IHIP News - The Midterm Race is Heating Up As Graham Platner and Janet Mills Fight It Out in Maine

Episode Date: January 1, 2026

2026 is shaping up to be one of the most important election years in the history of our country.Order our new book, join our Substack, shop our merch, and more by clicking here: https://linktr.ee/ivehaditpodcast.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

All right, let's talk about the Democratic Party and where we go after we lost an election to a man, a convicted felon, who tried to overthrow the federal government. To me, Trump's victory is more of an indictment on the Democratic Party than anything else, the fact that we couldn't beat him. And you can say the candidate or this or that, but I think it's that the Democratic party had morphed itself into something that wasn't that different from the Republican Party. The only difference were some social issues like, okay, we're for gay marriage and we think a woman has a right to choose. But when it came to business and capitalism and regulations and

consumer protections, there was very little difference because both parties receive donations from the same entities. And so this is an interesting case study that's coming. And it is a Senate seat in Maine. And of course, you know, there are a couple of Democrats going after just an absolutely worthless, worthless senator who hopes that Trump has learned his lesson. I'm talking about the very concerned Susan Collins, all right? This woman just absolutely tries to, she centrist signals and moderate signals, but she votes with the craziest right-wingers every chance she can get.

So this is a real opportunity for Democrats, pumps, I think, to come in. We have two candidates here. We have Graham Platner. And then we also have Janet Mills. And so let's go ahead and pop up here. We have some slides about Janet Mills. Janet Mills is the current governor of Maine. And she keeps vetoing worker protections.

Okay. So this is something right here, pumps, where you know the Democratic Party after this last race really moved the base a lot quicker than the establishment realizes. And you have a base within the Democratic establishment that are the Democratic core of voters that is curious that reads and explores and you and I both have moved extensively further to a more progressive foothold because it's like, okay, why did we lose? And so you have a guy named Graham Platner who's running against Janet Mills. And he is an economic populist, total progressive, no blank checks to Israel, all of the stuff you want. He has in his past, this is a guy who's never been

a politician before. He has some Reddit threads and he has a tattoo, had a tattoo that he got when he was serving that was some sort of Nazi looking not like the swastika. And he's covered the tattoo, atone for it, apologized, and he's still way, way up in the race. And the Democratic establishment is endorsing this Janet Mills, and she is 77 years old. Jacob and Magazine says, Pumps, as a, as governor of Maine, Janet Mills has spent the past six years vetoing collective bargaining rights, tax increases on the rich, she's vetoed, and other progressive measures. Democratic leaders badly want her to win the party's nomination for Senate over Graham Platner pumps. Okay, a couple things here. Number one, I want to say when I, you know,

we've had Graham Platner on the podcast. I found him to be refreshing, outspoken, and I liked his ideals. Then when all, you know, the tattoo stuff, the Reddit threads came to his attention, it was like a gut punch. But then I think if we don't allow people to evolve, especially me who has evolved, who, I mean, I don't have a, I didn't have a racist tattoo, but I was raised in racism, misogyny, all the things. So I have to give him permission to evolve. That's one thing. And then I look at Janet Mills, who I was extremely impressed with that she kind of got in Trump's business at the very beginning and said, we're not doing that in Maine, you know. But here's the deal. At the end of the day, if you cannot protect the working class and you are not

for raising taxes on the rich, then get the fact out. Because we have real problems. People have affordability issues. People cannot feed their families. Young people cannot buy homes where this generation coming up is not going to be more prosperous than their parents. And the reason is we treat workers like shit. Full stop. We've demonized unions. It's ridiculous. And I do want to add, Pumps, I think your point about your own evolution. from a very racist upbringing, normalized racism, praised racism, to now a progressive fighter on a huge platform.

And the evolution I've seen in you personally over 20 plus years, if you decided to run today, which of course you wouldn't, if you did, of course I'd vote for you, it'd be your campaign manager. Thank you. But there could be stuff that comes up. There's stuff that could come up for everybody. I think what we have to look for in people is, can you evolve or are you rigid?

Are you an evolver or are you a black and white thinker? And what I see in this instance is that the Democratic base is rigid. They want the establishment to win again. She's voting against a tax increase on the ridge. She's not voting to protect workers. She is a corporate Democrat. at. And then you have Graham Platner, who's a breath of fresh air. And I just think that anybody who's grown up in the last 20 years with all of the social media, everybody's done stupid shit

on social media before. Now, the Nazi tattoo is unacceptable, but it's not like he's lying about it or saying he's a Nazi. He's covered up. He atoned for it. We have to accept it because the people who I see are the Nazis are over on the right, like that young. Republican group. That's very problematic. Kylie, next slide. At the time when Democratic voters are now demanding new anti-establishment leaders, the Democratic party's power brokers are pushing a 77-year-old candidate for a key 2026 Senate race

who spent the last, the past six years as governor, vetoing, collecting, bargaining, all of this. She's done all of these things. And you have members of the Democratic establishment endorsing her. I even think Andy Bershear, Kylie, you can fact check this. The Democratic governor of Kentucky has endorsed Janet Mills. So there is going to be a really good battle of healthy battle in the Democratic Party right now. We have the people who want to preserve these losing tactics.

for us and you they're going out and endorsing a 77 year old they're not getting it here we have bershear and gretchen whitmer endorse janet mills in main senate race this to me you guys this type of stuff right here you're seeing people already jockey am i going to be a conservative democrat that's a preservationist that preserves the same systems where we lost a race twice to a fucking lunatic, convicted felon moron. Are we going to listen to our voters and grow the party? This is the problem with the Whitmer and Andy Beshear thing. They think by doing this centrist dim,

they're going to convert the elusive moderate voter, instead of focusing on getting the people in our own party because we have the numbers out to vote in the way that Zoran Mamdani did. Well, and another thing is, and I agree with everything you said, we need to stop running old fucking people that are going to die in office. That has bitten us on the ass in the House of Representatives time and time again. I'm on a math major. She'll be 83 or 84 when this is done.

Like, come on. Let's get together. Look at the difference between Jerry O'Connell, the one that died on the Oversight Committee ranking member, just milked toast, did whatever. and Robert Garcia, badass, in your face, we want the fucking documents. Like, it's null and void. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. So these primaries, pumps, I think they're going to be super interesting that we're going to see where the heart and soul of the Democratic Party is.

I think I know where it is because we're out every day on the internet with real voters that are very, very, very engaged. overwhelming information that I see is nobody likes a corporate Democrat. Nobody. And so it's interesting that Bershear and Whitmer so quickly came out and endorsed her when the primaries are quite a ways away. And so I just want to say that I personally am for Grand Platner and we have to see people with the ability to evolve.

I know my good friend Pumps has evolved so much politically. And I believe a lot of people have a lot. I think that in the age of Trump, you've either become more radicalized to the conservative or more radicalized to the progressive and more empathetic. You've become crueler or kinder. And with the kindness that we have over here on the left, Pumps, we always have to remember it's a fuck you kindness too because we have to fight. We have to fight these fuckers because nothing feels better than beating Republicans.

Right, Pumps? I completely agree. And I'm just wondering if Whitmer and Bershear endorsed her because they're friends through the governor's association. I don't know if that might be wrong. Oh, that's a pretty good point. That could be. But still, I think that I think it's the wrong. No, it's bullshit.

She's going to be 84. No. Yeah. And no offense to any of our boomer viewers. No offense at all. No offense because, you know, boomers have fought a lot of good fights. But it's time to pass the baton. All right.

That's all we have for this episode. Like, subscribe. comment. We'll be back later with more news.