Dr. Nirav Shah, who became a household name in Maine during the pandemic, says he's considering a run for governor. He would become the seventh Democratic candidate if he decides to run.
As the director of the Maine CDC, Shah became known as an effective communicator during the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. Polls taken at the time showed many Mainers trusted his guidance, even as the pandemic response and vaccines became more political and partisan.
Shah acknowledges that decisions made then might be relitigated during a campaign for governor. But he says he welcomes the debate.
He also addressed speculation that he might run for the U.S. Senate, saying he's best suited in state government, which he described as a bulwark against federal overreach.
"In this moment, states are of outsized importance. States and state governments are where the rights of Mainers are going to be stood up for and where our rights as a state are established and defended," he said.
Shah, 48, left his post at the Maine CDC in 2023 after he was appointed principal deputy director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and led the response to the bird flu.
Shah resigned his post in February shortly after anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed as secretary. Shah is now a visiting professor at Colby College.
He says he currently has no timetable to make a decision.
