“Maine deserves better than someone who put his public image before the safety of our Veterans,” Duckworth wrote on X. “Too many of our heroes lost their lives under Nirav Shah’s watch as Illinois Public Health Director. I called for his resignation then, and I strongly oppose his run for Senate now.”

In 2018, Duckworth and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) called for Shah’s resignation following investigations into the outbreak.

“Shah detailed the dangers present at the facility, noted that the violations warranted a citation, yet chose not to issue one,” the senators said in a joint statement. “Additional reports indicate that Shah and other staff at the Illinois Department of Public Health found Governor Rauner’s office to be an obstacle in ensuring a prompt and comprehensive response to the deadly outbreaks and more focused on public perception.”

Duckworth has argued that Shah was more concerned with managing the administration’s public image than responding aggressively to the outbreak.

Shah, who finished third in Maine’s Democratic gubernatorial primary this year, recently entered the race to become the Democratic nominee following Graham Platner’s resignation.

After leaving Illinois in 2019, Shah was the director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention until 2023, during which he became a prominent public face of the state’s COVID-19 response, before later serving as principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the Biden administration.

During Shah’s gubernatorial campaign earlier this year, former Maine Attorney General James Tierney and Illinois state Sen. Cristina Castro, a Democrat, held a virtual news conference criticizing his handling of the 2015 outbreak.

“This is not a gotcha, oppo research thing,” Castro said. “This was a deadly scandal in Illinois, and Maine voters deserve to know about it. Nirav Shah focused, as I said, on his public image first, before those who died.”

Shah has dismissed the criticism as a “distraction” and “dirty politics,” saying he followed federal public health guidance during the outbreak. He has acknowledged, however, that he made mistakes in communicating with the public.

“I could have done a better job communicating,” Shah said. “And I learned that lesson. That’s why when I got to Maine, you all saw what you saw during the pandemic. No matter what was going on, every single day, I showed up to make sure Mainers knew what was happening. I was tested, I learned a lesson, and I am better for it.”

Who is running to replace Graham Platner?

Meanwhile, the Maine Democratic Party has emphasized its commitment to transparency as it works to replace Platner, who withdrew from the race Tuesday after his campaign became embroiled in scandal.

“To the rest of the country watching from afar, thank you for cheering us on,” a party official said. “Democracy, while messy, is always worth fighting for.”