Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner’s scandal-plagued rise is causing rifts within the Democratic Party, and several Democratic strategists who spoke to Fox News Digital warned of the long-term implications of the party embracing him.
“Anyone paying attention to the intersection of culture and politics knows that my party pushed #MeToo well beyond the bounds of common sense long before Graham Platner’s rise,” Michael LaRosa, former press secretary to first lady Jill Biden, said about whether the #MeToo movement rings hollow within the party now that top Democrats have rallied behind Platner.
“But the reflexive partisan instinct to circle the wagons around him is the political equivalent of pulling the plug on whatever credibility Democrats had left as the self-appointed champions of women.”
“If the standards disappear the moment they’re politically inconvenient, they were never standards at all.”
Former adviser to President and Democratic strategist Doug Schoen argued that Democrats are choosing power and Senate control over serious concerns about Platner’s past, and that could hurt them in 2028.
“In the short term, for some Democrats, those on the progressive left, it’s the right decision, a practical decision,” Schoen said. “To me, it’s a very sad one and certainly undermines the moral legitimacy of the Democratic Party as a whole.”
“Certainly, I think they’ve left themselves vulnerable vis-Ã -vis Platner’s extreme left-wing positions, his toxicity as a person, the issues with relationships, arguably lying about his Nazi tattoo,” Schoen said. “I certainly think this creates issues for the Democrats where none needed to exist.”
from former girlfriends who told The New York Times that he discussed rape fantasies, drank heavily and had violent episodes, while also facing mounting criticism over sexually explicit messages allegedly sent to women shortly after getting married, a Nazi-linked tattoo and online comments mocking a Purple Heart veteran.
Despite new controversies emerging days before Maines Democratic Senate primary, won with more primary votes than any Democrat in state history.Â
Democratic strategist Mally Smith told Fox News Digital he doesn’t believe that the Platner campaign is necessarily the “death” of the #MeToo movement, but that Democrats who have “more fully embraced” his campaign are “going to have some trouble when it comes to making the case on the Epstein files or any general claims of believe all women.”
“So maybe Democrats don’t have the advantage on the issue anymore, but I would say that it’s not like Republicans have an advantage either,” Smith added. “I think voters are just gonna say, well, both parties are willing to live with the baggage of their candidates.”
Looking ahead to 2028, LaRosa said that Democrats could be haunted by their ties to Platner for years.
“If he wins, you’ll still have to explain why you stood with him,” LaRosa said. “If he loses, you’ll have nothing to show for it except the association. Either way, he’s someone you’ll be answering for.”
Smith explained Platner’s rise by citing voters that are “unhappy with the status quo” to the point where there’s an “element, whether it’s Republican voters supporting President Donald Trump or Democratic voters supporting Graham Platner in Maine, where they say these elites attacking him is actually evidence that he’s on the right track.”
For others, the controversies are still too big for voters to ignore. LaRosa said that voters “reward guts, not willful blindness” when judging a candidate with Nazi imagery tattooed on his chest, adding that the Democratic leaders are lacking that same “courage.”
“We look pretty vapid, unprincipled and hypocritical to look the other way when it comes to any candidate accused of any level of violence against women just because it is politically inconvenient,” LaRosa sa
