By Nolan D. McCaskill
WASHINGTON, July 7 (Reuters) – U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, the highest-profile backer of Graham Platner in Washington, urged the Maine Democratic Senate nominee on Tuesday to withdraw from the race following a sexual assault allegation Platner has denied.
“I have spoken with Graham Platner about the best path forward for Maine,” Sanders, a prominent progressive ally of Platner, said in a statement. “In light of these very serious allegations, I have recommended that he step aside.”
Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats, joins a growing list of Democrats abandoning Platner after a woman accused him of forcibly having sex with her nearly five years ago. Senate Democratic leaders and their allied super PAC have said they won’t invest in Maine, a critical battleground state that Democrat Kamala Harris won in 2024, if Platner remains on the ballot.
Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, meaning Democrats need to net four seats to win control. Losing Maine would make that path significantly harder, requiring the party to hold seats in Georgia and Michigan — states President Donald Trump won in 2024 — while flipping four seats in Republican-held states such as North Carolina, Ohio, Alaska, Iowa and Texas.
While Trump only won North Carolina by 3 percentage points, he carried the other states by a double-digit margin, underscoring Democrats’ uphill battle.
Platner, a progressive political upstart whose once-surging campaign forced Maine Governor Janet Mills to suspend her Senate bid, has remained silent after saying in a social media video on Monday that he was taking time “to reflect on the best path forward.”
He can be replaced on the ballot if he drops out by July 13. The Maine Democratic Party would have until July 27 to select a new nominee. The party has said any process to select a new nominee would be “open, transparent and inclusive.”
The oyster farmer and U.S. Marine veteran has so far withstood a string of controversies, including controversial Reddit posts, a Nazi tattoo he covered up, his treatment of women he dated and sexually explicit texts sent to women outside of his marriage. Despite his baggage, recent polls showed a competitive general election race.
CANDIDATES VIE FOR SENATE RUN
Potential candidates, including Democrats who lost last month’s primary for governor, were already positioning themselves on Tuesday for a likely Senate run.
Former state Senate President Troy Jackson filed federal paperwork to form an exploratory committee that allows him to start fundraising, the Bangor Daily News reported.
Our Revolution, a Sanders-aligned outside group, said it was now supporting Jackson after withdrawing its support for Platner. Executive Director Joseph Geevarghese called Jackson a “real progressive” whose gubernatorial campaign was endorsed by Sanders.
“This is not the Democratic establishment’s opening to handpick a replacement,” Geevarghese said in a statement. “Maine’s progressives did not win the primary by a fluke or a narrow margin. … That result stands.”
Nirav Shah, the former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said the party should hold an open and transparent process to select a new nominee.
“Anyone running for this nomination should agree to at least one televised debate and hold multiple public town halls across every corner of the state,” he said in a statement on X that notably emphasized he is “not an establishment politician” or “an insider.”
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows is another possible candidate.
REPUBLICAN INCUMBENT WELL FUNDED
The Democratic nominee will face Republican Senator Susan Collins, who chairs a panel that oversees the nation’s federal discretionary spending, in November.
Collins, 73, has a nearly $10 million war chest and is backed by multiple super PACs. The Senate Leadership Fund has pledged to invest $42 million in Maine, and Pine Tree Results PAC has spent almost $7 million boosting her campaign.
The Pine Tree Results PAC has canceled its ad reservations for next week, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact, which suggests Republicans expect Platner to drop out this week.
Mark Brewer, a political science professor at the University of Maine, said Democrats would be better off fielding another candidate than trying to win with Platner.
“If he stays, there’s virtually no way that he could beat Susan Collins in November,” Brewer said. “Until yesterday, I would’ve rated the race as a toss-up … Today, I think it’s definitely in lean Republican category.”
(Reporting by Nolan D. McCaskill; Additional reporting by Steve Gorman and Richard Cowan; Editing by Michael Learmonth and Deepa Babington)
Comments