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Last month, Democratic primary voters in Maine overwhelmingly backed oyster farmer and political novice Graham Platner as their candidate to take on Republican incumbent Susan Collins for the US Senate.
But this week, the 41-year-old populist progressive crashed out of the race in spectacular fashion, suspending his campaign in the face of sexual assault allegations that piled insurmountable pressure on him to step aside.
With less than four months to go until the November midterms, Platner’s exit from the stage has left a gaping void in the Democratic Party’s attempts to retake control of the Senate. It has also laid bare, once again, the deep divides and strategic misfires of a party struggling to launch an effective opposition to Donald Trump and the Republicans.
“Graham Platner is what happens when pundits ignore obvious red flags . . . and sell voters an idealised version of a candidate who does not actually exist,” said Jessica Mackler, president of Emily’s List, a group that recruits and trains women as Democratic candidates.
“The lesson here is that we always have to be looking at these races and primaries through the lens of what it takes to win a general election, and that is what went horribly wrong in this situation.”
Under Maine state law, the Democratic Party now has just over two weeks to find a new candidate to take on Collins — a five-term incumbent with a record of defeating well-funded challengers — in November. State party officials have said they intend to pick Platner’s replacement at a nominating convention to be held later this month.
But the Platner saga has already proven to be an embarrassment for Democrats, raising uncomfortable questions about how they vet and select candidates for higher office, and foreshadowing what are likely to be ugly battles over what kind of standard-bearer should lead the party into the 2028 presidential election.
In an 11-minute video announcing his decision posted to social media late Wednesday, Platner blamed the Democratic Party “political establishment” and “corporate media system” for the demise of his campaign.
“Those in power who have the ability to do so are using these allegations as an excuse to take away all of the things that we need to run a campaign,” Platner said.
In addition to allegations of sexual assault and rape — which Platner denies — the political novice had also come under scrutiny in recent months for his tattoo of a Nazi symbol and controversial past Reddit posts where he made disparaging comments about women and racial minorities.
“We have to stop listening to these wine club lefties who have this bizarre idea about what constitutes a working-class candidate, including a guy that went to a fancy private school and got a $200,000 loan from his dad and sells his oysters to his mother,” said Matt Bennett, co-founder of the centrist Democratic think-tank Third Way, referring to Platner.
“The fact that this guy wears a flannel shirt and work boots seemed to convince these . . . Brooklyn-based consultants that he was somehow going to be a working-class hero, and as it turns out, he wasn’t at all.”
But progressives insisted that Platner’s personal problems, rather than his political views, were to blame for his downfall.
“It is unfortunate that one individual’s personal flaws muddied the waters of a 71 per cent to 19 per cent victory over the corporate status quo establishment just last month,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, referring to Platner’s margin of victory in the June primary over 78-year-old former governor Janet Mills.
Mills had suspended her campaign weeks before primary day in the face of tepid grassroots support despite the backing of Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer and other party grandees.
“The project of proving that ‘shake-up the system’ economic fighters can win in swing states remains very strong,” Green added, saying progressives felt a “calling” to prove their candidates could win this November “as prelude” to the next presidential election.
Asked what lessons the party should be learning from what happened in Maine, Green replied: “Hopefully Chuck Schumer learnt that it was malpractice to proactively recruit someone who was desperately trying to retire and didn’t in any way meet the moment,” referring to Mills.
Still, campaign veterans argue there are reasons for Democrats to see silver linings in Platner’s departure from a key battleground race that was looking increasingly unwinnable — and had many in the party bracing for more negative headlines about the candidate.
A New York Times-Siena University poll out last month — before the latest round of sexual assault allegations — had given Platner a razor-thin lead over Collins among likely November voters. But his favourability was underwater and Collins had a more than 20-point advantage among voters without a university degree, a crucial voting bloc that Democrats have struggled to win over in the Trump era.
“It is a bad moment. It is an ugly situation. But what has happened over the past few days has been good for [Democrats],” said Kyle Kondik of the non-partisan University of Virginia Center for Politics. “It was becoming pretty obvious that Platner was a bad selection. They are getting a do-over.”
Source:
www.ft.com
