Graham Platner’s spectacular collapse in Maine is reverberating through Democratic politics well beyond one Senate race, prompting a fresh debate over how the party vets insurgent candidates and whether Michigan’s closely watched Senate primary has become the next test of those lessons.

With just weeks remaining before Democrats choose a nominee to replace retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), establishment Democrats backing Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) have increasingly sought to cast rival Abdul el Sayed as part of the same anti-establishment political movement that propelled Platner in Maine.

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