As I am sure everyone knows by now, Graham Platner, the Democratic nominee for the Maine Senate seat occupied by Republican Susan Collins for 30 years, has ended his campaign. A drip-drip-drip of revelations of problems in his personal history has become more than Democratic leaders and donors can stand, and they have prevailed upon him to step down.
I confess I am not sure what to make of it.
For the party, the importance of his race extends far beyond the borders of the state of Maine: if Democrats don't capture that seat, the possibility of the party gaining the Senate majority this November becomes very small - perhaps to the point of practical impossibility. A Democrat should be able to win: Kamala Harris carried the state by 7 percentage points in 2024, Joe Biden by 9 points in 2020, Hillary Clinton by 3 points in 2016.
To secure the Democratic nomination, Platner ran as a populist progressive, running not only against Republicans but also against the Democratic establishment. His campaign was grassroots-funded; he received endorsements from Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren; and he advocated for progressive positions such as Medicare for all, government-subsidized housing, a higher minimum wage and higher taxes on billionaires. While he apparently never has been a member of the Democratic Socialists of America organization, he described himself as a democratic socialist.
His candidacy obviously resonated with party voters: he won over 70% of the primary votes. Maine's Democratic governor, Janet Mills, finished in a very distant second place at ~20%, even though she had already withdrawn from the campaign. No other candidate reached 10%.
As Platner's profile rose, a series of issues in his background came to light. Although his campaign presented him as a working-class oysterman, it turns out that he comes from a rather well-to-do family, and his oyster business was, at most, a part-time job. He also reportedly sports a Nazi tattoo from his days serving in the Marine Corps.
These wouldn't seem to be campaign-ending sins. But then, more and worse embarrassments came to light. Apparently he has a history of homophobic Reddit posts. And it seems he sexted with a number of women ("up to six", to use his campaign's curious circumlocution) while married. What ultimately ended the campaign was an allegation by a former girlfriend that he sexually assaulted her.
This set of facts presented a difficult puzzle for the party to solve. Platner's popularity within the state party was not a mirage; clearly, his insurgent-progressive positions resonate with the party faithful. Maine voters may (or may not) be ready to replace Collins after three decades in office, but she will not be a pushover in the fall.
And of course, casting a shadow over these developments is the national party's navigation of the 2024 presidential election, in which party leaders forced Joe Biden out of the race after he had secured enough electoral votes to win the nomination, and replaced him with Kamala Harris without giving party voters a chance to weigh in. It's impossible to say whether, after Biden withdrew, some alternative selection process would have resulted in a replacement candidate who would have defeated Donald Trump in November 2024. But Harris wasn't able to win. And Donald Trump reentered the White House.
And now history seems ready to repeat itself in the 11th, or perhaps it's only 10th or 9th, hour of a midterm election in which control of the Senate is at stake. Controlling the Senate is Democrats' best chance to clip Donald Trump's wings. Democrats credibly argue (and many non-Democrats would agree) that the Republican-controlled Senate has been disastrous for the country, rubber stamping Trump nominees such as Pete Hegseth, Robert F Kennedy Jr., Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi.
Since 2016, the GOP has been led by a man whose track record of personal and business dealings arguably has been much worse than the worst that Graham Platner has done. Trump doesn't exactly shrink away from the accusations. It's obvious that his own MAGA base not only doesn't find them show-stoppers; they may consider them perverse badges of accomplishment.
And so today, Trump and his party are wielding the levers of power in Washington; and the only way Democrats can stop him and his party is to win elections. Looking at the Maine situation rationally: is it more likely that Democrats can capture Collins' seat with Platner as the candidate, or with someone other than Platner? I think the amoral-but-rational correct answer probably is, With Platner.
I don't fault Democrats for having sufficient principles to deem a person like Platner unworthy. I wish Republicans had similar standards. But given where we are in the country: is it more important to lose with principles, or to win without them? This is what I have been mulling over for the last few days.
My opinion of Platner is, "oh hell no!". Nothing I dislike more than fake authenticity, especially with a couple of helpings of sexual violence. Not to mention marital infidelity, even though that's not supposed to make any difference anymore.
ReplyDeleteWhat I don't understand, is didn't anyone do any vetting of Platner? His problems weren't a secret, if they'd done a proper job of checking things out. The Democrats can't afford to have a bunch of stuff like this come out of the woodwork after a primary.
I get what they were trying to accomplish in trying to appeal to the younger working class men, the "bro culture", that the Republicans seem to have co-opted. But isn't it kind of insulting to assume they would want to vote for a guy who has a history of being a jerk, and misrepresented himself too.? The hard core MAGAs are never going to vote for a Democrat anyway.
We'll never know if Kamala Harris could have made it if she'd had more time, or established her credentials by making it through a primary. Of course Joe Biden didn't know he would be facing a cancer diagnosis, but he should have never attempted to run for a second term. Time for age limits for presidential candidates, not to mention SCOTUS justices, and senators (they shouldn't need an ouija board to contact Mitch McConnell).
As to your question, "But given where we are in the country: is it more important to lose with principles, or to win without them?" My opinion is that we should try to win with principles.
What happened with Platner was that Fight, an agency that recruits, grooms, and seeks funding for progressives, snagged him to run without adequate vetting. This was all reported by the Bulwark.
ReplyDeleteMorris Katz, one of Fight's brain trust, also made a statement to the effect on X/Twitter that they fell down on vetting Platner.
Given the established parties' inability/unwillingness to curb Trump, frustrated leftists are going into a frenzy to find people to challenge Repubs as well as centrist Dems. But working in a frenzy is probably not going to find you good people.
That's pretty interesting about Fight. Maybe it was negligent, but surely it's also the responsibility of the party, his opponents, donors and the media to vet (and the media to report; I've seen some criticisms of sympathetic media soft-pedaling his warts). And the candidate and his campaign to disclose. And the voters to pay attention and think about these things; most of these allegations were known before the primary election.
DeleteYou seem overly concerned with Platner, in my view.
DeleteThe whole country is out of whack because your party handed the reins to its rightwing lunatic fringe who thought abortion, gays, and immigrants were destroying our nation. Now there's a wholly predictable spike in bad alt left candidates.
Until your party can make room for people like Adam Kinzinger and Jeff Flake, expect more Platners.
I guess "my party" is still the Republicans, because that is still what I am registered as. Mainly because if I register Independent I can't vote against bad R candidates in the primaries. That is my effort towards vetting. I haven't voted for a Republican candidate for president since 2004. Sometimes I left it blank, and one time I voted for Evan McMullen. Sometimes I voted for the Democrat.
DeleteI'd be glad to vote for Kinzinger or Flake if they were on the ballot But they weren't. That's the problem.
I'm talking about the party operatives.
DeleteProgressive Dems in power had sense enough to withdraw support for Platner and make him resign. Repubs can say they look like disorganized clowns, it took too long for them to wake up, never shoulda been on the ballot to begin with, or whatever Jim's concern is. Yah, sure, but the point is that he's gone.
Didn't work that way with Trump. Vance, Rubio, Lindsey Graham, and a ton of other Repubs were calling him Hitler until they saw he was winning, and then they made excuses for him and started helping him.
I got two words for Repubs who are holding their heads moaning about the immorality of Graham Platner: Ken Paxton.
Jim, my thinking since all of this came out is much like yours. He’s a phony who misrepresented himself. But his sins are much like trump’s only trump’s are more in number, and they are even worse. Plus the rumors are that trump has a mistress but there is disagreement as to whether it’s Laura Loomer or the young blonde “aide” who is his constant companion in the WH, on trips etc. maybe both. Plus trump is totally corrupt in accepting open bribes, insider trading, and otherwise abusing the office to further enrich himself and his family and the billionaires and corporations who support him and he doesn’t even try to hide it. He revels in it. He’s had a war against the LGBTQ community forever. I haven’t yet heard that Platner is as corrupt as trump ( or most of his cabinet, GOP in Congress or Clarence Thomas, another devout Catholic.) The same folk, including famous Christian preachers like Franklin Graham etc, who vocally condemned Clinton, embraced trump, including many evangelical clergy who gather around him, pray over him, and claim that he was sent by God. Hegseth has a similar set of sins, including sexual assault of a woman he had known only for hours, and paid off to the tune of $50,000, not even an ex-girlfriend. He was on his third marriage before age 40, due to infidelity I think. And his many tattoos include one that is popular with white supremacists and neo- nazis. There have been many politicians in Congress and state government with similar histories who have been elected, and re- elected (as trump has been), by people who claim to be Christian
ReplyDeleteSo while Platner turned out to be a total lying, cheating phony, I do think that breaking the MAGA control of Congress if possible might be important enough to the future of our country to look the other way, allow him to give an insincere apology, with his lovely wife standing loyally behind him ( think Hilary) and give an insincere promise to reform, than to scuttle his nomination, as sickening as that is. But -Too late. It’s scuttled and it wouldn’t have been possible to overcome. He’s not trump. If MAGA holds Congress for another two years, the transition to an authoritarian government will be a fait accompli. Once again, the Dems blew it— this time by not vetting him more thoroughly. Trump has proven beyond a doubt that half of American voters really don’t care if their favorite candidates are corrupt, and cheat in their marriages and in business. The MAGA types seem to admire trump’s ability to get away with everything and wish they could too.
And it seems increasingly likely that McConnell may be being kept alive by machines in order to avoid having a special election to replace him for the rest of his term. If he dies before early August they might have to call an election and fear that Thomas Massie could be elected. So keep those machines hooked up for another opulent of weeks at least.
If McConnell's family is allowing him to be kept alive on machines in order to avoid a special election, it's elder abuse. And pretty weird that his wife took a trip to China with him supposedly in the ICU.
DeleteThat McConnell-is-being-kept-alive-on-respirator story apparently originated with Laura Loomer, a right-wing wacko whose relationship with the truth is decidedly sketchy. (Naturally, Trump adores her.) I think we need to wait for something a little more credible before we discuss whether or not to unplug him.
DeleteJim, I agree, we can't base anything on what Laura Loomer says.
DeleteOne sure way to squelch all the rumors is to have someone credible, such as the governor of Kentucky, pay McConnell a visit in the hospital. If as people have said, he is having long conversations on the phone, he should be up to a brief visit. "Just dropped in to say hi and see how you are doing."
Where I used to work, the policy was, with any absence longer than three days, you were expected to check in with your boss (actually one day was preferred). With weeks long, oneself or your spouse, needed to set up Family Medical Leave with HR.
Yes, Loomer is wacko. But more and more people are asking questions. The Governor of Kentucky has publicly requested a health update but apparently has not received one, lending more credibility to the three weeks and counting coma/no brain activity speculation. The people who reported having 20 minute conversations with him are not reliable as truth tellers. Keeping his body going so that he’s alive technically, even if brain dead, becomes more likely as reality instead of conspiracy theory. Since Republicans will go to any lengths to prevent someone else taking that seat before the end of this Congress next January. I won’t be surprised if the conspiracy theory really does reflect the reality in this case.
DeleteI believed trump in 2020 when he said that if he lost the election it would be proof that it was stolen and when he did lose, he invited people to DC to disrupt it. He signaled that for months and I believed him. I did not expect a peaceful, normal transition.
Katherine, there has long been suspicion that McConnell’s wife is an agent for China. Who knows, Few wives would leave their husband’s side if he is critically ill unless they think he won’t make it and they need to personally report in to a boss in China to make plans and develop a strategy.. When the EMTs arrived he was unconscious and they performed COR I believe before heading to the hospital. I don’t know if there are any reliable reports that he ever regained consciousness. We will just have to wait for some proof.
DeleteSuspicion by whom? I swear this country runs on more rumors and suspicions than a Byzantine imperial court.
DeleteI don’t follow the Bulwark and didn’t know anything about what they do. Thanks for the information, Jean. I hope they haven’t dropped the ball in vetting Talarico also.
ReplyDeleteThe rise of the manosphere hasn’t helped either. They cheer “manly” men who assault women whose existence is only justified by how they can serve male needs, personal and institutional (there are echoes of Aquinas and Catholic Church teaching in this “philosophy”). These days, having lots of babies is being pushed (White babies anyway), in order to preserve white, “Christian” cultural dominance and support the social security system. I wonder what Usha Vance thinks about her husband’s role in all of this. She agreed to #4 baby, but she is loyal to her family’s religious and cultural heritage.
I have seen published speculation that Platner's candidacy represents a progressive attempt to appeal to "normie" men. Tim Walz allegedly was anointed Harris's VP pick for similar reasons. If that thinking is true I wish they'd stop it. For one thing, the traditional party of organized labor has no shortage of normies. For another: give us a little credit; we don't only vote for men, much less men like us (whoever "us" are). For a third: the toadies, grifters and haters found up and down the other party's ballot these days aren't exactly normies, either.
DeleteJim, me too, I wish they'd stop it. They need to give men some credit, and not try to normalize phonies and haters.
DeleteI liked Tim Walz and didn't think he was a phony, but I didn't think he was the right pick for Harris' veep. Not sure there would have been a "right pick" given the late date they had to work with.
A side note to that, the Democratic governor candidate for our state this time is a woman, Lynn Walz. Her husband is a second cousin once removed (or something like that) to Tim Walz. They're trying to use that against her. Which proves to me that the Republicans are worried she might win.
Yah, don't lump Tim Walz with Graham Platner, please.
DeleteAnne, you might like the Bulwark. They're a center, to center right, "never Trumpy" news and opinion site.
DeleteThe first public poll of the Ohio general election has Democrat Sherrod Brown (53%) over Republican incumbent Jon Husted (45%). Both are well known. Husted was appointed to fill Vance's position.
ReplyDeleteAll the media hype about candidates whether about their positions or their personal lives may not matter. The Republicans are in charge around the country. If as a voter, one is unhappy with the way things are going, then it is time to vote against Republican incumbents.
The Guardian has a report on other kingmakers behind Platner and other progressives, some kid named Daniel Maroff and his GF: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/11/graham-platner-democrats-maine-senate
ReplyDeleteBasically it sounds like the progressives have a lot of young white guys with more enthusiasm than brains looking for outsiders to upset the status quo.
It's interesting that Platner has taken Mamdani's economic transformation playbook and had some success with it, at least in the primary, in a state that is considerably less blue than NYC. Maine party leaders will need to consider that carefully in choosing his successor. It seems he has unlocked something. I don't know enough about Maine politics to know if any other candidate can credibly claim that mantle.
ReplyDeleteI would like to add, Platner did four tours in Iraq. If women want fewer men around that have problems, they should oppose sending men to wars initiated at the drop of a hat. My father survived a “good” war (Iwo Jima) but came back with mental problems I believe were caused by that stress. The guys that come home don’t come home the same. Also, rape IS horrible which is why we should stop aid to Israel. Prisoners, men and women, are sodomized as part of their punishment for being Palestinians. Platner was anti-Israel and therefore against mass rape. Pro-Israel equals pro-rape.
ReplyDeleteStanley, none of the men I knew from my high school and college days, and have known from our generation who survived Vietnam survived without serious emotional trauma. They don’t t talk about their experiences and few survivors of any war are willing to talk about it - including the two world wars. My d- I- law’s grandfather who survived both Auschwitz and a German hard labor camp didn’t talk about it at all until a few years before his death at 90 when he began to confide in her, his favorite grandchild.
DeleteYes, rape is horror. We need to stop nominating and voting for men who think it’s fine in this country - like trump and Hegseth as well as Platner and many, many others. It’s not just in Gaza,, or Ukraine or just in war zones . Date or even just acquaintance rape has been around in the US for many years. My senior year roommate was date raped. The daughter of another college roommate was date raped years later. A lot of men don’t consider that to be “real” rape, especially if alcohol is involved as apparently was the case with Platner and Hegseth and my roommate and my other roommate’s daughter. My roommate never reported it except to me. We waited anxiously until no pregnancy was confirmed. Women didn’t report it then. Most still don’t, but there has been a little progress. By the time another roommates daughter was raped years later - she was slipped a drug in her drink at a party - the crime was well enough known that she did report and pressed charges and went through the nightmare of a trial. But most women still don’t report it, just as my roommate didn’t in 1968. At Stanford several years ago a girl was raped while lying on the grass passed out drunk after a party. She was unconscious. Fortunately some passersby stopped it and called the cops . The boy was a star swimmer and the judge gave him the merest slap on the wrist, essentially saying that his swimming career could be ruined if he went to jail, that boys will be boys, and she shouldn’t have gotten drunk. Well, lots of college kids do, especially freshmen. That is not a license to rape. The outrage at the judge did eventually force his removal - a tiny bit of progress compared to the 60’s.
ReplyDeleteI can see jocks being more likely to be like this. In my circles of friends, I’ve never seen this attitude. The idea of forcing sex or molesting an unconscious woman doesn’t even seem pleasurable or desirable. It seems to have happened to a lot of victims. I would assume that anyone with this mentality would do it serially, like a pedophile, with many victims.
DeleteMaybe some jocks are worse, but not all. The only date I ever had who tried to force himself on me was a PhD physicist— smart and definitely not a jock. I was living in my first apartment in DC and we had chatted a few times in the building before he asked me to dinner, and then to his apartment. I was a dumb 21 year old and didn’t realize that his invitation to compare his apartment layout to mine in the same building was a classic come on. After that I always ducked if I saw him in the lobby and made sure he wasn’t in the elevator when I used it. My husband and all three sons were star athletes, but not in football or rugby or lacrosse or similar macho sports. My two brothers were also star athletes in high school, one was also a champion water skier outside of school days, and the basketball player brother won a scholarship to a Jesuit college, which was a big help to my almost penniless mother. One son of our three sons was a star basketball player in high school (not college scholarship level though) but I don’t think he ever raped anyone. And all were top students, honor roll, and went to top 25 colleges. Liking sports and being good at a sport doesn’t mean they aren’t also decent students and people.
DeleteMy last word: Watch the Michigan Dem primary Aug 4 between Abdul El-Sayed and current Rep Haley Stevens.
ReplyDeleteWe watched their TV debate. El-Sayed is a good talker with ideas mostly recycled from Bernie's playbook. He emphasized getting shot of Israel so we have more $$ to take care of people at home.
Stevens, endorsed by the Dem establishment and labor, mostly went on the attack and tried to position herself as the working man's candidate. I was struck by her lack of substance.
I will pay attention to Michigan - thanks. . There are a number of interesting races this year. Vindeman in Florida is now only 3 points behind the trump endorsed GOP front runner, within the margin of error. Since he was the sacrificial lamb for blowing the whistle on trump’s blackmail phone call to Zelenskyy way back, MAGA will go after him with everything they’ve got.
Delete