{"id":6576,"date":"2026-07-07T19:06:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T19:06:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6576"},"modified":"2026-07-07T19:06:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T19:06:36","slug":"the-maine-race-democrats-cant-afford-to-lose-is-falling-apart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6576","title":{"rendered":"The Maine race Democrats can\u2019t afford to lose is falling apart"},"content":{"rendered":"

A sexual assault allegation against Graham Platner has thrown Democrats\u2019 Maine strategy into turmoil.<\/strong><\/p>

Read more Musk-linked mailers draw complaints for targeting wrong addresses, dead voters<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Rebecca Hartwell sets up signs in support of Graham Platner before a town hall on Oct. 22 in Ogunquit, Maine. (Sophie Park\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

To take back the Senate, Democrats almost certainly need to beat Sen. Susan Collins (R) in Maine. Yet their candidate, Graham Platner, is under pressure from party leaders<\/a> to drop out after a sexual assault allegation<\/a> leveled at him this week by a woman he previously dated \u2014 an allegation he denies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe needed everything to go just exactly perfectly to be able to flip the Senate,\u201d said senior Democratic strategist Jim Manley, \u201cand this isn\u2019t going to help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s why Maine matters and what Democrats can still do.<\/p>\n

Republicans hold a 53-47 Senate majority, meaning Democrats need an overall gain of four seats to take control. Because not every Senate seat is up for election in November, Democrats are facing some daunting challenges to win enough races to retake the majority.<\/p>\n

Democrats need to defend seats in the competitive swing states of Michigan and Georgia, then beat Republicans in Maine and North Carolina, and then<\/i> win at least <\/b>two races in redder states such as Ohio<\/a>, Alaska<\/a>, Texas<\/a> or Iowa<\/a>. <\/b><\/p>\n

Donald Trump won most of these states in the 2024 presidential race. In some states, such as Texas<\/a>, Democrats haven\u2019t won a Senate race in decades.<\/p>\n

Maine is different. The state voted for Kamala Harris for president in 2024, and Democrats are trying to unseat Collins at a time when the Republican brand under Trump is deeply unpopular.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s virtually no path back to the majority for Democrats without defeating \u2026 Collins,\u201d wrote Jessica Taylor, who analyzes Senate and governor races for the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter.<\/p>\n

Platner already was facing allegations that he sent sexually explicit text messages<\/a> to women while married, had volatile relationships<\/a> with women and had a tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol that he has since covered up.<\/p>\n

Up until now he has been combative in the face of the allegations, acknowledging he went through a period of \u201cdarkness\u201d when he returned from combat tours in Iraq. But his tone has changed with this sexual assault allegation.<\/p>

Read more Former Florida governor candidate Andrew Gillum arrested on drug charges<\/a><\/p>\n

Manley blamed the party\u2019s populist wing for pushing Platner, a rural oyster farmer and Marine Corps veteran, when Gov. Janet Mills (D) was also running and had proved she could win statewide. (She dropped out just before the Democratic primary). Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) were some of Platner\u2019s most high-profile supporters earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Outsiders are certainly having a moment in Democratic politics; they\u2019ve recently toppled<\/a> sitting lawmakers in New York and Colorado in primaries. Some Democrats championed Platner\u2019s roughness, saying voters found it fresh.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe left was willing to overlook his obvious flaws,\u201d Manley said, \u201cand now it\u2019s come to blow up in all of our faces.\u201d<\/p>\n

Platner denies the sexual assault allegation but said he was \u201cmindful of the political reality\u201d that the reporting will \u201cinflict\u201d on his campaign. It\u2019s possible that he will drop out of the race.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not clear who might replace him, my Washington Post colleagues report. One Democratic pollster said that hours after the revelations, she was approached about helping poll for potential replacements. Under Maine law, Platner has to decide on the race by Monday<\/a>: withdraw and Democrats can slot in a replacement by July 27, or dig in and leave them running a wounded nominee against Collins.<\/p>\n

It would be a huge forfeit for Democrats in an election season that had been lining up well for them. Several of Trump\u2019s major policies are unpopular, including tariffs and his signature tax-and-spending law, which Senate Republicans helped pass.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven red states aren\u2019t safe when you see a president whose numbers have dropped as much as Trump\u2019s have,\u201d Taylor said in an interview earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Amber Phillips<\/i><\/a> writes <\/i>The 5-Minute Fix newsletter<\/i><\/a>, a quick analysis of the day\u2019s biggest political news. <\/i>Send her an email here<\/i><\/a>, or <\/i>ask a question<\/i><\/a> that could be featured in an upcoming newsletter. <\/i><\/p>

Read more Trump praises Turkish leader, stops short of approving fighter-jet sale<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Graham Platner has just days to drop out of a Senate contest that Democrats almost certainly need to win in November to retake the Senate majority next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6574,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Maine race Democrats can\u2019t afford to lose is falling apart - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6576\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Maine race Democrats can\u2019t afford to lose is falling apart - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Graham Platner has just days to drop out of a Senate contest that Democrats almost certainly need to win in November to retake the Senate majority next year.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6576\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-07T19:06:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/06091e307294734677ceb1f1af70ee49-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6576#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6576\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"The Maine race Democrats can\u2019t afford to lose is falling apart\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-07T19:06:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6576\"},\"wordCount\":738,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6576#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/7bd8c366b18f8f651ad94ebe0049bf25-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6576#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6576\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6576\",\"name\":\"The Maine race Democrats can\u2019t afford to lose is falling apart - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6576#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6576#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/7bd8c366b18f8f651ad94ebe0049bf25-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-07T19:06:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6576#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6576\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6576#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/7bd8c366b18f8f651ad94ebe0049bf25-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/7bd8c366b18f8f651ad94ebe0049bf25-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"OGUNQUIT, MAINE - OCTOBER 22: Volunteer Rebecca Hartwell sets up signs in support of U.S. senatorial candidate from Maine Graham Platner, before a town hall at the Leavitt Theater on October 22, 2025 in Ogunquit, Maine. 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