Graham Platner made history on Tuesday, becoming the first vanity oysterman and Nazi-tattooed Hotchkiss attendee to win a major party's nomination for U.S. Senate while facing credible allegations of domestic abuse. Barring another unforeseen setback or two, Platner will square off against longtime Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) in the general election.
Democratic candidate Graham Platner coasted to an easy nomination for the U.S. Senate race in Maine on Tuesday night, overcoming weeks of negative press over scandals about his personal life and interactions with women to take on longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins, a top target of Democrats hoping to flip control of the upper chamber.While Republicans project confidence in the race publicly, a recent memo from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) is throwing up alarms, warning this could be a tough fight and Collins must not be caught off guard.The memo was posted to X on Wednesday morning by Fox News' Alexis McAdams."Maine has become more than a battleground state in this year's fight for control of the Senate. It has become a linchpin," stated the NRSC memo. "Because Democrats cannot win the majority without it, they have fully rallied around Graham Platner, an extremely flawed, far-left candidate who secured the nomination last night. Platner has captured his party's financial backing, outraising Senator Collins in every quarter since entering the race. We must match both the energy and the money to retain the seat."The memo outlined the fact that one of Platner's best fundraising days was after the story dropped about his problematic relationships with women.Ultimately, the memo concluded, in a state as Democratic-leaning as Maine, "it is a fatal mistake to assume Platner is too damaged to win. He is currently leading. Vice President Harris won the state by 7 points, and the National Democrats view this as their only path to regaining control." Collins, the memo said, has to be protected "with total urgency."
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) said voters in Maine are giving Graham Platner, who won the Democratic Senate nomination, a chance to rebuild credibility as a candidate after a series of controversies about his past have surfaced. “He understands he needs to do work; he understands they’re giving him a chance at redemption,” Khanna said on […]
The mad and bad Roman emperor, Caligula, made his horse a senator. So the scope for mad and bad political choices is wide. After winning the Democratic primary in Maine on Tuesday, essentially unopposed, Graham Platner is feeling his oats. And he might gallop all the way to the U.S. Senate in November, despite being […]
President Trump congratulated key ally Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on locking down a primary race Tuesday, while calling for a focus on passing the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act. “Congratulations to Senator Lindsey Graham of the Great State of South Carolina on his BIG WIN tonight. With almost 60% of the vote against…
Maine Democrats handed progressive firebrand Graham Platner an easy win in Tuesday's Senate primary, looking past his personal scandals in hopes he can oust five-term GOP Sen. Susan Collins in November.Why it matters: Tuesday's results set up what's sure to be a nasty, expensive battle for a seat that will go a long way toward determining control of the Senate. They also illustrated the huge contrasts now animating the political parties:GOP voters are almost always in lockstep with the leader of their party, President Trump, whose pick for South Carolina governor advanced to a runoff.As for Democrats, the combination of being desperate for victory and having no one with enough clout to stop an embattled outsider helped set the stage for Platner's big win over Gov. Janet Mills, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's pick in the race.Zoom in: Platner's victory was also the latest one for Democratic progressives in their ongoing civil war with the party's moderates.Standing behind a sign that defiantly read, "They Don't Know Maine," Platner delivered an acceptance speech that mixed talk of his past regrets and slammed elites who'd opposed him."The national pundits, the political establishment, they keep looking for that one story, that one headline, that one moment in my life that they can define the campaign by," Platner said. "But in trying so hard to understand me, they failed to understand that this is not about me at all. This is a movement about us."Late Tuesday, Schumer and Senate Democrats' top super PAC put out statements making clear they support Platner.Key takeaways from Tuesday:Platner's latest round of scandals haven't hurt him — yet. His campaign has been a roller coaster ride of revelations, from the Nazi-linked tattoo he covered up to the recent reports that he'd sent sexually suggestive texts to women who weren't his wife. The reports gripped D.C. and made lots of ad fodder for Republicans, but didn't appear to damage Platner in Tuesday's primary. Early returns showed him with about 72% of the vote— close to his poll numbers before the latest headlines.Here come the attacks: In a preview of the smash-mouth assaults headed for Platner, Republican National Committee chair Joe Gruters called the Democratic nominee a "racist, sexist, Nazi-loving domestic abuser." Platner, a Marine combat veteran, kick-started his campaign against Collins by casting her as a corrupt warmonger who "handed out billions of dollars to defense companies" while "I got blown up."The parties' role-reversal: On one side, there's a scandal-plagued man running as a populist that the political establishment tried and failed to stop. On the other, a moderate woman who's been in D.C. for decades. It's not the 2016 election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton — it's the match-up between Platner and Collins that looks like the Senate version, with the parties switched. Dems warm to controversy: Blame it on Trump lowering the bar for candidates' personal conduct, Democrats losing trust in their leaders to know what it takes to win, or something darker. Platner's primary victory signals that Democratic voters have become more willing to accept skeletons in a candidate's closet. Trump picks a winner, while Rep. Nancy Mace hits a dead end: In the latest affirmation of Trump's power over the GOP, his pick in South Carolina's gubernatorial primary, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, advanced to a runoff with state Attorney General Alan Wilson. Mace, a former Trump loyalist who fell out of favor with him after pushing for the release of the Epstein files, was running fifth in the primary.
Outcome of polls in four states offer mixed signals about direction of two major parties before November’s midtermsProgressives rallied round the controversial Graham Platner after his primary victory in Maine on Tuesday, while Donald Trump again exerted his grip on the Republican party, helping to defeat a politician who had pushed for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.Primary elections were held in four states – Maine, Nevada, North Dakota and South Carolina – ahead of November’s midterms to decide control of both houses of Congress. The results offered mixed signals about the direction of the two major parties. Continue reading...
