Controversial candidate Graham Platner won the Democratic nomination in Maine's Senate race, but a new analysis found the party doesn't even need him to win to take back control of the U.S. Senate.The Iraq war veteran won his primary race and will face off against Republican Sen. Susan Collins despite allegations of mistreatment by past girlfriends, sexually explicit text messages sent to other women while he was married, questionable comments posted online and getting a tattoo of a Nazi symbol – but CNN's Harry Enten said his campaign is not essential for Democrats. "So that that is the mathematical equation, right?" Enten said. "They need a net one, two, three, four seats. That is what they need to net, and I think that there is this idea out there that if Graham Platner doesn't win in Maine, then it screws the Democrats. That is not true at all. Yes, it may make it more difficult, but they have a real path, even without winning in Maine.""Why don't we just take a look at some polling in some key states, right, some state polling in GOP-held seats," Enten continued. "These are states that Donald Trump won by double digits, but look at this: The Democrats and the average polls are actually slightly ahead. Sherrod Brown in ohio, he's up by three points. He's, of course, the former senator lost the seat back in 2024. How about in Texas, which has not elected a Democrat to the United States senate since 1988? What do we see here? We see James Talarico, again, a small lead well within the margin of error. But the average poll, he's up three points.""So in two states we have polling out in the last few weeks, last few months, when you average it all together, where you actually have Democrats ahead again within the margin of error, but up by three points in two states that Donald Trump won by double digits just two years ago," he added.Platner winning in Maine would obviously help Democrats regain the Senate majority, Enten said, but he said President Donald Trump's unpopularity gave them other paths to victory."If we wind out the map, right, a puncher's chance, at least a 20 percent chance that the Kalshi Prediction Markets, people putting their money where their mouth is, in terms of Democrats winning at least a 20 percent chance, look at this," Enten said. "There are seven GOP-held seats, so the map is actually really wide this year. It has widened out, which is not a big surprise when the president of the United States has an approval rating, if he's lucky, averaging about 40 percent. If you look at most of the polls, it's under 40 percent. Bottom line is, the map is wide. Democrats have a path without Maine. Yes, Maine helps them, but they have a clear path without it." - YouTube youtu.be
