A day after allegations of sexual assault upended his political career, Graham Platner remained Democrats’ nominee for Senate in Maine. But the jockeying to replace him on November’s ballot was well underway up north. It’s not just a race against time, but, in the eyes of some, against the Democratic Party’s left flank—who cheered on an unvetted first-time candidate for the party’s best Senate pick-up opportunity of the midterms, and are now trying to undo the damage.
Platner, a Marine veteran and oysterman whose campaign has been pocked by a constant stream of revelations about his past, still has a say over the situation. He convincingly won the June primary and will be on the ballot come November unless before 5 p.m. Monday he formally consents to Maine Democrats replacing him. He and his progressive allies are holding firm that they will not allow his campaign’s implosion to be a way to backdoor a more moderate pick, such as Washington Democrats’ favored pick—Gov. Janet Mills.
Around Washington, the assumption is that Platner’s exit is inevitable. But he has to be convinced that the movement he built will not be shelved. Conversations are about who might be an acceptable candidate to assure Platner that his supporters will have a voice going forward—and that it won’t be Mills, who was an early warner of Platner’s vulnerabilities.
If Democrats can convince Platner to take the exit ramp before Monday, they would then have two weeks to formally name a replacement. But progressives are chirping reminders about how a similar process played out almost exactly two years ago when President Joe Biden transferred his nomination to Vice President Kamala Harris without letting voters have a say. That’s why there have been some floated ideas up in Maine about having an emergency party convention or caucus, if not to debate a replacement nominee then at least to convey legitimacy.
Among the Democrats being considered are three Democrats who fell
