













A once-unthinkable outcome is now a live discussion among Democrats: whether they truly need to win Maine to flip the Senate in November.
Democratic groups in Washington closed ranks behind Graham Platner after his decisive primary win on Tuesday, declaring that the novice candidate who’s taken hit after hit can defeat Maine GOP Sen. Susan Collins. But the Senate Democratic Caucus isn’t united behind him, and his series of stumbles has some in the party contending that Collins’ defeat is no longer a prerequisite to winning the majority.
Asked if Maine is the must-have it looked like a few months ago, Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., replied: “No.”
“We have many opportunities. And that map has grown wider as the American people have gotten to see the awful impact of the Trump policies,” Warnock told Semafor. “We’re in the midst of an election. This thing can turn out many ways … but I tell you what, I feel a lot better than I did a year ago.”
On paper, Maine should be the easiest Senate pickup for Democrats. It’s the last reliably blue state held by a Republican on a map otherwise filled with red-state opportunities, and Collins is still beatable given the poor political environment for her party.
Platner supporters say everyone needs to get on board.
“Maine is certainly a place where we think we have a really good pickup opportunity, and you never turn your back on that,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., told Semafor. “He has a really good chance to win in this race. And we should help him do it.”
But for other Democrats, it’s not so simple.
Platner is facing scrutiny for both his comments about women and his past treatment of girlfriends, in addition to his tattoo of a Nazi image and past offensive online posts. Combined with Collins’ record of winning tough races and a growing list of Senate battlegrounds, that’s enough to persuade some Democrats to look beyond Maine.
Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., told Semafor that the party can “absolutely” win the Senate without Maine.
“You’ve got Alaska, you have Sherrod Brown in Ohio, you have [former North Carolina] Gov. Cooper … Iowa. And, you know, Talarico is doing pretty good in Texas. So I think for sure there is a path for us to take the Senate back, and for sure we’re going to make some dents every place that we can,” Rosen said.
Rosen declined to say she would support Platner: “The voters in Maine are going to have to make their decision.”
So did Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., who told Semafor: “I’ve been following events at a distance, but I haven’t got involved in Maine.” Warnock said that “I have not endorsed in that race.”
Platner “has raised a number of issues that speak to where people are living and the struggles that they’re having … and that has struck a nerve with the people of Maine,” Warnock added. “But he’s also had these other issues that have emerged, and that too has struck a nerve.”
One Democratic senator is openly antagonistic toward Platner: Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa. He refers to Platner as “P-Hustle” — Platner’s Reddit moniker — and said he’s “not endorsing Collins” but that “P-Hustle is exactly what he is. Maine made their choice, they’re going to live with it.”
Praising the party’s other “fantastic candidates” from the same five states Rosen cited, Fetterman added: “The question is: Will the Democratic Party add it to the platform that it’s okay if their candidates drop dick pics for a decade on social media, on Kik. Or are we now going to make it formalized that it’s okay if you have Nazi ink?”
Platner recently called Fetterman an “asshole” and a “stooge for AIPAC,” referring to the latter’s support for the Israeli government.
Fetterman countered that Platner is in for a cold reality if he wins as the most junior senator: “For all of the tough talk from P-Hustle: If he does win, he arrives; he’ll be 100, right? He’ll be 100 out of 100.”
此内容由惯性聚合(RSS阅读器)自动聚合整理,仅供阅读参考。 原文来自 — 版权归原作者所有。