It Doesn't Have To Be Graham Platner Or Bust

Progressives Have Plenty Of Time To Vet A Less Damaged Candidate

Maine Democratic U.S. Senate Candidate Graham Platner

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I’m not a fan of primary elections.

I wanted to write a piece about how I am not a fan of them—and I may still do that—but honestly, I cannot come up with a better alternative, so I punted on that for now. The emerging Democratic primary in Maine, from where I write this, is a good example of why I hate primaries.

For months, Democrats have been trying to lure Gov. Janet Mills, the only Democrat other than presidential candidates to win statewide in Maine since 2006, into the race to unseat New England’s only Republican in Congress, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). Other candidates also decided to run while Democrats waited her out. Among them is Jordan Wood, a former advisor to former Rep. Katie Porter of California. However, nobody else caught fire until Graham Platner, an oyster farmer from Downeast Maine, jumped in the race in August. Within days, he was embraced by online progressives and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont). Suddenly, many of those who had pushed Mills to run for months decided she was a non-starter. Without knowing much about him, except that he has a beard, fishes for oysters, and supports Palestinians, the Left embraced Platner.

Ultimately, Democrats recruited Mills anyway, and she entered the race last week, much to the dismay of leftists, who wanted a clear path to the nomination for Platner. By the end of the week, it became clear why Democrats wanted Mills in the race—Platner has baggage.

In past posts on Reddit, Platner expressed support for violence against Republicans and a growing hatred of the United States. He accused black people of not tipping, called police officers “bastards,” and, perhaps most controversially, held the belief that rape victims sometimes bring it on by their behavior.

The comments rocked the campaign and led to the resignation of a key advisor, former State Rep. Genevieve McDonald, a progressive who represented a district that included my family’s compound in Tremont. My own Maine Democrats sources tell me they believe worse things are yet to come out about Platner, and many Democrats who would be inclined to back him based on his policy stances are staying away from him, for now.

Nevertheless, progressives have rallied around Platner. Suddenly finding themselves against cancel culture, progressives felt his comments did not disqualify him, and accepted his apology after he released a five-minute video explaining his posts to be a product of PTSD from his time serving in the U.S. Marines. California Rep. Ro Khanna even accused the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, the group responsible for recruiting Democratic Senate candidates, of trying to slander him to help Mills.

Their response didn’t surprise me much, but what did surprise me was that no consideration was taken on whether a damaged Platner is the best person to take on the incumbent Collins, who has defeated several top-tier Democratic candidates in the past.