Amidst scandal, the Democrats’ dark horse contenderfor a Maine Senate Seat “to Withdraw” from the Race

Graham Platner, with allegations of rape swirling around him, the gritty oyster farmer and former marine, who built grassroots following of 15,000 Maine supporters (72 percent) in his party’s primary election, has until 5pm July 13 to officially withdraw from the race. In an eleven-minute video he did not apologize for alleged sexual assault incidents and appeared only to be biding his time.                                                                                                             

Graham Platner

Lyndsey Fifield, a former girlfriend of Platner, told the New York Times, that he had “twisted her arm behind her back, shoved her into a bedroom and held the door closed from the other side so that she couldn’t get out.” Fifield described Platner as the most toxic, literally abusive man on earth.”
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Prominent liberal Senators, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts who had backed Platner initially, quickly withdrew their support and urged Platner to end his candidacy.

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Senator Susan Collins

How could these two prominent political leaders get it so wrong about Platner? As one commentator expressed it: “When you see lightning, you will soon hear thunder.”

Yet, Platner has beguiling appeal. In a calm television interview situation, he can speak the language of the, particularly rural, Maine voter. He says: “I’ve never been close to money, never been close to power.”

The “us and them” point of view he expressed in his long “withdrawal” video has a populist calculation: “We went toe to toe with one of the most entrenched political systems in the history of the world, and we won.”
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No, Mr. Platner, you did not win. Your conduct caused your campaign to fail.

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One dedicated Democrat states that President Donald Trump and the Republicans “have so lowered the standard of decency…They are captive to a serial rapist, a psychopath, a horrible example and leader of our great country.”

A credible media-commissioned poll conducted in late June, before the sexual assault allegations against Platner were published, found that Republican Senator Susan Collins and Platner were in a “near tie.”

The person who is likely most pleased with the likely withdrawal of Platner from the race is Collins. Elected in 1996, she has been a Senator for thirty years.

Over that time, Collins’ bread and butter has been maintaining close contact with lower-level officeholders such as mayors, and school board members, and representing their interests in Washington.

Meanwhile, critics note that she has voted with the Donald Trump agenda 97 per cent of the time.           
                                                                                                                         
Some of her more notorious congressional decisions include voting to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brent Kavanaugh, who later voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, with its guarantee of a woman’s right to choose how to control her own body. 

Senator Collins also voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health Secretary in the Trump cabinet. RFK Jr. has dismantled much of the health-science infrastructure in the USA, as well as strongly opposing immunization efforts.

The U.S. political system has tended strongly to favour incumbency, especially in Congress. This tradition is noteworthy at a time when the Democrats must flip four Republican-held Senate seats in next fall’s mid-term elections, while retaining all their own seats, if they are to take control of the Upper Chamber.

If the Democrats are to succeed in Maine, they will have to draw on Platner’s working-class appeal, while strongly condemning his abuse of women’s rights. 
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The Ivy League image of the Democrats in the Northeastern states will not be enough to carry them to victory. They have just 17 days to stage a party convention and choose a dynamic candidate and to go on to defeat Susan Collins.