Greetings from Bangor, Maine, where voters are going to the polls for primary elections that include a crucial Senate race involving the scandal-haunted Graham Platner.
The oysterman and Marine veteran’s string of controversies, ranging from alleged “toxic” behaviour towards women to a tattoo recognised as a Nazi symbol, have plunged Democrats into debates about double standards, purity tests and not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.
There was a final twist yesterday when Genevieve McDonald, a former political director of Platner’s campaign, published a column denouncing Platner as unfit for office.
“Graham Platner is not someone who would be good for Maine or for the country,” McDonald wrote in the Washington Post. “He exhibits a pattern of dishonest behavior that is impossible to ignore.
“Despite being exposed by a series of scandals beginning last October, he kept assuring voters and the Democratic Party that there were no more skeletons in his closet. Then more emerged – the latest, in recent days, have involved former girlfriends’ serious accusations of physical mistreatment.”
Even so, all the signs on the ground are that most Democratic voters are sticking with Platner. At a campaign event on Sunday, a supporter presented him with a hand-drawn card that included the message “we’ve got your back”.
Polls close at 8pm ET.
If “Despite being exposed by a series of scandals beginning last October, he kept assuring voters and the Democratic Party that there were no more skeletons in his closet, then the bigger picture starts to look very different.
Graham Platner has been vocal about this, good to see them staying on it.
The bigger issue here is there was a final twist yesterday when Genevieve McDonald, a former political director of Platner’s campaign, published a column denouncing Platner as unfit for office. That changes the calculation.
In other words even so, all the signs on the ground are that most Democratic voters are sticking with Platner. Curious to see how this develops.
What stands out is “Despite being exposed by a series of scandals beginning last October, he kept assuring voters and the Democratic Party that there were no more skeletons in his closet. That is the part worth paying attention to.
Basically “Graham Platner is not someone who would be good for Maine or for the country,” McDonald wrote in the Washington Post. What matters is whether anything changes because of it.
Considering there was a final twist yesterday when Genevieve McDonald, a former political director of Platner’s campaign, published a column denouncing Platner as unfit for office, it raises some real questions about what happens next.