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<\/p>\nEoin Higgins is the author of \u201cOwned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voice on the Left.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
One of the<\/span> most enduring points of contention between the Democratic Party\u2019s left and right wings is \u201cvote blue no matter who,\u201d a demand almost exclusively made of progressives to shelve principle over party when it comes to elections.\u00a0<\/p>\n But as we head toward the midterms in a year where the base is angry and ready for a change, centrists are now hearing that familiar refrain aimed at them \u2014 much to their horror.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rep. Jake Auchincloss, a Massachusetts Democrat, was confronted with this new reality earlier this week. He told CNN<\/a> on Monday that he hoped Maine voters would reject Graham Platner, the state\u2019s presumptive Democratic nominee for Senate, over his controversial tattoo, which Auchincloss called \u201cpersonally disqualifying.\u201d Critics quickly pointed out<\/a> that the congressman was effectively offering a tacit endorsement<\/a> of Sen. Susan Collins, the milquetoast moderate Republican incumbent who has for years infuriated Democrats.<\/p>\n By Tuesday afternoon, the congressman issued a mea culpa on X<\/a> and disputed that his remarks were an endorsement.<\/p>\n \u201cIf it were me I\u2019d vote for someone else in the Maine Democratic primary,\u201d he said, without indicating who that \u201csomeone else\u201d might be. \u201cRegardless of what happens in Maine, Democrats need to take back the Senate and I\u2019ll keep working hard to make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n Platner\u2019s campaign exemplifies<\/span> the kind of coalition-building that the left has engaged in over the past decade. He goes across the state, meeting voters where they are, and has built relationships with community groups and activists. It\u2019s a marked difference from the campaign of Gov. Janet Mills, Sen. Chuck Schumer\u2019s pick for the seat<\/a> who dropped out<\/a> of the race last month after failing to gain momentum, and the retail politics go a long way toward explaining Platner\u2019s success.<\/p>\n Outside of Maine, Platner has been a lightning rod for centrists eager to seize on his Senate race as a battleground for litigating broader divisions in the party\u2019s anti-Trump coalition. Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, said on social media<\/a> on Tuesday that anyone who endorsed the Uncommitted movement<\/a>, which aimed to hold President Joe Biden accountable for his role in supporting the Israeli genocide of Gaza, couldn\u2019t object to centrists doing the same over Platner \u2014 a comparison so out of proportion it defies rational explanation.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Score-settling seems more important than keeping the party together and taking the Senate. Melissa DeRosa, the Andrew Cuomo loyalist, told Fox News<\/a> on Tuesday, \u201cThere are a lot of moderate Democrats like myself who will not cry tears should we lose Maine.\u201d John Fetterman, who has broken with his party over his zealous support for Israel<\/a>, bemoaned<\/a> Platner\u2019s presumptive nomination after Mills dropped out<\/a>. Joe Manchin, the West Virginia centrist who served in the Senate for over two decades as a nominal Democrat, implicitly endorsed Collins<\/a> in a glowing address in late April.\u00a0<\/p>\n Politicians who are actually popular with Democratic voters, like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., are backing Platner. The former hosted two raucous get-out-the-vote events for Platner over the holiday weekend; the latter is coming to Maine on June 5<\/a> to show his support.\u00a0<\/p>\n With a glide path to the nomination \u2014 state Democrats are expected to fall in line after the vote out of respect for Mills \u2014 Platner is consolidating his support. National Democrats like Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, both of whom are in party leadership in the chamber, have pledged their support (however begrudgingly<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\n Platner\u2019s consistent presence across Maine and his populist, left message are resonating with voters. On Memorial Day, Sanders went as far<\/a> as to compare the energy around Platner to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani. \u201cMaine now has the opportunity to show the world that we could do the same thing in one of the most rural states in this country,\u201d Sanders said.\u00a0<\/p>\n In an off-year election<\/span> where Democrats are expected to deliver a shellacking to the GOP \u2014 a prospect that doesn\u2019t seem to bother<\/a> President Donald Trump much at all \u2014 the appeal of progressive politics a Platner win would represent has the centrist wing of the Democratic Party in an existential crisis.\u00a0<\/p>\n After decades of scolding the party\u2019s left flank and left-leaning independents over their hesitation to vote for corporate, hawkish Democrats, the shoe is finally on the other foot. Now, centrists are going to be expected to fall in line vote for the likes of Platner. It\u2019s a daunting proposition for the party\u2019s more conservative wing, who will have to either bite the bullet and pull the lever for their ideological opponents or risk another two years of unfettered Republican rule.\u00a0<\/p>\n Perhaps that\u2019s preferred. A GOP win means redoing the election in two years with potentially better results, and in the meantime, blaming the left for losing<\/a>.<\/p>\n