Democratic nominee Graham Platner’ high-profile U.S. Senate race has been thrown into chaos following a POLITICO report that he sexually assaulted a former girlfriend five years ago.
Transcript
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Let’s go to Maine, where a high-profile U.S. Senate race has been thrown into chaos following a report that Democratic nominee Graham Platner sexually assaulted a former girlfriend five years ago. That report from Politico has led to a cratering of Platner’s support by Maine and national Democrats. Steve Mistler with member station Maine Public is here with the latest. Hey, Steve.
STEVE MISTLER, BYLINE: Hey. How are you?
KELLY: Hey. I am hanging in there. Thank you. So let’s go straight to Graham Platner, who made an early splash in this contest. He rose from political obscurity just last summer. How did we get to this point?
MISTLER: Yeah. Well, you’re right about Platner’s rapid ascension from combat veteran and oysterman to this upstart candidate who Maine Democrats chose to take on Republican Senator Susan Collins. And he secured the nomination with more votes than any Democratic senatorial candidate in state history, forcing two-term Governor Janet Mills out of the race along the way. And he also built a massive movement of 15,000 volunteers. But his campaign has been dogged by controversy since October, and this latest report appears to have been the final blow for a campaign that was pretty brazen and confident up until Monday.
KELLY: Well, and go to that, what may well be the final blow for this campaign. Because this specific allegation of sexual assault, which he denies, it has had more of an impact than previous scandals that have dogged this campaign.
MISTLER: That’s right. Almost immediately after the story was published, there was a cascade of calls for him to get out of the race from interest groups, congressional Democrats that had endorsed him and even local gubernatorial candidates who sought his endorsement prior to the June primary. Just a remarkable turn of events, Mary Louise.
KELLY: Yeah. Now, the timing here is tricky. All of this is happening just a few days before a deadline that would – that they have to meet for Democrats and the state party to be able to replace him on the ballot?
MISTLER: Yeah, that’s right. That deadline is Monday, July 13 at 5 p.m. And if Platner formally withdraws from the race with the secretary of state by then, Democrats can actually replace him on the ballot, but they have only until July 27 to do so. And that’s about two weeks away. So just like with President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race, that’s just not a lot of time for state Democrats to figure out a process to replace him.
KELLY: Have they started on that, the state party, to figure out that process?
MISTLER: Yeah, they have, but it’s still in development is my understanding, and they really haven’t shared much by way of details. You know, I will say that several of the potential replacement candidates have called for an open, transparent process, perhaps a state convention, even town halls and televised debates. And that would be important to Democratic primary voters, especially those with memories of the process to replace President Biden just a couple years ago.
KELLY: So who’s on the list as a possible replacement if – and again, it’s still if – Platner drops out?
MISTLER: Well, there’s several gubernatorial candidates who didn’t win the nomination in June. There were two others that were actually senatorial candidates last year but got out of the race when Governor Mills got in last October. And I should say that I’ve reached out to see if the governor is interested in rejoining the race, but I have not heard back from her aides one way or the other. And I also should say that there’s potential for the factional divide among Democrats that we saw while Platner was barnstorming the state. That could actually play into this replacement process. He was endorsed early by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, whose political machine has been mounting primary challenges against Democrats across the country, and that could be a factor again.
KELLY: And just in a few sentences, Steve, I’m curious about Susan Collins, a formidable opponent and the stakes in this very important race for Democrats if they want to defeat her and retake the majority in the U.S. Senate.
MISTLER: Yeah, that’s a really important question. You know, Platner brought a lot of energy and interest to the race, and it was real and organic. And it’s going to be tough, you know, for another candidate to capture that going forward.
KELLY: All right. Maine Public’s Steve Mistler, thank you.
MISTLER: Thank you.
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