People may debate whether Graham Platner or Ken Paxton is more unfit to serve in the United States Senate. But the answers will mostly depend on one’s partisan preferences. For a few folks, their own particular detestation of certain vices might be material. You may think that Paxton is worse because many of the allegations…
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) says state Attorney General Ken Paxton, his former opponent, will “absolutely” make it tougher for Republicans to defend the Texas Senate seat as the Republican nominee in the general election, standing by the criticisms he made during the primary. Asked by a reporter late Monday if Paxton “endangers the seat as…
Other progressive members of Congress who endorsed Platner, the leading Democratic candidate for the Senate in Maine, are also coming to his defense.
Graham Platner, the Democratic Senate candidate in Maine, is speaking out following his latest controversy over sexually text messages he sent to half a dozen women while married. NBC News' Ryan Nobles reports.
Democrats have been caught in the bind Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) sought to avoid when he backed Gov. Janet Mills over Graham Platner in the Maine Senate race.Why it matters: Democrats must now support an untested and largely unvetted outsider as he faces intense media scrutiny over his relationship with women in a must-win race.⏰ Maine's Democratic primary to take on Sen. Susan Collins (R) in November is in eight days.🔄 Zoom in: Practically, it might be feasible to swap out candidates. Politically, it will be close to impossible."I've heard some of my colleagues' concerns about what we've read in the papers," Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), who backed Mills, told Axios. "But at the end of the day, we've got to win.""We know that at this point this man can still win the race, and as long as he continues, I think we'll all be there," Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) said.✈️ Driving the news: Platner will have an opportunity to address senators' concerns during a meeting with Senate Democrats tomorrow afternoon, followed by two fundraisers, as Axios scooped today."I'll know more after tomorrow's briefing on that," Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) said. "But clearly, campaigns and candidates have to be fully transparent as things come out.""He has to answer those questions directly and forthrightly. They're fair questions," Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) said. "It's going to be on him to answer them, and it's going to be up to the voters of Maine to decide."⚡️ The intrigue: Some of Mills' political allies have encouraged her to reactivate her campaign, according to people familiar with the matter. So far, she has demurred.But she fueled speculation today that she could rejoin the race, telling the Portland (Maine) Press Herald: "People have the impression that I 'withdrew' or 'dropped out,' but I simply suspended active campaigning. I am still on the ballot."🪓 Between the lines: Democrats do have a break-glass option if more damaging revelations emerge.Maine law allows a party to replace its nominee if the primary winner withdraws by the second Monday in July, which is July 13. The replacement would be selected at a party convention rather than through another primary.✅ The bottom line: Progressive senators who backed Platner in their proxy battle with Schumer aren't abandoning him."I think it's important for us to focus on the issues facing working families a little bit more than Graham Platner's marriage," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said."Susan Collins has a history of supporting Donald Trump," Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told reporters. "Graham Platner is showing the courage and determination to take that on. I believe that's what the people of Maine care most about."
House lawmakers have demanded that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton produce documents related to his lawsuit against ActBlue, a critical Democratic Party fundraising platform, according to the Austin American-Statesman.This lawsuit alleges that ActBlue failed to act sufficiently to prevent illegal donations from foreigners or people who had already hit their campaign contribution limit.The new letter sent by Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Robert Garcia (D-CA), and Joseph Morelle (D-NY) accuses Paxton of ignoring far more serious consumer complaints brought against WinRed, the platform Republicans launched as their answer to ActBlue — in particular, the platform's practice of pre-checking a box to make donors' contributions recurring without them intending to do so."While you have done nothing to investigate dozens of such complaints from Texans about being defrauded by WinRed, the platform used to process campaign contributions to Republican candidates and political committees, your office has opened an investigation into an unrelated entity, ActBlue, which processes donations to Democratic candidates and causes," said the letter, noting that Paxton's office has received at least 27 complaints about WinRed, some of them alleging people had their life savings drained from their bank accounts.The lawmakers are demanding Paxton, now the GOP's candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas, turn over any documents about the complaints and communications around them, although they cannot compel this by force without Republican votes on the House Oversight Committee.This comes after a federal judge in Massachusetts, where ActBlue is headquartered, already warned Paxton that the ActBlue lawsuit is unlikely to succeed on the merits.
Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner is counting on help from an unlikely source to get him elected: President Donald Trump. Platner was always hoping to ride a wave of anti-Trump anger in the midterm elections on the way to defeating Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), the most liberal and last New England-based Republican in Congress. […]
“This lunatic drank so much of his own Kool-Aid that he is going to give all of us a diabetic shock.”