Senate Democrats’ campaign arm calls for Platner to drop out of Maine race
Progressive policy ambitions meet practical realities as Americans weigh costs and consequences.
Two months ago Graham Platner was the guy Democrats were pointing to as their answer to burnout with career politicians. An oyster farmer, a veteran, a real person who could win in Maine. Now Schumer and Gillibrand are on record calling the allegations against him "incredibly disturbing" and asking him to leave the race they helped hype.
New Republican Times Editorial Board
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and Chair Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) on Monday called on Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner to withdraw as the Democratic nominee. "The allegations reported today are incredibly disturbing –– violence, abuse and sexual assault are absolutely unacceptable," Schumer and Gillibrand said in a joint statement. "Graham Platner
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New Republican Times Editorial Board
Two months ago Graham Platner was the guy Democrats were pointing to as their answer to burnout with career politicians. An oyster farmer, a veteran, a real person who could win in Maine. Now Schumer and Gillibrand are on record calling the allegations against him "incredibly disturbing" and asking him to leave the race they helped hype.
That whiplash tells you something. Nobody vetted this guy before the party establishment started fundraising off his authenticity. The tattoo controversy, the old Reddit posts, and now allegations of violence and sexual assault didn't surface because opposition researchers are geniuses. They surfaced because reporters did what a campaign committee apparently didn't bother doing first.
Platner says he won't drop out, and Maine Democrats now get to watch their leadership publicly disown a candidate they were cheering weeks ago. This isn't really about Platner's tattoos or his Reddit history. It's about a party that keeps discovering, too late, that "outsider energy" isn't the same thing as a background check.
Commentary written with AI assistance by the New Republican Times Editorial Board.