident deaths and the sickening of dozens of other staff and residents at the former facility. His oversight under Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner\u2019s administration was condemned at the time for worsening the horrific and preventable public health crisis and causing a greater loss of life.<\/p>\n
The debacle, laid bare in a series of investigative reports by WBEZ<\/a>, helped Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker wrest the Executive Mansion from Rauner in 2018 and led to new state laws and a new veterans home in Quincy. It also prompted more than $6 million in wrongful death payouts by the state to victims\u2019 families.<\/p>\n