The Platner collapse and what a political stampede looks like

On Monday afternoon, Politico reported that Graham Platner sexually assaulted a woman. This was not the first accusation that Platner had faced. It seemed like his whole campaign had been one long litany of revelations that he had to strenuously deny.

Here’s an interview with Pod Save America about his Reddit comments from eight months ago:

Here is an interview with Pod Save America this March and note how the URL describes it: https://crooked.com/podcast/graham-platner-isnt-backing-down/

And here’s Platner defending himself on Chris Hayes last month:

Throughout all of these scandals - any of which could have brought down another candidate 20 years ago - not only did Platner not collapse, but he even kept up his endorsements from party elites.

Here is my own Senator, for whom I knocked doors in 2012, endorsing him in March:

Elizabeth Warren@ewarren

Graham Platner's got the grit to fight for what’s right on behalf of Maine’s working families—not billionaires and giant corporations. He’s inspired a grassroots movement to flip Maine, and I’m thrilled to endorse @grahamformaine for Senate.

Graham Platner for Senate @grahamformaine

🚨Endorsement Alert! 🚨 “People are excited to vote for someone who will actually fight for them. Not just nibble around the edges.” Thank you, Senator Warren. Together I look forward to taking on Wall Street and the billionaires waging a class war against the rest of us.

9:30 AM · Mar 19, 2026 · 665K Views

1.11K Replies · 293 Reposts · 2.42K Likes

Why this happened

What strikes me as weird about this entire sad episode in American politics is that none of it needed to happen.

Platner was not some famous political figure with decades of favors collected and access to levers of power. He wasn’t the candidate in the final stretches that had to be propped up to win the seat. He was, instead, handpicked by out-of-state consultants because he fit their vision of a candidate and was charismatic enough to play well in crowds and in the media.

Meanwhile, Sen. Chuck Schumer felt that he had the right Senate candidate in Gov. Janet Mills, who failed to inspire any real enthusiasm in her own campaign, and eventually dropped out before election day.

All other credible candidates appeared to have opted for the Governor’s race instead.

It left voters with basically only one choice for Senate, and that person was clearly unvetted for the job and unqualified.

The scramble away

In the hours after the story broke, we first saw no major Democrats respond to it (I did, but I don’t qualify as “major”).

Then, almost as if the go-ahead had been given, the statements started coming. From CBS:

The Maine Democratic Party urged Platner to withdraw as the nominee Monday.

Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who chairs the powerful Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, also called on Platner to “immediately withdraw” from the race in a joint statement.

“The DSCC will not invest in the Maine Senate race if Platner remains on the ballot,” Schumer and Gillibrand said.

Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California, who campaigned with Platner after other allegations against him surfaced in recent months, pulled his endorsement Monday and said Platner should drop out of the race.

“I’ve been very clear that sexual assault or violence against women is a red line. These allegations are very serious and credible,” he wrote.

Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said in a statement that Platner should “step aside as the Democratic nominee and address these serious allegations outside this Senate race.” Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona also rescinded his endorsement, calling the latest allegations “troubling and deeply serious.”

A year of scandals didn’t matter. Until all of a sudden they did, and every prominent Democrat was racing to get away from it.

What this means for state politics

I don’t wish to minimize what this story means for the people involved or for the people of Maine. But I do think there are some lessons to be drawn for state government here in Massachusetts, if only because this is such an extreme situation that it throws into relief some of the underlying forces in politics.

First, factionalism within parties can become self-destructive.

We all have our own ideas about the best direction for our political parties. We argue them in primaries and hope our side wins. But when that becomes the sole focus of a group - winning the internal battle - it becomes easy to forget that candidates have to be able to do the job.

This happens on the left, center, and right. There is no ideology that does this exclusively. But it can become very destructive when it does become the goal.

This is also why I believe that multi-party elections are a much better process. It allows groups to run under their own banner and go directly to voters, rather than have to try to prioritize control of a party with winning the general election becoming secondary.

Second, politics runs on assumptions.

Part of the reason so many endorsed Platner was because they thought he was the candidate to be associated with. As soon as that assumption flips, the strategy changed.

While that is frustrating that so many members of the Senate did not think that the previous scandals were enough to make them wonder if there might be more to drop, it does show how progress in politics happens. Things seem impossible, until they become very possible and then, in retrospect, inevitable.

Third, we need more seriousness in politics.

Did anyone really think that Graham Platner was a deep policy thinker? We kept hearing that he was learning and maturing. But he’s running for the Senate. He should already know what he needs to know. And if a 41-year old tells you they’re still maturing, you should wonder whether they should be entrusted with power until that process is complete.

We all knew that he was a vehicle for people’s beliefs about what had gone wrong for Democrats. That’s not necessarily bad. Candidates are supposed to be vehicles for people’s wishes for the country. But can’t we find people who can do the job as well?

Government is not a reality show. It is not ways to dunk on each other on social media. It is how we write laws and budgets that affect all of us.

I hope that no matter how this story turns out, we as a political culture start to hold ourselves to higher standards so this doesn’t happen again.