Graham Platner has privately and publicly assured fellow Democrats not to worry that his Maine Senate bid will devolve into a constant debate over his personal foibles.
Some who have heard this pitch are starting to doubt the candidate.
“Frankly, I’m sick of it,” Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Michigan) told MSNOW of the string of negative stories that have followed Platner for months, including his tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol, incendiary online posts and allegations that he mistreated women. “We’ve got a lot of bigger issues to fry here.”
This week, Platner has been on the defensive as new reports overshadow his campaign to oust Republican Sen. Susan Collins in a race that’s crucial to Democrats’ bid to flip the Senate. Platner sent sexually explicit texts to multiple women despite being married, The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal reported last week, which Platner and his wife said they worked through in therapy.
Then, the New York Times published an article on Thursday in which three women broadly described volatile relationships with Platner. One ex-girlfriend alleged that he once physically restrained her and that he was aware his tattoo was a Nazi symbol long before he claimed. Platner has denied the ex-girlfriend’s claims that he ever was violent with her or that he knew about the tattoo’s history, and he and his team have said her work as a Republican activist discredits her. The Washington Post has not independently verified her claims of violence.
Platner has portrayed his messy past as a part of what makes him authentic. His supporters say that kind of background is a necessary risk of running outsider candidates new to politics, and liberal voters in Maine have dismissed earlier negative stories about him. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-California), who is headlining a Friday night rally with Platner in Bar Harbor, called his behavior “wrong and toxic,” but said “Graham has acknowledged that and sought redemption.”
“I do expect the Republican Party to fight as dirty as possible … drag stuff up consistently, but there won’t be anything new,” Platner said in an interview on MSNOW, responding to the story about his ex-girlfriend’s allegations of physical altercations. “It is going to be a rehashing of the same stuff.”
Platner’s campaign declined to add further comment for this story.
Platner’s claim is wearing thin to some Democrats, who feel caught in a cycle of defending Platner about one story only to see a new story come out — even as Platner continually reassures the party that no more damaging information is forthcoming. Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire) expressed concern to reporters on Thursday about the latest allegations.
“He gave pretty broad assurances … that nothing was coming and if it did, it wouldn’t be credible, and obviously we’re in a whole different reality now,” said Cheyenne Hunt, the executive director of Reckoning Action, an anti-misogyny group.
Hunt, who was one of the influencers who helped organize women who accused former congressman Eric Swalwell of abuse, said she was rescinding her personal endorsement of Platner, calling the allegations in the New York Times article “inexcusable.”
“We can fight for progressive values and support progressive candidates, and we need to do it without making women collateral damage,” she said.
The potential for more fallout from Platner’s past came up repeatedly this week in a meeting he held with a handful of liberal senators, including his early supporters Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), at the Senate Democratic campaign headquarters.
One person familiar with the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private gathering, told The Washington Post that the Platner campaign had anticipated more senators would attend the meeting, which was held across the street from their Capitol Hill offices. Platner’s race has long been viewed as the party’s best chance to oust a Republican incumbent this year.
Sens. Tina Smith (D-Minnesota) and Peter Welch (D-Vermont) also joined, along with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York), who leads the campaign committee for Senate Democrats.
The person said some senators decided to back away from the meeting “because they feel incredibly frustrated that they cannot take his words seriously.”
“At the crux of some of this is [that] the campaign’s line for a long time has been that these issues are in the past and he has reformed,” the person added. “The stories over the weekend [about the texts] set people off because they happened so recently.”
Other Platner allies are privately worrying about what else could come out, even as they stand by him.
“There’s only so many bricks the load can take,” said one high-profile Platner ally who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid alienating the campaign. “The concern that a lot of Democrats who are focused on winning the seat have is how many bricks are there.”
Platner assured supporters the worst of his past was out in the open in January, as he weathered reporting on his deleted Reddit comments insulting rural Mainers and downplaying the seriousness of sexual assault in the military. Platner also covered up a Nazi-linked tattoo on his chest last year after he said he became aware of its connotations during his campaign. The combat veteran disavowed many of the Reddit comments and said he made them when he was battling untreated PTSD.
“No,” he told CNN in January when asked if more “skeletons” would emerge. “My life is not very complicated. And no there’s not anything else coming.”
Platner’s campaign distributed talking points to top supporters on Thursday saying Platner “strongly denies” the latest claims and labels allegations by one of the ex-girlfriends as “obviously politically motivated” from a “lifelong GOP operative who’s dedicated her career to electing Republicans.”
Operatives in Maine have been anxiously watching Platner’s campaign work to address these attacks with the June 9 Democratic primary looming. Platner is heavily favored to win after Gov. Janet Mills (D) suspended her campaign in March after failing to gain traction. Earlier this week, she reminded reporters that she is still on the ballot.
Platner called the comment “a bit of opportunism” in his Thursday interview, in which he vowed to stay in the race.
Concern about Platner was not limited to national Democrats this week, either, with operatives and officials in Maine watching closely as Platner, yet again, tried to address a burgeoning scandal. Multiple operatives said they felt caught between a rock and a hard place, balancing their desire to take control of the Senate and finally oust Collins against their fears that Platner may be a deeply flawed candidate.
But some of those same top Democrats in Maine, despite being concerned about the allegations and state of Platner’s campaign, were unsure whether his supporters would waver, arguing that their desire to defeat Collins may prevail.
“They are beyond holding their nose,” said a top Democratic operative in the state, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak openly about the campaign. “It is like I will put a bag over my head and go vote for the man, so I don’t see it, I don’t hear it, I don’t smell it.”
The post As scandals follow Graham Platner, Democrats are losing patience appeared first on Washington Post.
