A political earthquake is rocking Maine, and it reveals everything about the state of the Democrat Party heading into the midterms. A former girlfriend of Democrat Senate candidate Graham Platner has accused him of rape. Like clockwork, establishment Democrats started running away from him. But the most interesting part of this story involves who actually set these events in motion. Was it really the media? Or was it something else entirely?
Make no mistake about it: The Democrat establishment is driving the effort to force Platner out of Maine's Senate race. Just last month, he sat down with establishment Democrats and assured them there was no new dirt coming. The charm offensive worked. Even Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who had recruited Gov. Janet Mills (D-Maine) to run in that race, announced (albeit begrudgingly) after the meeting that he was endorsing Platner and that Democrats had to win the race.
Then everything fell apart.
The New York Times published an exposé revealing domestic abuse allegations from three women. One of them, Platner's ex-girlfriend, Lyndsey Fifield, also told the Times that Platner knew his tattoo resembled a Nazi symbol when he got it, which directly contradicts his previous denials about understanding its meaning. Fifield then disclosed on X something the Times chose to leave out of its story entirely. Two other women had made sexual assault allegations, and the paper sat on them.
These revelations dropped just over a day after Platner personally assured Senate Democrats that nothing new was coming.
Naturally, Democrats were furious.
"There is dramatically higher concern about losing Maine now across the caucus than there was before the stories broke," a senior Democrat Senate aide told Politico after the Times story dropped. "Everyone realizes that without Maine, the path to taking back the Senate is impossible." The same aide summed up the internal mood in blunt terms. "Everyone is apoplectic."
ICYMI: The Left Has a New Narrative About Graham Platner, and Scott Jennings Just Nuked It
Democrats were clearly uneasy about Platner long before this latest allegation. Republicans, however, may have forced their hand. The GOP made no secret that it was holding even more damaging information about him. NBC News reported on June 11, "One Republican strategist involved in Senate campaigns told NBC News that the party will hold back its opposition research file on Platner until the deadline passes out of fear that Democrats will 'Biden him' — referring to then-President Joe Biden's withdrawal in the middle of the campaign from the 2024 election under pressure from members of his own party."
A month earlier, during a discussion on 2WAY, Mark Halperin revealed that an NRSC spokesperson told him the party planned to go so negative on Platner that "he'll have to leave the state. He won't just lose the race."
Townhall's Larry O'Connor, who was part of that conversation, agreed. "I know things about this person that will come out," O'Connor said. "The RNC is not joking about this. And frankly, it goes beyond the Nazi tattoo. This is an indictment, frankly, of where Democrats are right now when this populist, radical base gets energized."
Should Republicans have kept their cards closer to the vest? Probably. Would it have made a difference? Maybe not. Democrats were already nervous, and maybe nothing different would have happened. But Republicans telegraphing that they were sitting on a kill file until after Maine's ballot deadline may have accomplished something far more useful for the Democrats than the GOP: It may have forced the Democrat establishment to realize it had to act while it still could.
And act it did. Days before the deadline for Platner to remove his name from the ballot and allow Democrats to choose a replacement nominee, Politico published allegations accusing him of rape. Within hours, prominent Democrats, including the party's leadership in Maine, publicly urged him to withdraw. Like clockwork.
The base never cared about Platner's baggage. The establishment knew that baggage would kill any chance of flipping the seat. Once Republicans broadcast what was coming, this 11th-hour revelation became inevitable.
