Democrats are bringing the knives out for Graham Platner, their Senate nominee in Maine, after another set of misconduct accusations. This isn’t something being done out of some moral principle, though. It’s being done because they’re scared he is going to cost them control of the Senate.
Platner is being accused of sexual assault by an ex-girlfriend, adding another accusation of abusive misconduct against ex-girlfriends to the list against him. This one, from a woman who says she is politically aligned with Platner, has broken the dam of Democratic support. Platner’s allies in the socialist/communist wing of the party are calling on him to drop out of the race, including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, and California Rep. Ro Khanna.
MAMDANI CALLS FOR PLATNER TO DROP OUT OF SENATE RACE: ‘APPROPRIATE RESPONSE’
There is no moral line being drawn here, though. If there were, these same Democrats would have called on Platner to exit the race after other ex-girlfriends came forward to accuse him of intimidating and putting his hands on them. Instead, they ignored those accusations and pushed forward (and the New York Times, even in covering them, made Lyndsey Fifield, a conservative, the face of the accusations, thus making it easier for Democrats to dismiss them). Or, going back further, Democrats would have abandoned Platner after it was clear he had a Nazi tattoo, if morality and principle were the real concerns here.
Instead, the reality is this: Platner is polling ahead of GOP Sen. Susan Collins by just 0.7 points in the RealClearPolitics polling average. That is an abysmal number when you consider that Collins overcame a polling deficit of around 5.5 points in 2020 to coast to a near 9-point victory. Most notably, Platner’s fake working-class image is not registering with Maine’s real working-class voters, as he trails Collins 58%-37% among Maine voters who do not have college degrees.
SANDERS BREAKS SILENCE AND CALLS ON GRAHAM PLATNER TO QUIT SENATE RACE
Platner is already the Democratic nominee, but Maine Democrats can still swap him out if he chooses to drop out of the race by Monday. That is why you now see a cascade of Democrats pressuring Platner to drop out of the race, as they are scared he will cost them the crucial race. Democrats who wanted Gov. Janet Mills to be the nominee (since she has won statewide in Maine and poses the biggest threat to Collins) are taking the opportunity to get their way. Platner’s socialist fellows in his wing of the party don’t want to be caught holding the bag and losing their goodwill with the Democratic base, so they are dumping him to avoid being blamed for costing the party.
This is all a political calculation, nothing more, just as it was when Democrats forced Joe Biden out of the 2024 election despite Democratic voters lining up behind him. Platner has proven himself to be morally unfit for office time and time again during his campaign, but it is only now that he has proven himself to be a political liability that Democrats are jumping at his latest scandal to cut him loose.