Consider This from NPR - Amid serious allegations, what's next for Graham Platner's Senate campaign?

Episode Date: July 7, 2026

US Senate candidate Graham Platner's campaign has been thrown into chaos.On Monday, Politico reported an allegation of sexual assault from Platner's former girlfriend. Platner has denied the claim.The accusations have led to cratering support from prominent Democrats for his candidacy, in a race that is important for Democrats' ambitions to take back the Senate in November.What's next for Platner and this key Senate race?For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at [e-mail] episode was produced by Tyler Bartlam and Karen Zamora, with audio engineering by Ted Mebane.Our director is Jonas Adams.It was edited by Patrick Jarenwattananon and Tinbete Ermyas.Our interim executive producer is Courtney Dorning.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

It's considered this where every day we go deep on one big news story. Today, accusations of sexual assault and a high-stakes Senate race and uncertainty about a candidate's next steps. Grant Platner's supporters and defenders are walking away and calling on him to drop out of Maine's high-stakes Senate race. Whether it's new allegations or even digging deeper into allegations that are already on the public record, it's pretty clear that Republicans were going to make this fall campaign about Grant Platner. That's the political problem for him. That is Democratic strategist Joel Payne speaking to NPR Tuesday. Plattner's bid for the U.S. Senate is a key race for Democrats to win back the Senate this fall,

and time is running out. Platner has less than one week to withdraw or else his name will still be on the ballot this fall, and that is causing a lot of anxiety inside his party. Consider this. Democrats made a big and risky bet with Graham Platner's candidacy, and that bet may no longer be paying off. So what's next? From NPR, I'm Scott Detrow. It's Consider This from NPR.

Graham Platner was once seen as the key to Democrats flipping enough seats to retake the U.S. Senate. Now Democratic Party leaders are withdrawing their endorsements and calling for him to drop out of the Senate race in Maine. Yesterday, Politico reported that a woman he once dated accused him of sexual assault. Platner denied the accusation and said, quote, any accusation of non-consensual behavior is categorically untrue. But this news came after other reports of unsettling behavior from women who previously dated Plattner and an extramarital sexting scandal. So where does the race go from here? For that, we called Adam Gentleson. He's a Democratic strategist and the founder and president of the Searchlight Institute, a liberal think tank. Thanks for coming by, Adam. Thanks for having me.

Is this campaign viable anymore? No, it's absolutely not. I'm surprised Plattner hasn't dropped out already, but he's gone. And, you know, the sooner the better. So because main Democratic Party rules do allow the party to select a replacement, as long as he drops out before Monday. So the clock is ticking. I think, you know, Democrats still have a great chance to win this seat if he drops out. So, you know, he should get out sooner rather than later. Plattner had a lot of support from Democratic voters, even amid all those other scandals. What to you is the least terrible way to quickly choose a new nominee who the voters didn't get behind? I think you have to figure out a claim to legitimacy for this new nominee.

You know, we saw how, you know, not actually being elected by voters dogged Kamala Harris as the nominee when she was picked by, you know, essentially party insiders to be the nominee. You know, she was vice president, but she was. She did not win the Democratic nomination in the traditional way. So I think you got to apply the same standard here. You know, there were seven Democratic candidates who ran for two statewide slots about a month ago in the primary, right? There was race for senator and there was the race for governor. In those seven candidates, there are a lot of credible nominees, all of whom I think would have a solid chance at beating Susan Collins.

The only one who can't is planner himself. You know, and all of them would have some claim to legitimacy because a lot of people cast their votes for them. I think, you know, holding a convention that you have to plan in less than a month and then, you know, crafting rules and bylaws that everybody agrees to, you could make it work. But it's, you know, if you use subjective standards to choose the nominee at that convention, I think you're going to run into a lot of trouble. And you run a real risk of leaving the party divided, which would be a real disaster as we head into the general election against Susan Collins. Well, that's what I want to ask about because a big part of Platner's strength was that he was not an establishment. figure. He did not come up in politics in any way at all. And that really appealed to voters in a way that we've seen in a bunch of states right now. I mean, how do you get those people who supported Platner to be on

board with a mainstream politician who has chosen one way or another through a very quick process that isn't as open as a regular primary? Well, I think there's risk in overstating that case, to be honest with you. I think, you know, the primary that Maine had a month ago was sort of a split screen, right? Because, you know, on the Senate side, you had people casting their vote for Platner, who, as you say, is an anti-establishment politician. But on the governor side, on the same day, those voters went to the polls and elected Shelly Pingree, who's, excuse me, Anna Pingree, the daughter of Shelley Pingree, who is, you know, an establishment politician. She, you know, she's wonderful. I think she's going to be a great governor, and I think she's got a great chance to win, you know, but she wasn't an anti-establishment

candidate, you know, and when you look at the votes, you know, about 156, thousand manors cast their votes for Graham Platner, you know, and the guy who was sort of positioned as the anti-establishment candidate, you know, who Graham is trying to, you know, railroad through as his replacement, Troy Jackson only got about, you know, 45,000 votes. So 100,000 mainers voted for Graham Platner, but then supported either Hannah Pingree or Narav Shaw as well. Adam, let me. So a lot of those same people who voted for him also supported some of the more establishment politicians. I want to make sure we have time for one more thorny question. with all of this. I'm wondering if you think the Democratic Party, the party that embraced Me Too, that talked about believing women, do you think it lost credibility or moral authority by sticking with Platner through all of the scandals leading up to this moment?

Not if they get rid of him. I think, you know, one of the things the Republicans did is when they were faced with these questions, they stuck with them. They stuck with Trump. They stuck with Matt Gates. They stuck with any number of nominees after knowing deeply immoral things about them. So as long as we take care of business here and replace him with somebody we can all get behind, I think we can hold our heads high. Do you still think Susan Collins is beatable? I absolutely do. You know, this is a very favorable national environment for Democrats. Trump's numbers are terrible. Susan Collins has been a, you know, a diehard supporter of Trump time and again. She's lost her independent streak. You know, we just have to get somebody in this race

who can just, you know, be normal and, you know, make the case and prosecute the case against Susan Collins. In that case, I think this seat is still very winnable. But be normal on a bumper sticker. That is Adam Gentleson, Democratic strategist, founder of the Searchlight Institute Think Tank. Thanks so much. Thank you. This episode was produced by Tyler Bartlam and Karen Zamora with audio engineering by Ted Mebay. Our director is Jonas Adams. It was edited by Patrick Jaron Jaronin Waddonan and Tinbeat Armius. Our interim executive producer is Courtney Dorney. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Scott Detrow.