While Maine Republican incumbent Susan Collins received applause from both sides of the political aisle on the Senate floor as she cast her 10,000th consecutive vote, a television in the press gallery aired an interview on MSNOW with the oysterman vying to unseat the five-term senator.
It was not the kind of press anyone wants, let alone a progressive Democrat underdog who at times has pulled ahead in polling. Graham Platner was responding to allegations he abused and mistreated past girlfriends.
Democrats should be feeling confident that they finally have a chance to topple Collins, the last of the New England Republican senators who represents a state that overwhelmingly elects Democratic presidential candidates.
During Donald Trump’s second presidency, she’s voted in line with the president, who lost Maine three times, to such an extent that she was photographed in the Oval Office holding a red MAGA hat.
Despite opposing Pete Hegseth’s nomination for Defense secretary and voting against the One Big, Beautiful Bill, she voted to confirm some of Trump’s most firebrand nominees — ranging from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at Health and Human Services to Tulsi Gabbard to lead National Intelligence.
Instead, Graham Platner, the likely Democratic candidate in the general election, has turned the race into a mess. As Inside Washington reported last year, Collins’s ability to defy polling and win by 8 points despite Joe Biden winning the Pine Tree State by 9 meant Democrats struggled to recruit a challenger.
In that gap, Platner, an Iraq War veteran-turned-oyster farmer, jumped into the race, raised a war chest of cash and earned the backing of New England progressive titans like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). They rallied for him despite Platner’s unearthed comments from years ago on Reddit about sexual assault and him having a skull tattoo known as a “Totenkopf” that was used as an emblem by Nazi SS units, a background he claims not to have known about when he got the ink in Croatia.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, by contrast, tried to recruit term-limited Gov.Janet Mills, 78, but her campaign flamed out even when she tried hitting Platner on his old Reddit comments. Then, a poll from University of Massachusetts Lowell conducted last month and released this week showed Platner leading Collins 48 percent to 43 percent.
But his prospects took a big hit this week after articles in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported that he sexted women while married, with some past girlfriends alleging he physically abused them, which Platner denies, and one ex claiming Platner was aware of the tattoo symbol’s provenance, which he also has denied . Those stories broke just as Platner arrived in Washington to meet with Democrats about the Senate race.
“You guys have to write your Platner stories, I’ve talked about this kind of ad nauseam,” Sen. Chris Murphy told The Independent.
Sanders brushed off the allegations saying, “Maybe as a nation, we focus on issues more important than the Platner marriage.”
Warren for her part also seemed to dismiss the serious baggage Platner is now carrying. When The Independent asked on Tuesday what she’d heard about Platner, she said “that they’re glad that Graham Platner’s out there fighting on their behalf against the giant corporations that want to run everything in this country.”
That same day, Schumer spoke at his press conference about meeting with Platner.
“We’re going to beat Susan Collins and take back the Senate,” he said and repeated that Democrats would defeat Collins. Platner’s campaign put out an internal poll showing that he led Collins 49 percent to 45 percent.
The Independent reached out to Platner’s campaign for comment on the allegations.
All of this makes the decision by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), another protege of Sanders, to stay out of the race seem even smarter — if no less craven. This week, three of her anointed House candidates in Montana, California and New Jersey won their primaries.
But when she was asked by reporters about Platner, the women’s rights advocate and social justice warrior ran away from the controversy. “I haven’t waded into that primary,” she said. The Republican National Committee clipped the video and promoted it.
Only a few hours later, Ocasio-Cortez’s abstention would look like a master stroke of politicking with a good measure of hypocrisy when The New York Times published its story that went into detail about Platner’s alleged mistreatment of women, including a claim he once grabbed an ex-partner by her wrist to yank her out of a cab and allegedly twisted her arm and shoved her into a bedroom on another occasion.
Lyndsey Fifield, a Republican operative who dated Platner, went on record as also saying he knew the meaning behind the tattoo on his chest, claiming he called it “my Totenkopf.”
That triggered the interview with Chris Hayes on MSNOW where Platner vehemently denied the claims of mistreatment of women.
But the pot is already stirred and Democrats might be stuck with him. Sanders, unsurprisingly, brushed off a question from the conservative Washington Examiner, telling the reporter “Why don’t we examine income and wealth inequality?” before the story would be published. After the story came out, he said “Not right now.”
That might not be sufficient. Maine’s primary takes place next week. While the state’s party has the option to replace Platner with another candidate until three weeks after the primary, the damage is already done.
Meanwhile, Democrats and Schumer might have few options to distance themselves from Platner after they embraced him. That is, save for Ocasio-Cortez.
All the while, as Collins delivered a celebratory speech on the floor after her vote, Schumer looked over from his desk and could do nothing but applaud.
