Nothing like a good scandal to jazz up an otherwise lackluster election cycle, right? Especially in the Democratic party. They do seem to be expert at finding ways to find candidates with, to be kind, issues. You think it all began and ended with dementia-addled octogenarians whose debating skills seemingly disappeared overnight? Nah, there have been plenty of sexually and morally bankrupt predecessors whose campaigns were ultimately short-circuited by their philadnering ways.
You do remember North Carolina’s John Edwards, don’t you? Had the tabloid press not decided his dalliances with one Rielle Hunter were a lot more newsworthy than his fledgling campaign for president, we might have been spared the entire national career of the nice guy from Delaware who sadly crapped out at the most inopportune moment–and, for that matter, that of the guy who actually wound up winning the 2008 election (and 2012, for good measure).
If you’re a tad more seasoned you might also remember Colorado’s Gary Hart, who roughly eighteen months before the Ronald Reagan replacement derby was run was caught dipping his political dipstick in a young Florida-based actress and model named Donna Rice. We know from personal experience how impossible it is to avoid temptation of that kind. He did eventually resuscitate his damaged campaign just long enough to still make a go at it in the early stages of 1988, but by that time Rice’s career trajectory had taken off a lot better than Hart’s, becoming the face–and the flip side–of an appropiately named line of jeans called No Excuses. After a couple of early primary outings where he did about as well as that guy from Delaware eventually did in the same subset 32 years later-and, for that matter, the gal that hurriedly was ordained to replace him after said crap-out, his national political career aspirations were kaput.
I bring up these history lessons in the wake of the now inescapable reality that we’ve now learned even more about the romantic history of the guy who mere weeks ago wound up as the choice of those Democrats who chose to vote in Maine’s senatorial primary. Yesterdau YAHOO! NEWS’ Dylan Stableford brought us up to speed with the latest about as innocuously as anyone could find a path to doing:
Graham Platner, the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in Maine, is facing mounting calls to drop out of the race after a woman said that he raped her nearly five years ago when they were dating — an allegation he denies. The woman, Jenny Racicot, a 41-year-old Maine resident, said that the alleged incident occurred late in 2021, when a “heavily intoxicated” Platner entered her home and forced her to have sex with him…Platner, a 41-year-old oyster farmer and military veteran, easily won last month’s Democratic primary and was set to take on Republican Sen. Susan Collins in the 2026 midterm elections — a race Democrats view as critical to their chances of winning control of the Senate in November.
“I remember him grabbing my pelvis and being really forceful of me,” Racicot told Politico in a story that was published Monday. “I remember the specific moment where I thought to myself, like, ‘This is no longer my choice.'”
And still later yesterday a troika of those still remaining at THE WASHINGTON POST–
An ex-girlfriend of embattled Senate candidate Graham Platner told The Washington Post that he repeatedly removed protection without her consent when they were having sex. Lyndsey Fifield, who said she dated Platner from 2013 to 2015 in D.C. and has previously accused him of physical abuse, said that she told Platner on multiple occasions that he had to wear condoms during sex because she was not on birth control…”He would pull condoms off,” she said in an interview. “He would do it in a sneaky way. He wouldn’t tell me.”
To be fair, these allegations –especially those made by Racicot–are no joking matter. But unless you saw the pictures, audio, video or even the yellowed diary pages of either of these July surprises that I might have overlooked they are, at this point in time, merely allegations.
But that inconvenient truth still hasn’t stopped the rank and file of the entire Democratic party from seizing the moment and go on record with their moral outrage and demands for justice, at some actually bylined ASSOCIATED PRESS writers– Kimberlee Kruesi, Patrick Whittle and Jesse Bedayn–collaboratively reported:
The allegation reported Monday prompted a chorus of calls for Platner to depart the high-stakes race against Republican Sen. Susan Collins, which could decide party control of the Senate. Platner’s long-time backer, Sen. Bernie Sanders, “recommended that he step aside.”…
Stableford’s earlier report added a few more familiar names to the discourse:
The allegations reported today are incredibly disturbing — violence, abuse and sexual assault are absolutely unacceptable,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, both of New York, said in a joint statement. “Graham Platner needs to immediately withdraw as the Democratic nominee for Senate and allow Maine Democrats the opportunity to choose a new candidate who can defeat Susan Collins.” They added that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which Gillibrand chairs, “will not invest in the Maine Senate race if Platner remains on the ballot.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts who campaigned for Platner ahead of the primary, issued a statement calling for him to withdraw. “Now, more than ever, we need leaders in Washington who reflect our values,” Warren said. “There can be no tolerance for sexual assault. Working families are counting on Democrats to win the Senate election in Maine to unrig our economy and hold Donald Trump accountable. With so much at stake, the best path forward is for Graham Platner to step aside as the Democratic nominee and address these serious allegations outside this Senate race.”
Their cacophony was amplified on the local level by scions such as the one that NEWSWEEK’s
Replacing Platner would be Democrats’ “best chance” of flipping the seat, Dan Shea, professor of political science at Colby College, told Newsweek. “I think another candidate would likely have a better chance to beat Senator Collins than Platner, even without this new scandal. There are too many moderates that are not crazy about Susan, but also can’t stomach Platner. To be honest, my guess is that the Collins team would love to see Platner stay in the race,” he said…
Professor Shea told Newsweek that the allegations are going to be a big deal if Platner stays in the race. “There seems to be clear documentation with multiple people. Unless counterfactual information arises, my guess is that this revelation will sink his campaign. He may not drop out, but I think the pressure, from both Mainers and from others across the country, will be huge. I think his 15 minutes of fame are about over,” he said.
I wonder if Prof Shea bothered to ask any of his neighbors–let alone his colleagues at that tony college that employs him–what their thoughts are.
At least yet another WASHINGTON POST scribe, the eyechart-defying
To Katie Herklotz, backing Graham Platner in his U.S. Senate bid has felt like being stuck on a “roller coaster” for nearly a year. In 2020, after Republican Sen. Susan Collins won a fifth consecutive term to the Maine seat, Herklotz thought the state was ready for someone new. “We just need a progressive lobsterman to run against her,” Herklotz, who works in insurance, remembered telling her friends…Herklotz, 35, stood by him through a series of scandals that surfaced about his personal history. But she said the latest reports of a sexual assault allegation against him have drawn a line that she will not cross. She said she no longer supports him, and hopes he will drop out of the race soon, which would allow another candidate to take his place as the Democratic nominee for the Senate seat. “I just didn’t really feel like I had a choice anymore,” Herklotz said.
Drake Routhier, 33, was eager to attend his first town hall to hear Platner speak. It was scheduled to take place Monday night in Sanford, where Routhier lives. Hours before the first story of the sexual assault allegation broke, the event was canceled…At first, Routhier was skeptical, unsure what to believe. He wanted to hear more from Platner.“Hope youre able to reschedule and get back on the circuit in this area again soon,” Routhier, who works for a bank, wrote in a comment under Platner’s video statement addressing the sexual assault claim.
But in the hours afterward, Routhier reconsidered. He read in its entirety the first report chronicling Racicot’s allegation from Politico. Routhier said he was struck by the details of the encounter and Racicot’s admission that she struggled with whether to come forward because she agreed with Platner’s politics but did not support him as a person.
Well, that’s two precincts heard from. And it gave THE BULWARK’s de facto focus group queen Sarah Longwell a chance for a “toldja!” for those desperate enought to bite their paywall bullet to learn that seems to corroborate the color commentary that a dozen or so more had expressed to her last month.
As a fellow research professional, I’d like to remind Longwell that focus groups are directional, not empirical, and the prevailing ground rule is that there are no right nor right answers. And given the apparent urgency that’s arising from all of this, this might have been a golden opportunity to follow the lead of other Substackers and offer these findings in front of said paywall.
And we’re all still waiting for anything resembling a poll of potential voters in Maine–representing both those who cast votes in last month’s primary and those that did not–to quantitatively weigh in. The specs are easy to recruit, and one might think that an organization with the resources of the Democratic Senatorial Campiagn Committee could have bankrolled it and even conducted it already. Hey, we’ve long known that these folks are willing to spend on research when they want to.
There is indeed a ticking clock, as Stanton was astute enough to remind his readers:
Maine election law provides a mechanism for replacing a general-election nominee after the primary. Under Title 21-A, §374-A, a political party may name a new candidate if its nominee withdraws by 5 p.m. July 13. This means that despite his primary win, Democrats can still have a different nominee in November. If that happens, the party then has until 5 p.m. July 27 to select a replacement nominee. The process is handled internally by the party.
James Melcher, professor of political science at the University of Maine at Farmington, told Newsweek there is opportunity for Mainers to have a say in the process, though no plans have been announced as to how Platner would be replaced. He said there could be a sort of statewide caucus, and that the party’s message appears to convey that the process will be “something where there’s going to be an opportunity for a lot of input.”