As Graham Platner’s campaign for Senate teetered on a precipice on Tuesday, progressive-minded voters in Maine grappled with the possible end of a cherished dream: that an untested populist oysterman from Downeast would beat the odds to represent them in Washington.
Grief and disappointment prevailed up and down the Maine coast after the news on Monday that a former girlfriend of Mr. Platner’s had accused him of sexual assault. Amid increasing calls for him to abandon his bid to unseat Senator Susan Collins, a Republican who has held the seat since 1997, Mr. Platner said he would take time to mull his next steps.
“We’re sad and disheartened, because we had so much believed in his message,” said Paul Begin, 75, of Cape Elizabeth. “We thought we had a chance to give power back to the people.”
Mr. Platner — who has called the sexual assault allegation “false” — has crisscrossed the state for months, drawing crowds of voters who described feeling newly energized and inspired by his blunt, impassioned call for working-class people to take back political power. Progressive leaders saw him as someone who could draw support from across the political spectrum — including in Maine’s conservative, rural regions — with his working man persona and righteous anger at establishment politicians seen as out-of-touch with blue-collar concerns.
His rise also coincided with a moment of fury in the state toward Senator Collins, a moderate Republican and powerful incumbent with a track record of bringing home critical federal funding. She had long drawn bipartisan support, but infuriated Democrats with recent votes supporting President Trump’s agenda.
Sam Coombs, 36, a registered Democrat from Stonington who works as a carpenter and at a cafe, said he had seen firsthand Mr. Platner’s ability to attract and animate voters who are less inclined to support Democrats, including his own Republican father. Even as his enthusiasm for the candidate began to wane with earlier disclosures, Mr. Coombs had voted for Mr. Platner in the primary.
“Better a flawed human with the right political ideology than the alternative of six more years of Collins,” he said.
The latest allegation was different, he said, exposing “more harmful and inexcusable” flaws: “There was so much hope, and now that hope is gone.”
Of nearly two dozen Democrats interviewed in the state on Tuesday, most said they expected Mr. Platner to drop out of the race; most said it was the right course. “His ideas were great, but he has way too much baggage now,” said John Murray, 80, a retired mail carrier from Saco.
But several, including Mr. Murray, said they would probably stick with Mr. Platner, 41, if he opted to remain on the ballot. The deadline for the candidate to formally withdraw from the race is Monday.
“We’d vote for a swamp frog — anyone — to defeat Susan Collins,” Mr. Murray said.
The high-profile race, considered critical to Democrats’ efforts to take control of the Senate, has been roiled by a series of concerning revelations about Mr. Platner, an Iraq War veteran who served several combat tours and has not previously held elected office. Several shoppers at a busy Trader Joe’s in Portland, the state’s largest city, said they had worried about the candidate’s past since last fall, when it was revealed that he had a tattoo, dating to his time at war, that resembled a Nazi symbol.
Yet even after other problematic aspects of Mr. Platner’s background came to light, including past comments he had posted online about victims of sexual assault, and allegations by several women of past abusive conduct, many Democrats had continued to stand by him. They cited his readiness to acknowledge past struggles with his mental health, apologize for his transgressions and detail his evolution into a better person.
Julianne Harris, 36, of Stonington, a registered Democrat and a painter who also works in communications, said she, too, was trying to assess whether Mr. Platner’s campaign could survive the latest allegations — and, if it did, whether she could still stick by him.
“I voted for Platner enthusiastically in the primary and that was exciting,” she said, drinking coffee as she worked on her laptop at a cafe near the harbor. “I was hopeful at the outset. Now I’m disappointed.”
Abby Blakeley, 30, of Camden, a dog walker and unenrolled voter, did not know about the latest allegations until a reporter described them to her Tuesday. As an assault survivor herself, she said she understood why Mr. Platner’s former girlfriend might have been reluctant to come forward. And, she said, there was no doubt that Mr. Platner must drop out.
“When there are multiple women who say, ‘Look, this guy abused me’ — more than one — and a credible rape story, we have an obligation to believe these people,” Ms. Blakeley said. “I voted for him in the primary and was left unsure about whether I was going to vote for him again. But now that I know that someone came forward and said, ‘He raped me,’ now I know I can’t vote for him.”
To some, including Linda Page, 71, a retiree from Alfred who is married to a Vietnam War veteran, it had felt deeply important to allow Mr. Platner to make the case that he had changed and grown.
“I like to give a person a second chance, especially a veteran who has tried to turn his life around,” she said outside the Portland supermarket. “I understand how hard it is for them to come home.”
But Ms. Page, who voted for Mr. Platner in the primary last month, said she was struggling on Tuesday to balance her belief in the possibility of change with a political reality that looked increasingly grim.
Still, many voters were practical-minded, and already considering the field of potential replacements for Mr. Platner. Several mentioned Shenna Bellows, the secretary of state, and Troy Jackson, a former State Senate president; both are progressive Democrats who ran for governor but lost to Hannah Pingree, a former Maine House speaker, in the Democratic primary last month.
Mr. Murray and his wife, Kathy, a retired nurse, said they would be happy to see Dr. Nirav Shah, who led the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and was their first choice for governor, step up to run for Senate in Mr. Platner’s place. Dr. Shah placed second in the primary.
In Portland, Laura Karlin, too, felt sad on Tuesday, especially for transgender people in her community who had found an ally in Mr. Platner. But she also saw in the race’s latest turn a critical reminder that the progressive movement is bigger than a single individual.
“We’re always looking for that one person to embody a movement, the hero or the savior,” said Ms. Karlin, 43. “But in a collective movement, we need to remember that it’s not one person — we’ve got us. That’s what the movement is about.”
Esmé E. Deprez contributed reporting from Stonington, Maine, and Jesse Ellison from Rockport, Maine.
The post Platner Supporters Struggle to Come to Terms With Campaign’s Death Knell appeared first on New York Times.
