{"id":31851,"date":"2026-07-08T01:20:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T01:20:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=31851"},"modified":"2026-07-08T01:20:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T01:20:53","slug":"the-people-who-stood-by-graham-platner-until-he-was-accused-of-rape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=31851","title":{"rendered":"The People Who Stood By Graham Platner \u2014 Until He Was Accused of Rape"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n  <iframe src=\"https:\/\/embed.acast.com\/intercept-presents\/the-people-who-stood-by-graham-platner-until-he-was-accused?accentColor=111111&amp;bgColor=f5f6f7&amp;logo=false\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"acast-player__embed\"><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p><!-- END-BLOCK(acast)[0] --><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span class=\"has-underline\">The Democratic Party<\/span> is once again in upheaval as Graham Platner, its unconventional nominee to knock out longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins in Maine, faces a rape accusation that threatens to end his <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/06\/09\/graham-platner-primary-election-day-maine\/\">once-powerful campaign<\/a> and endanger Democrats\u2019 chances of flipping a key seat in the November <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/collections\/midterms-2026\/\">midterm elections<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Platner, a Marine veteran and oyster farmer whose anti-establishment campaign had already weathered a series of scandals, has denied the rape allegation from ex-girlfriend Jenny Racicot, which Politico first <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/07\/06\/graham-platner-sexual-assault-allegation-00987737\">reported<\/a> on Monday. His campaign said the allegation was \u201ccoached and coordinated by out-of-state establishment operatives,\u201d though it was supported by messages Racicot sent in 2023, long before Platner had a political profile.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite Platner\u2019s denials, a cascade of Democratic politicians, operatives, and organizations have called on him to drop out of the race by 5 p.m. next Monday, in time to be removed from the general election ballot. Platner has said he would only drop out if he\u2019s allowed to pick his successor to face Collins in November. If Platner withdraws, Maine Democrats would have to pick a new candidate by July 27.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s set off a scramble to find a replacement nominee and point fingers over the darkest chapter yet in a race that had already drawn national attention for a series of controversies \u2014 including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/06\/04\/us\/politics\/platner-maine-senate-girlfriends-relationships.html\">accusations<\/a> that Platner had twisted another woman\u2019s arm behind her back and trapped her in a room; a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/politics\/elections\/graham-platners-wife-flagged-sexually-explicit-texts-to-his-senate-campaign-628ec832\"> sexting<\/a> scandal; a Nazi tattoo; and a series of Reddit posts in which he belittled sexual assault, asked why Black people don\u2019t tip, and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2025\/10\/16\/politics\/kfile-graham-platner-maine-senate-candidate-deleted-reddit-posts\"> disparaged<\/a> white and rural voters. (Platner has denied that he mistreated women and apologized for the tattoo, text messages, and Reddit posts.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Where does the Democratic Party \u2014 and the insurgent movement that saw Platner as a <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/04\/30\/maine-janet-mills-graham-platner-senate\/\">powerful rebuke<\/a> to the establishment \u2014 go now?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We\u2019re bringing you an extra episode of The Intercept Briefing this week to cover Platner\u2019s downfall and where Maine voters might look next. In this episode, host Akela Lacy speaks with Adam Carlson, a Democratic strategist and founding partner of the polling firm Zenith Research who supported Platner through all the other scandals until Monday \u2014 and now says he was wrong.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe \u2014 as in, the people who were looking for something different \u2014 looked at past nominees against Collins and wanted to try something different,\u201d Carlson told The Intercept Briefing. \u201cAn outsider, someone who could appeal to white working-class voters, appeal to disaffected Trump voters, independents, Republicans, maybe someone who didn\u2019t fall neatly along partisan lines, progressive economic populist, but also pro-Second Amendment. A bit more heterodox.\u201d When Platner launched his campaign, \u201cit\u2019s, like, here comes this guy who epitomizes what we are lacking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The story has reanimated the <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2020\/11\/13\/deconstructed-populism-vs-consultants\/\">age-old feud<\/a> between Democrats loyal to the party establishment and a <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/07\/06\/dsa-democrats-midterms-wisconsin-colorado-new-york\/\">surging cohort<\/a> of <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/06\/25\/mamdani-new-york-primaries-analysis-dsa\/\">progressive and leftist<\/a> candidates bucking the party line. But while competing factions rush to use Platner\u2019s downfall as evidence of their own political prowess, Carlson says, they\u2019re learning the wrong lessons.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYes, you should have better vetting. Yes, having people who are in public office who have faced some level of media scrutiny are less likely to have these kinds of things appear. Not foolproof: Look at <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/04\/14\/eric-swalwell-sexual-assault-allegations-midterms-epstein\/\">Eric Swalwell<\/a>,\u201d Carlson said. \u201cBut I think you can overlearn the lessons from this and try and turn this into a factional win. And I think that all this is subtext for the conversation that we\u2019re about to have in 2028.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For more, listen to the full conversation of The Intercept Briefing on <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/the-intercept-briefing\/id1195206601\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/2js8lwDRiK1TB4rUgiYb24?si=e3ce772344ee4170\">Spotify<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLW0Gy9pTgVnvgbvfd63A9uVpks3-uwudj\">YouTube<\/a>, or wherever you listen.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-transcript-nbsp\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Transcript\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Akela Lacy:<\/strong> Welcome to the Intercept briefing. I\u2019m Akela Lacy, senior politics reporter at the Intercept. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We\u2019re bringing you an extra episode this week because there has been a serious and troubling update in the Maine Democratic Senate race. Candidate Graham Platner was accused of raping a woman in 2021, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/07\/06\/graham-platner-sexual-assault-allegation-00987737\">reporting<\/a> from Politico on Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The woman, Jenny Racicot, came forward after having previously told the New York Times that Plattner had displayed \u201creckless\u201d and \u201cunsettling behavior\u201d toward her in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/06\/04\/us\/politics\/platner-maine-senate-girlfriends-relationships.html\">story<\/a> last month. She reportedly told the Times off the record about the rape allegation, but it was not publicly reported before Politico broke the story on Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/grahamformaine\/status\/2074214272628916296\/video\/1?s=46\">campaign video<\/a> Platner released after the story published, he denied the allegation and called it, \u201ctroubling, serious, and false.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Graham Platner:<\/strong> I wanted to directly address the troubling, serious, and false allegations against me. Any accusation of non-consensual behavior is categorically false.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AL:<\/strong> Platner has said his campaign is considering its next options, and observers expect him to drop out in the coming days after a flurry of Democrats and organizations that had endorsed him called on him to do so. But as of this recording on Tuesday evening, he has not dropped out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a separate statement, Platner\u2019s campaign claimed the rape allegation, which was supported by multiple accounts, including messages from 2023, well before he launched his Senate campaign, was \u201ccoached and coordinated by out-of-state establishment operatives.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For listeners who might have forgotten, the rape allegation comes after Platner already had another women claim he was physically aggressive with her apologize for having a Nazi tattoo and authoring a series of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bangordailynews.com\/2026\/07\/06\/politics\/elections\/graham-platner-postpones-multiple-events-this-week\/\">Reddit posts <\/a>belittling sexual assault, asking why Black people don\u2019t tip, and making other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2025\/10\/16\/politics\/kfile-graham-platner-maine-senate-candidate-deleted-reddit-posts\">controversial<\/a> statements about white rural voters and police.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How did Platner get away with all those blemishes for so long? What does this mean for Democrats\u2019 chances in Maine? To discuss all of this, I\u2019m joined by Adam Carlson, who was a Platner supporter until the most recent news broke. Carlson is a founding partner of Zenith Research, a political polling firm that works with Democrats.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Adam, welcome to The Intercept Briefing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Adam Carlson:<\/strong> Thanks for having me.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AL:<\/strong> You are someone who supported Graham Platner through all of his other scandals. When did you first learn about this allegation, and what was your reaction?<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AC:<\/strong> I first learned about this specific allegation that came out on Monday about the alleged sexual assault when the story came out. There were all kinds of rumors buzzing around, potentially other oppo that may have been dropping later. Maybe Republicans were planning on dropping it after the <span data-tooltip=\"According to Maine law, if Platner withdraws\u00a0before July 13 at 5 p.m., the party can nominate a replacement for the general election. \" class=\"has-tooltip\">dropout deadline<\/span> on <a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.com\/Politics\/graham-platner-campaign-reflect-best-path-forward-after\/story?id=134529321\">July 13<\/a>. I heard about it when Politico broke the story.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AL:<\/strong> You published a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/admcrlsn\/status\/2074486624319053893?s=20\">long post<\/a> on Tuesday morning with some reflections from this fallout. You wrote, \u201cThere are a lot of people who bear responsibility for this. The team that didn\u2019t vet him properly. The people (like me) who bought his schtick hook line and sinker and used their platforms to not just promote him early on, and stuck with him after just an insane amount of obvious red flags for months on end \u2014 I should have known better, and I for one will be doing a lot of introspection (and hopefully lesson-learning) on how I got to that place of cognitive dissonance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You also talk about the blame on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for trying to <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/04\/30\/maine-janet-mills-graham-platner-senate\/\">foist Gov. Janet Mills<\/a> on the electorate. I want you to walk us through this a little bit and explain what you\u2019re talking about with respect to that cognitive dissonance here.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Why do you think so many people fell into that?<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AC:<\/strong> I\u2019ll speak to what I fell into. I can\u2019t speak for anybody else, but I can\u2019t imagine I am alone just given the meteoric success that Graham had coming out of the gate. I think the Democrats have been struggling for a long time, at least since 2016, probably before then. 2016 is when it really kicked into high gear with white working-class voters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Maine is a very white state. The general electorate is very working-class, low-college-educated, a bit older \u2013 representative of a lot of groups that Democrats have struggled with of late, and that we\u2019re looking to get back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Susan Collins is a very formidable challenger, always overperforms her polling, her benchmarks, wins in tough environments. I think that we \u2014 as in, the people who were looking for something different \u2014 looked at past nominees against Collins and wanted to try something different. An outsider, someone who could appeal to white working-class voters, appeal to disaffected Trump voters, independents, Republicans, maybe someone who didn\u2019t fall neatly along partisan lines, progressive economic populist, but also pro-Second Amendment. A bit more heterodox. And here comes this guy who is, on paper, perfect. Outsider.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AL:<\/strong> Heterodox. The definition of heterodox.\u00a0[Laughs]<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AC:<\/strong> Exactly, yeah. He\u2019s a sharpshooter, he\u2019s an oysterman, he was a town harbormaster, he was a combat veteran. This gruff speaking voice. And I think that a lot of us \u2014 I live in a fairly working-class neighborhood in Brooklyn. But much different than I\u2019d say white working-class voters are in somewhere like Maine, particularly rural Maine.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In my head, and I think the heads of a lot of people, it\u2019s, like, here comes this guy who epitomizes what we are lacking. People who can speak authentically \u2014 or what we thought was authentically \u2014 and can reach beyond our traditional messaging of like a <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2021\/09\/14\/sara-gideon-susan-collins-maine-campaign-finance\/\">Sara Gideon<\/a> or people that have run against Susan Collins and fallen short in the past.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AL:<\/strong> Sara Gideon being the party-backed candidate who lost to Susan Collins previously.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AC:<\/strong> In 2020, who led in nearly every poll right before by a fair amount \u2014 and still lost pretty handily. So I think there\u2019s a lot of trauma [laughs] among people like myself who every six years or so think that we got Susan Collins or people of her ilk in the party who take moderate votes, who cross party lines, who have independent bonafides in the state.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I was looking at someone like Janet Mills, who was rumored to be jumping in, and I was like, \u201cThis feels like another one in that same line.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AL:<\/strong> Another wrong choice.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AC:<\/strong> Yeah, an establishment-backed traditional choice, a safe choice. Someone who doesn\u2019t really excite people, who can\u2019t really appeal to the middle. You\u2019re trying to do just like a partisan Democratic strategy that\u2019s been done before.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So I think a lot of it came from the trauma of losing to Trump a second time, and the trauma of Collins continuing to over-perform, and really needing that seat in order to have a chance to take back the Senate. Here comes Graham Platner, gruff-speaking voice, lifting kettle bells in his launch video.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A lot of us, I\u2019ll put myself in this category of coastal elite types, were like, \u201cYeah, this is the working class-type candidate that we need.\u201d Turns out he wasn\u2019t working-class. That was implied but not actually true, given his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/05\/15\/us\/politics\/platner-maine-senate-working-class.html\">upbringing<\/a>. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any outright lying about that, but definitely some misleading about that and just the image he was trying to portray.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is the risk, right? It\u2019s a high risk, high reward, as we\u2019ve seen with Republicans over the years nominating these outsiders, because they\u2019re untested, unvetted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They have that kind of appeal: \u201cI\u2019m not part of the Washington system,\u201d or whatever euphemism you want to use, the swamp, et cetera. But there is a downside potential, and I think we\u2019re seeing that now.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AL:<\/strong> Part of that appeal was very early on in this cycle tapping into what we\u2019re seeing now borne out, which is a widespread anti-incumbent sentiment and a bias \u2014 warranted or not \u2014 against <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2023\/07\/27\/gerontocracy-google-mcconnell-feinstein\/\">older politicians<\/a> and people <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/07\/01\/colorado-primary-results-midterms-socialists-kiros-degette\/\">who have been in office for a very long time<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We\u2019re talking about Janet Mills, someone who was not only the governor but was almost 80 years old and was again, this archetype of exactly what the left has said for such a long time is the reason that Democrats are failing at the national level.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But you\u2019re talking about another big storyline coming out of these primaries, which is like, who is the real working class? Who has the authority to speak for the working class, and how do we draw those lines?<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cWho is the real working class? Who has the authority to speak for the working class, and how do we draw those lines?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I was struck by an <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/10\/25\/graham-platner-tattoo-fetterman-democrats\/\">interview that I had with Amanda Litman<\/a> of Run for Something back in October when the Nazi tattoo fallout was happening, and she said something that really struck me on this, which is talking about who is deemed authentic and who can credibly speak as the voice of the people. And she touches on the same thing that you\u2019re talking about.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Again, Platner\u2019s aesthetics. The first ad that his campaign put out was that he\u2019s an oyster shucker, from the shores of Maine who can hobnob with farmers and fishermen and people who work on their feet all day. She said, \u201cThis particular type of brawly white dude with tattoos who can speak the visual language of what we associate with the working class. This is really a moment for us to collectively gut check \u2014 who gets permission to be seen as authentic? And who gets permission to be a little unkempt?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And that was nine months ago at this point. And obviously now it\u2019s more than being unkempt; he\u2019s been accused of rape. But again this constant pursuit of working-class voters that Democrats, in some cases, I think in New York, this narrative was debunked with the gains that, that people saw with Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez, although they did also excel in the white coastal elites neighborhood, and that\u2019s something that we\u2019ve been doing a lot of reporting on.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Avila Chevalier being the candidate who ousted Congressional Hispanic Caucus chair Adriano Espaillat in New York last week, and Claire Valdez who won the Democratic primary to replace retiring Rep. Nydia Vel\u00e1zquez against her chosen successor, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, both of whom are headed to the general election in November but are likely to enter Congress given the safety of those blue seats.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But I think one storyline on this working-class question that at least I missed coming out of Maine was from Greg Sargent at The New Republic that looked at some <a href=\"https:\/\/newrepublic.com\/article\/212683\/maine-senate-polls-graham-platner\">less favorable polling<\/a> for Platner that showed him trailing against Collins [in voters] who did not have a college degree, which is often a proxy used for the working class.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cEveryone wants to use this scandal as evidence that proves that their strategy is the best one.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are liberal commentators, I saw [former Biden domestic policy adviser] <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/neeratanden\/status\/2074241664927793366?s=20\">Neera Tanden<\/a> seizing on that as evidence of the left\u2019s folly here in putting up what they say is an unvetted populist who clearly was unvetted, rather than going with the party pick. The counterpoint to that being that Mills did so poorly in this campaign that <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/04\/30\/maine-janet-mills-graham-platner-senate\/\">she had to drop out before the primary<\/a>. That was the party\u2019s pick here. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So everyone wants to use this scandal as evidence that proves that their strategy is the best one. But is anyone actually right?<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AC:<\/strong> I think everyone\u2019s a little bit right and a little bit wrong. I know that\u2019s a cop-out, but I\u2019ll explain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AL:<\/strong> [Laughs] OK, I\u2019m listening.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AC:<\/strong> I\u2019ll start with my wing of the party, which \u2014 I wouldn\u2019t consider myself a leftist, but definitely an establishment skeptic who is now aligned with the left because we share those goals. I think that we felt, as I mentioned before, wanting to have our cake and eat it too.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Maybe being the most progressive kind of economic-populist candidate <em>is<\/em> the most electable in the general election. There\u2019s this little bit of a proxy war as we\u2019re seeing in the Michigan Senate race between now just between <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/06\/29\/abdul-el-sayed-jewish-voice-peace-senate\/\">Abdul El-Sayed <\/a>and <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/05\/22\/haley-stevens-center-forward-corporate-pac-portugal-michigan\/\">Haley Stevens<\/a>, on the left and the center, respectively.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AL:<\/strong> Yes, the other news over the weekend in the Michigan race is that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.freep.com\/story\/news\/politics\/elections\/2026\/07\/05\/mallory-mcmorrow-drops-out-us-senate-race-michigan\/90813551007\/\">Mallory McMorrow<\/a>, one of the Democratic primary candidates dropped out, setting up another progressive versus centrist test between El-Sayed and Rep. Haley Stevens.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AC:<\/strong> That\u2019s a really good point in that the story of McMorrow \u2014 who I supported initially, so I\u2019m really doing great here, 0 for 2 \u2014 is she was kind of the Goldilocks candidate between the kind of left-progressive candidate in Abdul El-Sayed and the more centrist and AIPAC-friendly candidate, establishment, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee favorite Haley Stevens. And she got squeezed. I think that was part of it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s just like the electorate \u2014 the Democratic electorate \u2014 is so angry and so desperate to win, and there are two competing theories of the case, not just for 2026, but this is a <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/02\/04\/gavin-newsom-2028-presidential-campaign\/\">dress rehearsal for 2028<\/a> when this conversation will kick into overdrive. Regardless of whether AOC runs [for president], there will be somebody on the left standard-bearer who will be making that argument.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I think that Graham Platner \u2014 I would personally separate these two, but they\u2019re lumped together for, for good reason sometimes at least in terms of the electability argument \u2014 Abdul El-Sayed and Graham Platner. Where these two examples of more progressive, economic populist candidates, can they win in a swing state or a swing seat or a blue-leaning seat to defeating a Republican incumbent?<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I would argue Abdul El-Sayed is squeaky clean, at least so far in comparison to Graham Platner or anybody. But I think you see the Stevens\u2019s campaign trying to tie them together, and I think you see the Neera Tandens of the world trying to make the case, \u201cWe were right about Platner. Listen to us about Haley Stevens as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AL:<\/strong> And forget about Joe Biden, Bill Clinton, Cal Cunningham.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AC:<\/strong> Oh, Eric Swalwell and Andrew Cuomo. <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/04\/24\/congress-me-too-swalwell-democrats-midterms\/\">Eric Swalwell<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I took last night off of social media. I was like, \u201cI\u2019m good. I\u2019m gonna reflect and sleep on it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AL: <\/strong>Keep it in the drafts. [Laughs]<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AC:<\/strong> Exactly. Oh, you should see my drafts. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, that\u2019s one side of it, right? To summarize, the left-progressive whatever, populist coalition faction, whatever you want to call it, was right about Platner being able to tap into that anger and that enthusiasm and that passion that clearly <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/04\/30\/maine-janet-mills-graham-platner-senate\/\">Janet Mills was unable to tap into<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019m of the opinion that she was never really viable. Not in this cycle. Maybe if it was 2018, maybe if it was a less angry, desperate Democratic electorate \u2014 maybe she would\u2019ve had a chance in a different cycle.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cMaybe if it was 2018, maybe if it was a less angry, desperate Democratic electorate \u2014 maybe [Mills] would\u2019ve had a chance in a different cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But someone of her archetype, again, very accomplished, very experienced, not just a two-term governor, but two-term attorney general, has been in public office for decades. A long list of accomplishments. Stood up to Trump on trans stuff, although that\u2019s not the best issue, popularity-wise, to stand up to. But still \u2014 was seen as a fighter, and it wasn\u2019t enough. So I\u2019m not of the opinion that if Platner didn\u2019t come around, Mills would\u2019ve waltzed to the nomination.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I think there would\u2019ve been somebody to fill that void potentially. So the left got that right. What they got wrong is that \u2014 and what I got wrong \u2014 is that believing in white-knuckling it and negative polarization against Chuck Schumer and the establishment and all the naysayers about Platner throughout all these abhorrent scandals. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Nazi tattoo thing really threw me at the time, and I stopped posting about that race for a couple of months after that, after really backing him very publicly. And then jumped back on the horse because the primary\u2019s heating up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You\u2019re right, there is a desire to notch that as a win, but obviously he wasn\u2019t the right candidate. And I think that Abdul El-Sayed is now the next test of this, in about four weeks from now.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, the other side of it is, yes, the Neera Tandens of the world, the Third Ways of the world, people on Bluesky, et cetera, were yelling and screaming about Graham Platner for months and months and months before even the scandals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They were like, \u201cThis guy\u2019s untested. We shouldn\u2019t rock the boat. This isn\u2019t the time.\u201d And the rest of us were like, \u201cLook at him! He\u2019s great! He\u2019s going to break the archetype, break the mold.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AL:<\/strong> Look at him go.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AC:<\/strong> And they were right. They were 100 percent right about Graham Platner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But I think that they\u2019re learning the wrong lessons from this, in my opinion. In that, just go with the establishment candidate. Yes, you should have better vetting. Yes, having people who are in public office who have faced some level of media scrutiny are less likely to have these kinds of things appear. Not foolproof: <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/04\/14\/eric-swalwell-sexual-assault-allegations-midterms-epstein\/\">Look at Eric Swalwell.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But I think you can overlearn the lessons from this and try and turn this into a factional win. And I think that all of this is subtext for the conversation that we\u2019re about to have in 2028. This is JV compared to what we\u2019re about to experience in about, I don\u2019t know, six to eight months.<\/p>\n<div class=\"newsletter-embed flex-col items-center print:hidden\" id=\"third-party--article-mid\" data-module=\"InlineNewsletter\" data-module-source=\"web_intercept_20241230_Inline_Signup_Replacement\">\n<div class=\"-mx-5 sm:-mx-10 p-5 sm:px-10 xl:-ml-5 lg:mr-0 xl:px-5 bg-accentLight hidden\" data-name=\"subscribed\">\n<h2 class=\"font-sans font-light uppercase text-[30px] leading-8 text-white tracking-[0.01em] mb-0\">\n      We\u2019re independent of corporate interests \u2014 and powered by members. 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This news, as you mentioned, came after McMorrow dropped out in Michigan, and Maine was a pickup that Democrats really needed to ease an already extremely difficult path to winning the Senate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Do you think their chances in Maine are completely shot now? We\u2019re anticipating news that Platner drops out in the next day or two. The deadline to do so would be on July 13, which is the coming Monday. There\u2019s been reporting that Maine Democrats are going to rush a new convention process to potentially pick another candidate. There are several names being floated right now, most of the candidates who lost in the gubernatorial primary. But do you think Democrats\u2019 chances in Maine are shot now?<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AC:<\/strong> I would say it\u2019s the opposite. I spoke with a bunch of Republican operatives, strategists, pollsters yesterday when I was taking my social media hiatus \u2014 my very brief social media hiatus, my dopamine hit hiatus  \u2014 to ask them, \u201cHow you feeling?\u201d And they\u2019re like, \u201cGod, I hope he stays in.\u201d They\u2019re like, \u201cOh, what\u2019s in it for him to drop out? Like at this point, might as well just keep going.\u201d When <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/grahamformaine\/status\/2074214272628916296\/video\/1?s=46\">his video<\/a> dropped yesterday of him saying, \u201cWe\u2019re taking time to evaluate next steps,\u201d it felt to a lot of us who are in this industry who\u2019ve seen these kinds of things before, as a prelude to a dropout.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019d be shocked and appalled and angry if he didn\u2019t drop out. I think what he\u2019s trying to do right now is use his leverage to get his ally Troy Jackson, former state Senate president, I believe, who ran and came close to winning the gubernatorial nomination this year \u2014 who was also backed by Bernie Sanders, close with unions, the same type of archetype, but is an elected official. Again, fairly aligned in a lot of ways with Platner\u2019s vision and kind of economic populist message. I think he\u2019s trying to maybe use that as leverage to get his guy to take his place. So he\u2019s not replaced with an \u201cestablishment-type\u201d candidate. Although we\u2019ll see if we\u2019re getting into uncharted territory with this rapid convention.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As we saw in 2024 with the <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/07\/21\/biden-quit-harris-president-gaza\/\">Biden to Kamala swap<\/a>, right? That wasn\u2019t a convention. It was like an <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/07\/22\/biden-kamala-harris-president-democrats\/\">insider elite\u2019s rapid turnaround<\/a> here. And who knows what\u2019ll happen coming out of the convention.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But I think the consensus is, among Democratic and Republican strategists that I\u2019ve spoken to, that Democrats have a better chance of holding the seat now. And I think that one of the arguments is that, \u201cOh, they won\u2019t have any money.\u201d The money will come. This is a must-win seat, and now that Platner, who was already struggling with fundraising \u2014 he put out a thing, I think, last week, I think a few folks like Matt Yglesias were, like, making fun of him for trashing the establishment and then asking the establishment for money because he\u2019s getting swamped on the airwaves.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So I think the money will come to whoever replaces him on the ballot. But I do think that Democrats are in a better position, although we\u2019re in uncharted waters. So it\u2019s going to be tricky, and Susan Collins is no slouch. But someone with less baggage running in this kind of environment does have a really good shot still.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AL:<\/strong> One question that keeps coming up for me is it really possible that the people who vetted Platner missed this? I could see a plausible scenario where he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/07\/06\/graham-platner-sexual-assault-allegation-00987737\">blacked out<\/a> and Jenny Racicot, the people that she told, weren\u2019t going to go spreading this around because he wasn\u2019t running for the Senate. But do you actually think the campaign didn\u2019t know about this, or what do you think happened there?<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AC:<\/strong> I don\u2019t know. I know that Graham knew about all these things. He knows what he posted. They were deleted, whether it was the Reddit posts or whatever else was was unearthed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AL:<\/strong> And the claim that he didn\u2019t know about the Nazi tattoo has pretty much fallen apart at this point.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AC:<\/strong> Yeah, I think it fell apart a while ago. And I don\u2019t think that the people who vetted him and recruited him to run knew about all these things before. I think Graham Platner said throughout the campaign \u2014<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AL:<\/strong> But like how? Especially the Reddit posts. Like how?<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AC:<\/strong> The Reddit posts, that was a vetting failure. No doubt about it. Anything that has a digital footprint that you don\u2019t unearth now, even if it\u2019s deleted in the archives, like KFile, whoever\u2019s going to do it, they\u2019re going to unearth it. Oppo firms, they know how to do that. We saw with Darializa Avila Chevalier in New York 13.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AL:<\/strong> Right.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AC:<\/strong> These things don\u2019t stay deleted. The internet is forever, which we\u2019re going to see that coming up more and more with millennials and Gen Z politicians who grew up on the internet, who posted dumb stuff when they were younger \u2014 or even when they\u2019re older.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So that was a vetting issue, and that\u2019s something that should be addressed structurally, not just with DSCC establishment type backed candidates, but with all viable candidates. Like, the party apparatus or outside groups need to do a better job of doing self-vetting, self-oppo on these kinds of things.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In terms of things that don\u2019t have a digital footprint that were verbal, other accusations from people \u2014 Graham knew. There\u2019s no doubt about that, right?<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AL:<\/strong> Yeah, and I\u2019ll just say for our listeners, because Platner\u2019s accuser says that after the night that she says that he raped her, she followed up with him because she was worried that she was pregnant to tell him that she wasn\u2019t pregnant, and they had communications after the fact.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AC:<\/strong> I think there\u2019s no real way of knowing when you\u2019re vetting somebody about that unless the candidate comes forward, right? You can talk to people in their life, you can talk to their exes, you can do this. Maybe they didn\u2019t think that Platner would be viable. Maybe they weren\u2019t ready to talk about it yet. At the end of the day, that\u2019s not on the vetters necessarily. That is on Graham Platner.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I think what\u2019s getting lost in a lot of this in the blaming of people like the vetters or people like me who help prop him up, or Schumer for that matter, or the voters, or whoever it is you want to blame \u2014\u00a0and I think there\u2019s plenty of blame to go around \u2014 is that this is on Graham.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He kept saying repeatedly throughout the campaign \u2014 and every time he did it, I would wince, even earlier on when I was standing by him \u2014 \u201cOh, nothing more is coming out. They\u2019ve emptied the tank.\u201d I spoke to Democrats, Republicans who are in the know who are like, \u201cYeah, more\u2019s coming.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A lot of us were like, \u201cIf he survived Nazi tattoo stuff, then he can survive anything.\u201d Little did we know that \u2014 obviously, something like this is objectively even more serious than that.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AL: <\/strong>Yeah, there\u2019s no question.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AC:<\/strong> But the fact that he kept saying nothing more is coming out speaks to either, you\u2019re in denial, or you think that it\u2019s never going to come out, and it\u2019s hubris that you think you can can hide it well enough or people won\u2019t speak out against you. But I don\u2019t know. I\u2019ve been following politics and working in politics for a long time. This stuff always comes out, and to think that you are the exception never works out well.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Maybe it happens once you\u2019re in office. At some point the bill comes due. And if you\u2019re not being forthright with people that are putting their entire reputation on the line, not talking about me, people who worked on this campaign, who got him in the race, vetted him, et cetera, and then all the fallout that extended out from that \u2014<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AL:<\/strong> And all the people who are withdrawing their endorsements of him right now.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AC:<\/strong> Exactly. There\u2019s just so much collateral damage, and clearly there\u2019s something appealing about his candidacy that both the people inside and outside of Maine saw something in him, and I think there is something real about what he tapped into. The ideas of his campaign can live on, but if you\u2019re not forthright about these kinds of things, what else aren\u2019t you being forthright about?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There were all these [Sen. John] <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/02\/19\/fetterman-staff-quit-resign-israel\/\">Fetterman<\/a> comparisons throughout the campaign, this gruff, unconventional guy. And I was one of the people who was like, \u201cNo, you\u2019re just stereotyping these types of people,\u201d but we don\u2019t know what would\u2019ve happened if he had won and was in the Senate, and maybe, who knows what positions he would\u2019ve taken or what else would\u2019ve come out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then maybe we [would] have a special election on our hands. There\u2019s all kinds of implications, and I do hope that he does drop out \u2014 both to work on himself and for the sake of the party and the sake of the Democrats\u2019 chance of having a window to take the majority. Because if Democrats lose that seat, it\u2019s almost impossible for them to flip the Senate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AL:<\/strong> I\u2019ll just mention also that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democrat-aligned Majority PAC have said that they will not spend on this race if Platner does not drop out.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Adam, we\u2019re going to leave it there.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thank you so much for joining us on The Intercept Briefing. Great to have you on.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AC:<\/strong> Thank you for having me.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>AL:<\/strong> Is there something you\u2019re concerned about and want to see more reporting on? Let us know. Email us at podcasts@theintercept.com, or leave us a voicemail at 530-PODCAST. That\u2019s 530-763-2278.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That does it for this episode.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This episode was produced by Laura Flynn. Ben Muessig is our editor-in-chief. Maia Hibbett is our managing editor. Fei Liu is our product and design manager. Nara Shin is our copy editor. Legal review by David Bralow.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Slip Stream provided our theme music.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This show and our reporting at The Intercept do not exist without you. Your donation, no matter the amount, makes a real difference. Keep our investigations free and fearless at <a href=\"https:\/\/join.theintercept.com\/donate\/Donate_Podcast?source=interceptedshoutout&amp;recurring_period=one-time\">theintercept.com\/join<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And if you haven\u2019t already, please subscribe to The Intercept Briefing wherever you listen to podcasts. And leave us a rating or a review, it helps other listeners to find us.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Until next time, I\u2019m Akela Lacy.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>#People #Stood #Graham #Platner #Accused #Rape<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Democratic Party is once a&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31852,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[246],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31851"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}