The victory of Graham Platner in the Maine Democratic primary for the US Senate was overwhelming, but has split many Senate Democrats, who retain doubts about the controversial history of their party’s nominee.
Among those registering doubts and misgivings are:
Arizona Senator Mark Kelly
New Mexico Senator Catherine Cortez Masto
Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman
Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin
New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen
New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan
Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth
Vermont Senator Peter Welch
At the same time, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Ruben Gallego of Arizona, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, and other progressive oriented Democrats emphasize the need to support Platner despite his shortcomings.
The vast majority of Democratic Senators are seeing Platner as their best hope to reach a Senate majority in the Midterm Elections of 2026.
And they point out that despite his checkered record on many fronts, the opposition Republicans have so many more checkered backgrounds, including, most notably:
Donald Trump
Pete Hegseth
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Ken Paxton
The clear conclusion is that there are few “saints” in politics, and that the American people have overlooked or had to accept shortcomings in candidates over many years.
The days of candidates, such as Gary Hart, Bob Packwood and Eric Swalwell losing their careers due to their misbehaviors, seem even more distant than the 1980s and early 1990s, when ethics and morals seemed to matter more.
This author and blogger is very uncomfortable with Platner, but every effort to gain a Democratic majority in the Senate is essential, in order to fight to resist and reverse a lot of the damage of the Trump Presidency, and gain the recovery of American democracy and the rule of law.
This author and blogger is glad he does not live in Maine, as voting directly for Platner, who comes across as unseemly in so many ways, would be a very difficult effort.
But his record is just about the same as Texas Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton, who is not beneath vicious, unwarranted attacks on his opponent, Democrat James Talarico, so the mud slinging on both sides in this midterm election cycle is already in full swing.