The implosion of Graham Platner\u2019s campaign for Senate in Maine after an accusation of rape has ripped open divisions inside the Democratic Party as its progressives and moderates battle to pick his successor even before he has said he will step aside.<\/p>\n
National Democrats have grown alarmed that a seat seen as crucial to winning control of the Senate could be slipping from the party\u2019s grasp. Mr. Platner had survived a series of controversies \u2014 about a tattoo with Nazi symbolism, inflammatory old Reddit posts and his relationships with women<\/a> \u2014 but many in the party abandoned him after the rape accusation, including the leaders of the Maine Democratic Party and Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader.<\/p>\n They have demanded that Mr. Platner step down before a July 13 deadline for him to be replaced on the ballot to find a new Democrat to run against Senator Susan Collins, a longtime Republican fixture in the state. The main super PAC for Democratic Senate candidates said it would redirect $24 million in ad reservations to other states if he remained.<\/p>\n Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, one of Mr. Platner\u2019s earliest and most prominent backers, joined the chorus on Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n \u201cI have spoken with Graham Platner about the best path forward for Maine,\u201d Mr. Sanders said in a statement. \u201cIn light of these very serious allegations, I have recommended that he step aside.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Platner, who has denied the allegation, said on a private call with his campaign staff on Monday evening that he believed he still had leverage to influence which candidate would replace him on the ticket, according to three people familiar with the conversation. On the call, he did not announce plans to withdraw but implied such a decision would be coming, the people said.<\/p>\n Mr. Platner\u2019s campaign had stopped running ads on Meta\u2019s platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, as of Tuesday, according to the company\u2019s ad disclosure database. He had been running multiple ads as recently as Monday evening.<\/p>\n Top Democrats believe that it is only a matter of time before Mr. Platner formally quits \u2014 and gives the party a fresh start in its bid to oust Ms. Collins, who has proved a durable foe.<\/p>\n The drama comes almost exactly two years after the Democratic Party was roiled by the exit of Joseph R. Biden Jr., then the president, from his re-election race and the speedy anointment of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee. That process \u2014 and Democrats\u2019 ultimate loss in 2024 \u2014 has left deep scar tissue for many in the party.<\/p>\n Many on the left \u2014 including, it appears, Mr. Platner himself \u2014 want any replacement to come from the progressive wing of the party after he won the primary over Gov. Janet Mills, a moderate two-term Democrat, who withdrew over a month before the election.<\/p>\n \u201cTo the Democratic establishment: This is not your opening,\u201d said Joseph Geevarghese, the executive director of Our Revolution, a group that emerged from Mr. Sanders\u2019s 2016 presidential campaign. Referring to Senate Democrats\u2019 campaign arm, he added, \u201cMainers did not vote by an overwhelming margin against Janet Mills and the D.S.C.C.\u2019s handpicked pick just to be handed another status-quo candidate anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n On the flip side, many in the party establishment believe those on the left should show some humility after Mr. Platner\u2019s collapse.<\/p>\n A range of Democratic groups and activists engaged in the politics of I-told-you-so.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen women raise the alarm, listen,\u201d said a social media post<\/a> from Emily\u2019s List, a group that works to elect Democratic women and that had backed Ms. Mills. \u201cGraham Platner\u2019s behavior is disqualifying (AS WE HAVE SAID THIS WHOLE DAMN TIME), and he should end his campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n On Tuesday morning, more Democrats who are ideological allies of Mr. Platner called for him to step aside, including Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York City.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe that it\u2019s time for him to drop out of the race,\u201d Mr. Mamdani said when asked at a news conference. \u201cI think the focus of today should be to respond to the gravity of what so many of us have read, and I think the only appropriate response is for the campaign to come to an end.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Mamdani and Mr. Platner share several advisers, including Morris Katz and Rebecca Katz of the Fight Agency.<\/p>\n The progressive group MoveOn also dropped its endorsement.<\/p>\n As the situation in Maine threatened to spiral out of control, Mr. Schumer and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee are set to host major donors this week for a fund-raising retreat at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. Donors are asked to contribute $44,300 to attend, according to a copy of the invitation.<\/p>\n The event, which was previously scheduled, was billed as a \u201cspecial weekend to discuss the D.S.C.C.\u2019s strategy and campaigns for taking back the Democratic Senate majority,\u201d but now talk is likely to be consumed by the developments in Maine.<\/p>\n The calls for Mr. Platner\u2019s exit came from every corner of the party by Tuesday.<\/p>\n Representative Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, said as part of a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times that \u201cGraham Platner should end his senatorial campaign immediately.\u201d He added, \u201cAnd as many of his prior supporters have suggested, deal with these very serious allegations outside of being a candidate.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Platner can be replaced as the Democratic nominee if he withdraws voluntarily by July 13. The state Democratic Party would then have until July 27 to pick his replacement, under state law. But the law does not dictate how the state party itself needs to pick Mr. Platner\u2019s replacement.<\/p>\n What that would look like remains unclear. The options under discussion<\/a> include a convention or a statewide caucus in late July.<\/p>\n \u201cWe ask for your patience as this work continues,\u201d Devon Murphy-Anderson, the state party\u2019s executive director, wrote in a message to committee members on Tuesday, adding: \u201cWhatever process is ultimately adopted must reflect our Democratic values. It should be open, inclusive, transparent, and fair.\u201d<\/p>\n A range of candidates are being discussed, with some early attention on those who ran and lost the primary for governor this year. Those Democrats include Troy Jackson, a former president of the Maine Senate; Nirav Shah, a former director of Maine\u2019s public health agency; and Shenna Bellows, Maine\u2019s secretary of state. But some Democrats were concerned about elevating someone who just lost.<\/p>\n Supporters of Mr. Jackson, who had backed Mr. Platner in the primary, created a Draft Troy website<\/a>, and he filed paperwork<\/a> with the Federal Election Commission for a Senate exploratory committee. Mr. Shah put out a statement that said he had received \u201chundreds of encouraging messages,\u201d adding that anyone who ran for the nomination should commit to a televised debate and \u201cmultiple town halls across every corner of the state.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms. Bellows said in a statement on Tuesday that she was seriously considering entering the race and was \u201cuniquely fit to unite Mainers and defeat Susan Collins in just over 100 days.”<\/p>\n Valli Geiger, a state representative, is also being discussed. Ms. Geiger was an early Platner backer who wrote an opinion essay<\/a> last fall titled \u201cGraham Platner deserves grace.\u201d<\/p>\n Another possible candidate is Dan Kleban, a co-founder of the Maine Beer Company, a brewery outside Portland. He briefly ran for Senate last year before dropping out and endorsing Ms. Mills. But like Mr. Platner, he has never held elected office or been through the rigors of a campaign.<\/p>\n Yet another possibility is Jordan Wood, who also previously ran for Senate and dropped out. Mr. Wood ran instead in the primary for Representative Jared Golden\u2019s House seat and lost.<\/p>\n Mr. Golden, a moderate Democrat and veteran who holds the most pro-Trump House seat of any Democrat in Congress, is retiring and previously said he was ready to step away<\/a> from elected office.<\/p>\n In recent days, Mr. Golden has fielded calls gauging his interest in a run for Senate, according to two people familiar with those conversations who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private discussions. But on Tuesday night, a spokesman, Mario Moretto, said that \u201cif Congressman Golden wanted the nomination, he would have put his name forward many months ago.\u201d <\/p>\n More unconventional picks were being bandied about, as well. One Democratic firm in recent days included the actor Patrick Dempsey in a poll (he was viewed favorably by 52 percent of voters in the survey). Others floated the popular liberal historian Heather Cox Richardson, who is based in Maine.<\/p>\n Some Democrats erupted after the news emerged that Mr. Platner wanted a replacement who was aligned with him politically. One person familiar with the Platner campaign\u2019s internal discussions said on Monday that Mr. Platner would seek a guarantee he would be replaced by someone in agreement with \u201cthe values and vision and policy agenda\u201d that he had pressed.<\/p>\n Others argued that under the circumstances, Mr. Platner\u2019s support would be damaging.<\/p>\n Joe Baldacci, a state senator who ran and lost in the primary for Mr. Golden\u2019s House seat this year, said the idea that Mr. Platner would bless a replacement would be the equivalent of \u201ctying a lead weight\u201d to the person.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter you have put the Democratic Party in a shambles and undermined all Democratic candidates running for office in Maine then you should have no say in who will be your successor,\u201d Mr. Baldacci wrote on social media<\/a>. He added<\/a>, \u201cAny connections to Platner will doom that person\u2019s campaign from the very beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n Photographs by Roy Rochlin\/Getty Images for Authors Guild Foundation, Cj Rivera\/Invision, and Associated Press, Brianna Soukup\/Portland Portland Press Herald, via Getty Images<\/p>\n Lisa Lerer, Annie Karni and Sally Goldenberg contributed reporting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The implosion of Graham Platner\u2019s campaign for Senate in Maine after an accusation of rape has ripped open…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":749554,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,321476,321478,45372,14299,1070,321474,7936,17161,9131,321477,321473,10482,228953,3,295186,48369,228950,33096,720,321475,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-749553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-baldacci","tag-bernard","tag-collins","tag-democratic-party","tag-elections","tag-emilys-list","tag-golden","tag-graham","tag-jared","tag-joe-1965","tag-liberalism-us-politics","tag-maine","tag-midterm-elections-2026","tag-news","tag-platner","tag-politics-and-government","tag-primaries-and-caucuses","tag-sanders","tag-senate","tag-susan-m","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=749553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/749554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=749553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=749553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=749553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}