Democrats stick with Platner as Maine voters prepare to decide Senate primary
Maine Democrats vote Tuesday on their Senate nominee, and Graham Platner enters primary day as the favorite despite a week of damaging reports about how he treats women.
The allegations have forced Democratic allies, elected officials and party strategists to publicly address Platner’s past just as the race enters its final hours. If he wins, he is expected to face Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November in one of the country’s most competitive Senate contests.
Khanna defends candidate while condemning conduct
Much of Sunday’s political conversation centered on Platner after a New York Times report detailed accounts from former girlfriends who described him as volatile and, at times, physically intimidating.
Platner denies physically abusing anyone. His campaign has acknowledged past behavior he has described as shameful while disputing allegations of violence.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who campaigned with Platner in Maine on Friday, offered perhaps the clearest example of the balancing act many Democrats are attempting.
“His actions were misogynistic, they were shameful, they were wrong,” Khanna said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Khanna said voters he met in Maine were aware of parts of Platner’s past and were weighing those concerns alongside the issues driving his campaign.
“The Maine voters that I met said they don’t like it,” Khanna said. “They are willing to extend him grace and redemption and they’re focused now on what he’s running for.”
Support has limits
Khanna also broke with some of Platner’s defenders by saying he believed Lyndsey Fifield, one of the women whose allegations were detailed by The New York Times, and by urging Democrats to stop questioning her motives or political affiliations.
“I don’t think our side should be attacking her, and I appreciate her courage in coming forward,” he said.
Khanna made clear, however, that his support is not unconditional.
“Obviously, look, if there was evidence of violence, I would not support him. If there was evidence of sexual assault, I’d have zero support for him,” he said.
The Times reported that Fifield alleged Platner regularly grabbed her by the shoulders and, during one argument, twisted her arm behind her back before shoving her into a bedroom. Platner’s campaign denies allegations of physical violence.
Democrats weigh political fallout
Not every Democrat has landed in the same place.
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., called the allegations troubling during appearances on multiple Sunday programs but said voters, not party leaders, should make the final decision.
“If these allegations are true, they’re very troubling,” Warner said on Fox News Sunday. “But I don’t know if they are true or not. I think, frankly, the people in Maine ought to decide that.”
Others have openly worried about the effect the controversy could have on a race Democrats badly want to win.
Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., told The New York Times that both the allegations and Platner’s political positions were “unsettling.”
Meanwhile, some of the party’s most prominent progressives have continued to stand firmly behind him. Sen. Bernie Sanders reiterated his support over the weekend, arguing Platner remains the strongest candidate to challenge Republican control of the Senate.
Primary voters make the call Tuesday
Platner has built his campaign around a biography that includes military service in Iraq, struggles with PTSD and a later career as an oyster farmer in Maine.
The campaign has also spent weeks answering questions about sexually explicit messages sent to women outside his marriage, old online posts and a tattoo that resembled a Nazi symbol. Platner apologized for the posts and later covered the tattoo.
Now the decision moves from party leaders and Sunday-show panels to Maine voters, who will decide Tuesday whether Platner becomes the Democratic nominee in one of the Senate’s most closely watched races.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
