NY Post (“Graham Platner holding Dem party hostage — refusing to drop out unless he gets to name successor: sources“):
Maine Democratic candidate Graham Platner appears to be holding the Democratic Party hostage — refusing to drop out after he was accused of rape unless he gets to approve his successor to run for the Senate, The Post has learned.
A source familiar with the campaign discussions said Platner, his campaign and political strategist Morris Katz are deliberating about the Maine Democrat dropping out but only if his replacement shares his left-wing values.
And the clock is ticking for Dems — there’s a deadline of Monday for the 41-year-old oyster farmer to withdraw and be replaced on the ballot, according to state election law.
“This vibes to me like a play from Bernie Sanders to slide in Troy Jackson,” another source said.
The source quipped that Platner “assumes whoever might replace [him] would want a rapist’s endorsement.”
“His team is delusional,” this person said, noting that Katz, a former campaign adviser to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, is still recommending Platner stay in the race.
[…]
Jackson, a logger-turned-lawmaker who appeared with Platner and Sanders at a “Fight the Oligarchy” rally in May, recently came in third in the state’s Democratic gubernatorial primary.
Both Maine Dems have backed higher taxes on billionaires and a “Medicare for All,” single-payer health care system — with Platner leaning more into foreign policy issues and denouncing US support for Israel as “shameful.”
[…]
Asked whether Platner’s hemorrhaging of support would force Democratic Party bosses to exert more control over future primaries, strategist James Carville told The Post: “How can they? They don’t have any control.”
“If you look at what happened to my dear friend Michael Bennett,” Carville said, referring to the former moderate Democratic senator and Colorado gubernatorial candidate, “the idea that there’s some controlling entity in the Democratic Party — there’s a council of elders — it’s just absurd.”
NYT (“Maine Democratic Party Says Platner Will Have ‘No Role’ in Picking Next Nominee“):
A top official with the Maine Democratic Party said on Tuesday night that Graham Platner’s team had been trying to “put their thumb on the scale” in the party’s planning for his replacement as the Democratic nominee for Senate, but that he would have “no role” in the selection process.
“We have repeatedly reiterated to Graham Platner’s team that they have no role in determining our U.S. Senate nominee, nor in determining what this process looks like,” Devon Murphy-Anderson, the party’s executive director, said in a video posted on social media.
[…]
In the video, Ms. Murphy-Anderson said that “unfortunately, Graham Platner’s team has repeatedly reached out in an attempt to put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like.”
For now, he remains the Democratic nominee and faces a July 13 deadline to drop out and be replaced on the ballot. Top Democrats have vowed to pull money from the state if Mr. Platner remains, which would all but cede the critical contest to Republicans.
The Platner campaign said in a statement that it had simply reached out to understand the process.
“At no point has the campaign tried to put its finger on the scale,” said the statement, which the campaign declined to attribute to any individual aide or adviser. It added that more than 150,000 Mainers had voted for Mr. Platner’s movement. While Mr. Platner would not want to be part of the process, the statement said, he would want to make sure that voters and volunteers, not the political establishment, made the decision.
[…]
In the video, Ms. Murphy-Anderson said that “unfortunately, Graham Platner’s team has repeatedly reached out in an attempt to put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like.”
For now, he remains the Democratic nominee and faces a July 13 deadline to drop out and be replaced on the ballot. Top Democrats have vowed to pull money from the state if Mr. Platner remains, which would all but cede the critical contest to Republicans.
The Platner campaign said in a statement that it had simply reached out to understand the process.
“At no point has the campaign tried to put its finger on the scale,” said the statement, which the campaign declined to attribute to any individual aide or adviser. It added that more than 150,000 Mainers had voted for Mr. Platner’s movement. While Mr. Platner would not want to be part of the process, the statement said, he would want to make sure that voters and volunteers, not the political establishment, made the decision.
This is all rather laughable. Presuming Platner steps aside, of course he’ll have a role in choosing his successor. Why wouldn’t he?
Let’s stipulate that he seems to be an awful human being. He won the Democratic Party’s nomination for the Maine U.S. Senate seat currently held by Republican Susan Collins. He did so despite the Party establishment backing other candidates. He owes them precisely nothing.
To the extent his campaign is motivated by ideological passion rather than mere self-aggrandizement, it’s perfectly reasonable for him to demand a like-minded candidate, presumably with less personal baggage, as a precondition for removing himself from the ballot spot he earned.
