Mainstream Democrats are finally jumping ship on Graham Platner’s now-defunct campaign for Senate in Maine. This isn’t a moral stand — it’s an electoral crisis.
These Democrats were perfectly fine with Platner having a Nazi concentration camp tattoo, calling rural white Americans “stupid” and “racist,” mocking a wounded American soldier and saying he “didn’t deserve to live,” cheating on his wife, desiring to rape home intruders, blaming rape victims and saying they need to “take responsibility,” claiming black people don’t tip, telling a teenage girl who attempted suicide she wasn’t “trying hard enough,” having a profile on a site known for child predators, allegedly being abusive toward women, and being openly anti-police and pro-communist.
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It wasn’t until Platner’s polling numbers began to suffer, and a woman accused him of rape, that Democrats began to distance themselves from the oyster farmer and walking opposition ad campaign. Back in May, I said “principled Democrats” have gone extinct and that I would only change my mind if mainstream party members called on Platner to end his campaign. While some have turned on him, it was not out of principle, but out of opportunity and necessity.
The timing naturally raises questions. The accusation, from a noted liberal, came days before the deadline to replace Platner with a new candidate, while his popularity waned. It would not be unprecedented for a party to facilitate the revelation of a scandal to push out or pressure one of its members — I saw this dynamic play out while involved in the Camden, New Jersey, Democratic Party.
Speculation aside, the accusation is a true gift for the Democrats, who will not have to run the most flawed Senate hopeful in recent memory. With his decision to drop out, the undemocratic party will once again select its own candidate just as it did in the 2024 election when Vice President Kamala Harris replaced geriatric President Joe Biden. If Biden were the polling front-runner, he would have remained on the ticket. It wasn’t until he was humiliated on the debate stage and suffered a polling collapse that the Democrats pulled the plug. Talk about deja vu.
While leftists such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) may be off the Platner boat now, it’s important to remember what they were willing to overlook: anti-Americanism, antisemitism, and a long record of vulgar and incredibly offensive conduct. This unproven rape accusation is par for the course, considering everything else he is accused of or has admitted to — the difference now is that Democrats were afraid he’d lose his election.
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So, did I change my mind about principled Democrats? Absolutely not. Only a fraction of disqualifying information about Platner was known in mid-May — more came out in June — and not one mainstream member of the party disavowed him then. It wasn’t until his polling numbers fell in July that a fortuitous accusation came to light, prompting Platner’s party to leave his side. I am certain that if he still held a 7-point lead over Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), as he did in May, there would not have been an exodus of mainstream Democratic support.
Regardless of the scandals and accusations, if Platner didn’t end his campaign, left-wing voters would still line up at the polls for him. It’s never been about doing what’s right — it’s always been about getting a radical in office. Platner is everything the Left claims to hate on a personal level, but with a progressive socialist campaign platform. Their silence up until now is telling, and the Democrats’ decision to disavow only after his polling numbers declined is disturbing.
