{"id":936,"date":"2026-07-08T09:38:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T09:38:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=936"},"modified":"2026-07-08T09:38:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T09:38:25","slug":"ties-to-graham-platner-could-haunt-a-replacement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=936","title":{"rendered":"Ties to Graham Platner Could ‘Haunt’ a Replacement"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Democrats are coming to realize Graham Platner will be a specter in Maine\u2019s Senate race even if he ends his campaign.<\/p>\n

Read more Democrats Are Drafting \u2018Project 2029\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Platner has denied the allegations of sexual assault and misconduct from former girlfriends that have ratcheted up pressure on him to drop his bid for the seat. Still, Democrats who anticipate he will be forced to end his run told NOTUS their party has a unique challenge: Democrats need a replacement candidate who is distant enough from Platner to avoid his toxicity, but not so far from his politics that they would undermine the Democratic primary voters who nominated Platner.<\/p>\n

Given that this is playing out in one of the most competitive Senate contests in the country, any ties to Platner could become an issue for a potential alternative candidate \u2014 and the rest of the Democratic Party, they said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf someone has come out there and really defended him up till this point, I could see those words coming back to haunt them,\u201d said a former state party official. \u201cIf they defended him very publicly at other points during the emergence of some of his controversies, that type of stuff probably will have a bit of a legacy, because the other side will make sure that those types of quotes don\u2019t go away.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who have come to his defense are more at risk now,\u201d the former party official added. \u201cPretty simple politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Platner denied wrongdoing on Monday after Politico first reported<\/u><\/span> ex-girlfriend Jenny Racicot\u2019s account of Platner allegedly forcing her to have sex with him. He also announced he would \u201creflect on the best path forward\u201d<\/u><\/span> for his campaign. On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported<\/u><\/span> allegations from another ex-girlfriend that he removed condoms without her consent during sex. The Post reported that Platner also denied those allegations and called them \u201cpolitically motivated.\u201d<\/p>\n

The New York Times reported<\/u><\/span> that Platner expressed confidence to his staff Monday night that he had the influence to select his successor, should he drop out.<\/p>\n

The Platner campaign did not respond to a request for comment from NOTUS.<\/p>\n

Just the idea that he would try to have a hand in a replacement was enough to prompt criticism.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat person will be dead in the water with the general electorate from the beginning,\u201d state Sen. Joe Baldacci, who lost his Democratic primary in Maine\u2019s 2nd Congressional District last month, told NOTUS. He posted on social media<\/u><\/span> that connections to Platner would \u201cdoom\u201d any candidate.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomebody has to show themselves to be independent-minded and to really work in a fresh direction to unite the party,\u201d he added. (Baldacci told NOTUS he wasn\u2019t interested in running.)<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the state party \u2014 which had previously sent a memo<\/u><\/span> to its state committee\u2019s members saying the process to find a replacement would be \u201copen, inclusive, transparent, and fair\u201d \u2014 said Platner was trying to influence the replacement process.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately Graham Platner\u2019s team has repeatedly reached out to us in an attempt to put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like,\u201d Devon Murphy-Anderson, the state party\u2019s executive director, said in a video<\/u><\/span>. \u201cWe have repeatedly reiterated to Graham Platner\u2019s team that they have no role in determining our next Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate, nor in determining what this process looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the new allegations began coming to light this week,Democrats quickly began floating possible candidates<\/u><\/span> to run against Sen. Susan Collins, a formidable five-term Republican incumbent.<\/p>\n

Read more Judge Voids a \u2018Staggering\u2019 DOJ Bid for Georgia Election Workers\u2019 Personal Data<\/a><\/p>\n

Most of them supported Platner before they called for him to step down.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s looming large over what this looks like right now,\u201d said a Democratic strategist working with a potential replacement candidate. \u201cThere\u2019s a real danger to be seen as being Graham\u2019s hand-picked successor, but I do think that there\u2019s also a countervailing danger, like if they were to go for Janet Mills. That would be seen as a slap in the face of these people that did vote for Graham.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mills, the state\u2019s governor, was recruited by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer<\/u><\/span> to run in the Senate primary, but her campaign never took off. She suspended it weeks before the primary, and as of Tuesday had not made any public statements about the latest allegations against Platner.<\/p>\n

Among the possible alternatives arethree Democrats who lost the gubernatorial primary: the former director of Maine\u2019s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Nirav Shah; Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows; and the former president of the state Senate, Troy Jackson.<\/p>\n

Progressives are pushing for Jackson, who told the Bangor Daily News<\/u><\/span> that he is interested in the seat andhas already filed paperwork<\/u><\/span> to create an exploratory committee for a Senate run. Platner and Jackson campaigned together, supported each other\u2019s campaigns and both received endorsements from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont). Sanders<\/u><\/span> and Jackson<\/u><\/span> have both called for Platner to withdraw.<\/p>\n

Bellows also campaigned with Platner and has said he should step down. On Tuesday, she said in a statement<\/u><\/span> reported by the Midcoast Villager newspaper that Platner \u201cmust withdraw from the US Senate race. And when he does, I will seriously consider entering this race.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shah has also said he is in conversations<\/u><\/span> about \u201cwhat comes next and evaluating whether I should enter the Senate race.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackson, Bellows and Shah did not respond to requests for comment from NOTUS on how they expect Platner to continue to factor into the race for the eventual nominee if he drops out.<\/p>\n

How Democrats respond to Platner \u2014 who even before the latest allegations faced criticism over his history<\/u><\/span> of offensive online posts and a tattoo<\/u><\/span> that resembled a Nazi symbol \u2014 could even complicate races outside of Maine.<\/p>\n

Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Michigan) dinged her primary opponent<\/u><\/span> Abdul El-Sayed for not explicitly calling on Platner to exit the race. He wrote on X<\/u><\/span>, \u201cVoters in Maine deserve a choice for US Senate that doesn\u2019t force them to make a moral compromise between sexual violence or corporate servitude.\u201d<\/p>\n

She replied to his post: \u201cAbdul are you having trouble stringing these two sentences together? I believe women. Graham Platner should drop out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former Maine state party official said Democrats who defended Platner for other controversies now put their potential bid to replace him at greater risk. But the former official didn\u2019t write off their chances of beating Collins.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe focus of a lot of people in Maine is to have a Democratic Senate and to defeat Susan Collins,\u201d they said. \u201cAnd that will become the primary point of the campaign at some point as Platner gets further and further behind us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Democrats Battle the Clock \u2014 And Each Other \u2014 To Replace Platner<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Democrats fear that a new candidate in the Maine Senate race would be saddled with Platner’s history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":935,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2026-election"],"yoast_head":"\nTies to Graham Platner Could 'Haunt' a Replacement - Modern Home Journals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=936\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ties to Graham Platner Could 'Haunt' a Replacement - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Democrats fear that a new candidate in the Maine Senate race would be saddled with Platner's history.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=936\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-08T09:38:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=936#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=936\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"Ties to Graham Platner Could ‘Haunt’ a Replacement\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-08T09:38:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=936\"},\"wordCount\":1145,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=936#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/d2253e7c871868299cbac01896727242-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"2026 Election\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=936#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=936\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=936\",\"name\":\"Ties to Graham Platner Could 'Haunt' a Replacement - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=936#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=936#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/d2253e7c871868299cbac01896727242-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-08T09:38:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=936#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=936\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=936#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/d2253e7c871868299cbac01896727242-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/d2253e7c871868299cbac01896727242-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Graham Platner, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, speaks at an event hosted by Sen. 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