Nirav Shah was originally a candidate for governor on the June 9 ballot. Read his answers from our primary election survey here.
Personal/biographical information pertinent to the role
Public health official and attorney; former Maine CDC director who led the state’s COVID response; former Principal Deputy Director of the U.S. CDC; lives in Brunswick.
Top three priorities
My first priority is lowering the cost of living for Maine families, from healthcare and housing to groceries and prescription drugs. My second is guaranteeing healthcare to every Mainer through Medicare for All. And my third is ending the corruption that has rigged our economy against working people. That is why I do not take any corporate PAC money, why I support banning members of Congress from trading stocks, and why I will hold Donald Trump accountable when he ignores the law.
Why are you running?
I am running because Maine needs a senator who will deliver. I have spent my career as a public servant, not as an establishment politician. I have delivered in moments of crisis while Washington failed working people. Susan Collins has had nearly thirty years to deliver for Maine. She has not. She has actively worked to repeal healthcare protections for the most vulnerable in our state and confirmed nominees who have rolled back the rights of millions. As a political outsider, I am running to lower costs, expand healthcare and make government work for Mainers.
Our recent poll showed that more than half of Maine’s likely voters want Democrats to control Congress, and electability has already been a major issue in this race. Why are you more electable in November than the other candidates?
Mainers across party lines trust me because I led our state through a crisis and delivered results. I have held the highest security clearance in the U.S. government, run statewide, and been fully vetted. Collins herself repeatedly praised my leadership. In the governor’s primary, I earned the most first-choice votes in more than 200 towns across the state, winning both congressional districts. Those numbers speak to the broad coalition of support that it will take to defeat Collins in November.
What are the highlights of your plan to lower the cost of living for Mainers?
I’ll lower costs by passing Medicare for All and taking premiums, deductibles and surprise bills off family budgets. I’ll build more housing, help first-time buyers, make childcare and community college affordable, raise wages, expand the Child Tax Credit, end Trump’s tariffs and protect Social Security. And I’ll pay for this by making billionaires and the largest corporations finally pay their fair share.
Would you support term limits for members of Congress? Why or why not?
Yes. Susan Collins originally ran to serve two terms, and has stayed in Washington for thirty years. Over the course of those three decades, Mainers’ costs have only gone up. When politicians treat public office as a lifelong career, they start answering to the donors who keep them there instead of the people who sent them. That’s why I support term limits alongside a ban on congressional stock trading and corporate PAC money. The Senate is a place for public service, not a permanent job.
Would you support Medicare for All — expanding the current social program to all Americans? Why or why not?
Yes. As a public health leader, I have watched Mainers skip their medications, put off care they needed, and go bankrupt over medical bills while insurance companies make record profits by denying claims. Healthcare is a human right. Medicare for All would guarantee coverage to every Mainer, end the sky-high premiums and surprise bills that are crushing family budgets, and put doctors and patients back in charge of medical decisions instead of insurance companies.
Would you support eliminating the filibuster? Why or why not?
Yes. The filibuster has become a veto for corporate lobbyists, a tool that lets a minority of senators block everything Mainers actually need, from lower drug prices to protections for reproductive freedom and voting rights. If Democrats win a majority in November, we need to use it to deliver on what we promised. Mainers are not sending us to Washington to make excuses.
Graham Platner ran on getting money out of politics. If you share this priority, what is your plan to do so?
I do share this priority. This campaign takes no corporate PAC money, period. In the Senate I will fight to overturn Citizens United, ban corporate PAC contributions and dark money, bar members of Congress from trading stocks, and close the revolving door between Congress and the lobbying industry, because no public official should profit from public office. Corruption is a major reason why trust in Washington is rock bottom, and ending it is central to everything I am running to do.
Do you support an end to U.S. military aid in Israel? Is Israel committing a genocide in Gaza? Why or why not?
I support halting offensive and defensive U.S. weapons transfers to Israel until the killing stops and humanitarian aid flows freely. In Gaza, tens of thousands of civilians have been killed and starvation has been used as a weapon. This is a genocide, clearly documented by human rights investigators. America should stand for human rights everywhere in the world, and that means holding our allies to the same standard we demand of our adversaries.
Should ICE exist in its current form? If so, explain your answer. If not, what should exist instead?
ICE should be abolished. This week in Biddeford, an ICE agent shot and killed a 26-year-old on his way to work and left a 3-year-old girl without a father. This man was not even the target of their warrant, and the agents were not wearing body cameras. That is what an unaccountable agency looks like. I support moving legitimate functions into agencies with real oversight and due process. Susan Collins is bankrolling ICE’s budget, and Maine is living with the harrowing consequences.
Give Susan Collins a performance grade. What, if anything, has she done well?
F. More than 10,000 votes cast over thirty years reflect a real commitment to the job. But showing up is not the same as delivering, and too many of those votes have harmed Maine, from cutting taxes for the wealthy to funding the ICE raids now hitting our communities. She offers “concern” instead of courage when it counts, and after thirty years, Mainers are paying more for everything.
Collins is running on her seniority in the Senate, including her position as chair of the appropriations committee. How do you plan to refute her argument that Maine benefits from her experience?
Seniority only matters if you use it for Maine, and the record shows she has not. Susan Collins chairs the Appropriations Committee, yet she funded the ICE buildup now terrorizing our communities, watched rural hospitals struggle and could not stop tariffs that are costing Maine families $1,100 a year. What has all that seniority actually bought Mainers except higher costs? A senator with true courage on day one will do more for Maine than one with thirty years of going along to get along.