Sen. Susan Collins of Maine
Graham Platner‘s victory this week in Maine‘s U.S. Senate Democratic primary may be evidence that a new hyper-realism is taking hold in the Democratic Party. Faced with a crucial Senate general election against Republican incumbent Susan Collins, many Democratic voters appear willing to overlook Platner’s long list of personal controversies, instead focusing on the larger goal of winning a Senate seat in order to take back the Senate majority.
If this is the case, the shift is striking because Platner’s campaign has been shadowed by a series of damaging stories. including his tattoo that resembles the Nazi-era Totenkopf symbol, resurfaced online comments containing racist and sexist remarks, sexting other women after recently having gotten married, and accusations by former partners accusing Platner of abusive or intimidating conduct.
The political significance of Platner’s primary victory despite these controversies is not that Democratic voters believe all the allegations against him are false. Indeed, Platner’s Nazi tattoo and intolerant online postings were there for all to see, and he admitted to the sexting. Rather, many Democrats in Maine and elsewhere appear to have concluded that the stakes of the 2026 U.S. Senate battle outweigh them. Simply put, the Senate majority is up for grabs this November, and control of the Senate is all-important when it comes to approving or halting Donald Trump‘s legislative agenda, his judicial nominations (including potential U.S. Supreme Court nominations), and more.
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Leave a comment! Tags: 2026 midterm elections, Al Franken, Daily Kos, Democrats, Donald Trump, Graham Platner, Maine, Republicans, Susan Collins, U.S. Senate, U.S. Supreme Court
Purple Senate battleground state of Maine
The campaign of Democrat Graham Platner, the oyster farmer and Marine veteran challenging Republican U.S. Senator Susan Collins in Maine, suffered more disturbing accusations over the past couple of weeks. One former Platner girlfriend alleged that during their 2013–2015 relationship, Platner engaged in physically aggressive behavior, including twisting her arm and preventing her from leaving the room during arguments. Another former girlfriend described Platner’s behavior in their relationship as “reckless,” while three women interviewed by The New York Times characterized him as physically intimidating or emotionally abusive.
Separately, reports published in the past month described sexually explicit messages Platner allegedly exchanged with multiple women while married. Platner acknowledged sending such messages, stating that he and his wife addressed the issue privately.
These are the latest in a series of troubling stories about Platner, which include a pattern of derogatory statements and/or actions that are offensive to multiple groups, as well as positions outside of the Democratic Party mainstream. For example:
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Leave a comment! Tags: 2026 elections, ADL, Blackwater, Donald Trump, Graham Platner, Hamas, Hitler, Israel, Janet Mills, Maine, Nazi, sexting, Susan Collins, Totenkopf, U.S. Senate
Republican U.S. Senator Susan Collins, not looking too good
On Monday night, the explosive news broke that the Republican-majority U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) is about to overturn its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision granting a constitutional right to abortion, and indeed, that a draft of the decision is already being circulated on the Court. The likely result of this imminent decision will be to leave abortion to the states, where it is estimated that at least half of them (primarily the ones with Republican governors and/or legislatures) will outlaw abortion completely, even in the case of rape, incest, and possibly he health or life of the mother.
To many observers, the news about this decision is shocking but not surprising, given the Court’s 6-3 majority of conservative Republicans. These Republican justices were put on the Court for the very purpose of overturning Roe, and perhaps many other decisions granting rights to women, blacks, LGBTQ Americans and other minorities; as well as protections for consumers, workers, the environment, wildlife, etc. However, the list of culprits that led us to this day goes well beyond the six current Republican SCOTUS justices and the Republican presidents who put them there. Here are some additional parties who share responsibility for the impending loss of a woman’s right to choose:
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Leave a comment! Tags: 2016 Elections, 2020 Elections, abortion, Amy Coney Barrett, Bill Clinton, Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Neil Gorsuch, Roe v. Wade, Senate, Susan Collins, U.S. Supreme Court
Virginia Beach voting sticker
Yesterday, Republicans suffered stunning election losses in Kentucky and Virginia. In Kentucky, Democratic state Attorney General Andy Beshear defeated incumbent Republican Governor Matt Bevin to become the new Governor-elect (Bevin thus far has refused to concede the election). Bevin’s defeat is a major embarrassment for Donald Trump, who, on Monday night, held a rally in Kentucky’s second-largest city, Lexington, and pleaded with the audience to prevent a Democratic win in the state, saying, “You can’t let that happen to me!”
In Virginia, Democrats won the majority in the State House of Delegates and the State Senate, to go along with their Democratic Governor. This marks the first time in 26 years that Virginia has had a unified Democratic state government, which may well be a continuation of the “Blue Wave” that swept Democrats into the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm elections. One of the issues for Virginia voters yesterday was gun violence, after 12 people were killed in a mass shooting in Virginia Beach last May. Republican lawmakers in Virginia, as well as nationally, have dragged their feet on or even blocked taking common-sense steps proposed by Democrats to reduce gun violence. The voters may have signaled that they have had enough.
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Leave a comment! Tags: 2018 Elections, 2020 Elections, Blue Wave, Congress, David Jolly, Democrats, Donald Trump, gun control, guns, Kentucky, Lindsey Graham, mass shooting, Mitt Romney, Republicans, Susan Collins, U.S. House, U.S. Senate, Virginia, Virginia Beach
Sen. John McCain at a recent hearing.
It was big news on Tuesday when Republican U.S. Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona took to the Senate floor to announce that he would not run for re-election, and to attack Donald Trump and fellow Republicans for enabling the Trump administration’s “flagrant disregard for truth or decency” and a “regular and casual undermining of our democratic norms.” Just hours later, however, Flake joined all but two of his Republican colleagues to strike down a new rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) that would have allowed class action lawsuits against financial institutions for predatory and deceptive business practices. This juxtaposition between words and deeds among Republican Senators is sending a mixed message to Americans.
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Leave a comment! Tags: Affordable Care Act, Bob Corker, class action, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Donald Trump, Jeff Flake, John McCain, Lisa Murkowski, Obamacare, Republican Party, Senate, Steve Bannon, Susan Collins, Twitter
Sen. John McCain and his favorite prop, the microphone
People are still celebrating Senator John McCain‘s “No” vote on the Republicans’ “Skinny Repeal” bill regarding the Affordable Care Act. Such celebrations may be premature.
Recall that, last Tuesday, during a procedural vote to move the GOP bill forward, McCain first criticized the process, then voted “Yes” to proceed to a full vote. Many Democrats attacked McCain as a heartless hypocrite for voting to move a bill forward that would deny healthcare to millions of people when McCain himself is receiving gold-plated healthcare for his brain cancer at taxpayer expense. Three days later, however, McCain cast one of three Republican votes against the bill, sending it to defeat. McCain’s dramatic “thumbs down” accompanying his “No” vote caused many observers to cast McCain as the “deciding vote,” although Republican Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski were just as courageous in standing up to their party to vote “No.”
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