Graham Platner Sabotages Democrats By Refusing To Drop Out

After being accused of rape, Platner still won't drop out of Maine's Senate race

Graham Platner is sabotaging Democrats by refusing to drop out of the race in Maine, denying voters the chance to replace him before the July 13th deadline.

As I write this, Platner remains in the race despite losing the endorsement of every senator and congressperson who backed him, which is perhaps his worst quality yet (and he has a lot of bad qualities, like being an accused rapist with a nazi tattoo).

Because now, he’s holding us hostage

Yesterday, the Maine Democratic Party executive director revealed that Platner has “repeatedly reached out in attempt to put his thumb on the scale” of who will replace him on the ticket.

Really soak that in.

A disgraced candidate who was just accused of rape wants to make his exit conditional on getting to choose his successor.

By the way, if Platner chooses his successor, that successor will be tainted before they even begin campaigning. I can already see the headlines:

Hand-picked and endorsed by the rapist with the nazi tattoo.

Republicans will have a field day with that one.

The longer Platner takes to drop out, the harder it becomes for Democrats to rally behind someone else—or to properly vet a replacement so we don’t end up with another Platner on our hands.

Side note on that…

Will the podcasters, pundits, or political consultants who jammed Platner down our throats apologize for possibly jeopardizing Democrats’ chance at reclaiming a Senate majority?

Probably not.

They never take responsibility for anything. They cash their checks, laminate their résumés, glom onto the next candidate, then force that one down our throats too.

I don’t fault the voters in Maine for going with Platner. They were told by trusted political voices like Elizabeth Warren, Ro Khanna, Bernie Sanders, Ruben Gallego, Pod Save America, and dozens of other TV personalities that Platner was a “terrific” candidate who would “fight for the working class.”

They jammed him right down voters’ throats despite all the red flags that made so many people uncomfortable, even before the rape accusation—reports of misconduct involving other women, the creepy online comments, the nazi tattoo, and the fact that he lied about it by claiming he had no idea it resembled the Totenkopf.

Give me a break.

If Platner were a Republican candidate, I’m sure these same Democrats would be lambasting him for the very things they told us to turn a blind eye to.

Anyhow…

Platner destroyed the credibility of every major player who backed him. They now have a well-documented history of going to bat for an accused rapist with a nazi tattoo.

These people should never be allowed to pick a candidate again.

Back to the point of this article…

It’s rumored that Platner’s campaign and progressives are considering throwing their weight behind another DSA-backed “working-class” progressive named Troy Jackson, who also has a history of troubling behavior involving women.

It’s been reported that Jackson once struck a woman with a water bottle. And he voted against same-sex marriage in ‘09.

Sounds like a real classy guy.

Be smart, Maine

First order of business: get Platner to drop out, banish him from the party, and make sure whoever replaces him is the polar opposite of him—say, someone without a history of assaulting women.

P.S. The irony isn’t lost on me that our current president is an adjudicated rapist who’s been accused of sexual assault by more than 40 women. If there were any justice or fairness in this country, he’d be in prison.

The bottom line

By refusing to drop out, Graham Platner is hurting the party’s chances at reclaiming a majority. Every minute he stays in the race is a gift to Susan Collins.

Elected Democrats and mainstream pundits should be yelling on their megaphones for Platner to drop out—especially the ones who put him there in the first place. They should be screaming the loudest.