Democratic anxiety mounted on Friday about the turbulent personal history of Graham Platner, the party\u2019s leading Senate candidate in Maine, as politicians, officials and strategists wrestled with how to respond to new reporting on his past behavior.<\/p>\n
The New York Times reported on Thursday<\/a> that several women who dated Mr. Platner had recounted him acting in unsettling or intimidating ways. One woman recalled instances in which he had grabbed or yanked her, and also said that he knew when they were dating years ago that a tattoo he had on his chest was a Nazi symbol. (Several other women who dated Mr. Platner said they felt safe with him.) The revelations came after previous controversies over the tattoo<\/a>, sexual messages Mr. Platner sent to women<\/a> outside his marriage and offensive comments<\/a> he made online.<\/p>\n The newly intense scrutiny of Mr. Platner, a progressive oyster farmer and political newcomer, fueled Democratic unease about the party\u2019s likely nominee in its must-win race against Senator Susan Collins, a Republican. Many Democrats worried about the potential of additional damaging reports to come about Mr. Platner.<\/p>\n Some Democratic senators expressed concerns about the new reports, with Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire telling Punchbowl News<\/a> they were \u201cserious and deserve scrutiny,\u201d while others dodged questions about Mr. Platner or tried to downplay the fears.<\/p>\n Mr. Platner, who has been widely expected to win the Democratic primary election on Tuesday in Maine, said on Thursday night that he would not drop out<\/a>.<\/p>\n In an appearance on MS NOW, he acknowledged \u201cnot exactly acting with the best behavior\u201d after his service in the military but denied physically harming his ex-girlfriend or knowing until recently that the tattoo, which he has since had covered up, resembled Nazi imagery.<\/p>\n Democrats must flip at least four Republican-held Senate seats in the midterm elections in November to win a majority. Maine is the only G.O.P.-held seat on the ballot in a state that Vice President Kamala Harris won in the 2024 election.<\/p>\n It is not yet clear how Maine voters will respond to the latest Platner reporting. A poll conducted this week<\/a> for Mr. Platner\u2019s campaign showed the general-election contest narrowing, while another done by a Republican super PAC backing Ms. Collins showed it tied.<\/p>\n Ms. Collins told local news reporters<\/a> in Maine on Friday that \u201cthe allegations in the latest story are troubling.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cI believe that Graham Platner has a lot of questions to answer,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n As elected Democrats mostly tiptoed around questions about Mr. Platner\u2019s past, some of the party\u2019s strategists described a situation similar to one they faced two years ago after President Joseph R. Biden Jr. melted down during his debate with Donald J. Trump.<\/p>\n With Maine\u2019s Senate primary four days away and no current alternative to Mr. Platner, worried Democrats are bracing themselves for a host of undesirable possible outcomes. There is no mechanism to force Mr. Platner to end his campaign, and he has few relationships with party elders who might hope to influence him.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a really tough situation,\u201d said Amanda Litman, the president of Run for Something, a progressive group that recruits young candidates to run for office and has been supportive of Mr. Platner. \u201cThere\u2019s not a good and clear answer and there\u2019s not an obvious alternative and there are lots of people at fault, including Graham and the Democratic Party and our failure to prepare.\u201d<\/p>\n Representative Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania said on CNN on Friday<\/a> that Mr. Platner had \u201cdisqualified himself in my eyes\u201d from the Maine Senate race. <\/p>\n Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, an ally of Mr. Platner\u2019s who introduced him at a Washington fund-raiser on Tuesday evening, dismissed the latest Times article on his history with women.<\/p>\n \u201cSeems like a lot of nothing,\u201d he told a NOTUS reporter<\/a> on Thursday evening, noting that one of the women making allegations was a conservative who has worked for right-leaning groups and Republican campaigns.<\/p>\n Even Mr. Platner\u2019s staunchest defenders on Friday suggested that he needed to do a better job explaining his past conduct and treatment of women.<\/p>\n Representative Ro Khanna of California, a progressive Democrat who is scheduled to appear with Mr. Platner at a campaign rally on Friday evening in Bar Harbor, called the candidate\u2019s past relationships \u201ctoxic and volatile\u201d and urged Mr. Platner\u2019s supporters not to attack the women who have spoken up or the journalists who have chronicled their accounts.<\/p>\n \u201cPlatner must continue to accept responsibility for his past and speak to his redemption, which many Americans understand,\u201d Mr. Khanna wrote in a text message to The Times on Friday morning.<\/p>\n In Maine, some Democratic officials found themselves struggling with how to process the latest news.<\/p>\n Deb Dagnan, the chairwoman of the Piscataquis County Democrats in northern Maine, who said she was neutral in the party\u2019s Senate primary, said on Friday that Democrats were \u201cfeeling disappointed and apprehensive.\u201d<\/p>\n She and other Maine Democrats, she said, were deeply anxious that more revelations about Mr. Platner would emerge.<\/p>\n \u201cIs he really what he says he is?\u201d Ms. Dagnan asked. \u201cDid we buy a bum bag of goods?\u201d<\/p>\n Other Maine Democrats defended Mr. Platner.<\/p>\n Mike Tipping, a progressive state senator who backs Mr. Platner, said Mainers had long known that the candidate had struggled with PTSD from his time in the military and criticized the news media for focusing on his personal history.<\/p>\n \u201cThe problems with his family that they\u2019re dealing with, him and his wife, that\u2019s obviously less important to me\u201d than the impact of Republican policies on Maine, Mr. Tipping said.<\/p>\n Ben Chin, Mr. Platner\u2019s campaign manager, said that \u201cwe have been and remain deeply humbled by the support and loyalty of this movement,\u201d adding, \u201cMainers know Graham, they understand what he stands for, and they believe in what this campaign is fighting for.\u201d<\/p>\n An aide to Gov. Janet Mills, who suspended her campaign<\/a> against Mr. Platner in April and has not endorsed him, did not tamp down chatter that she might re-emerge as a Platner challenger, emphasizing that the governor remained on the ballot.<\/p>\n Mr. Platner\u2019s 25-minute interview on MS NOW did not assuage some nervous Democrats.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sorry, Platner does not sound like someone who is comfortable being held accountable,\u201d Symone Sanders Townsend, a former aide to Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and to Mr. Biden, wrote on social media<\/a>. \u201cVoters in Maine may decide they don\u2019t care about this, but whew.\u201d<\/p>\n Rob Flaherty, a veteran Democratic strategist who served as a senior aide on the Biden campaigns and White House and is now a podcast host<\/a>, said Democrats were likely to be stuck in an awkward position of defending Mr. Platner.<\/p>\n But Mr. Flaherty said it was up to Mr. Platner to deliver a believable account of his past actions, including what he knew about the tattoo with the Nazi symbol.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are plenty of people who would say, \u2018I would like one person who is imperfect and honest more than 100 people who are imperfect and dishonest in the Senate,\u2019\u201d Mr. Flaherty said. \u201cThe trouble with that is you have to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n Democrats acknowledged that there was little chance Mr. Platner failed to advance from Tuesday\u2019s primary. If he prevails, the only way he would not be the party\u2019s Senate nominee would be if he chooses to end his campaign.<\/p>\n