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What are the Democrats’ carrots & sticks for pushing Graham Platner out of the campaign?
If you follow U.S. domestic politics (or if you’ve just read the thread below), then you’ll know who Graham Platner is. He’s the young-ish politician who won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate from Maine, in the process attracting attention for combining liberal political positions with some elements of a blue collar background. In my view, he received a tremendous amount of scrutiny for being at the intersection of 3 significant stories: (1) the Democrats’ struggles to attract rural male voters; (2) the importance of Maine as a toss-up Senate seat in 2028 for deciding the balance of the U.S. senate; and (3) the adoption of certain leftist political positions by new politicians (broadly economic populism and antagonism towards Israel) that are seen as breaking from norms and potentially as a marker of future political currents.
More recently, Platner has also attracted attention for a series of scandals. First, some of his early, intended-to-be-anonymous internet postings were identified, and they were both unseemly and promoted ideas in conflict with his current public political positions. Then, it was revealed that he had a Nazi-symbol tattoo from his time in the military (Platner denies knowing that the tattoo was Nazi imagery when he got it; some people find this explanation believable and others don’t). Then, it was revealed that he’d recently pursued extra-marital relationships through some kind of seedy dating app. Then, some of his ex-girlfriends came together alleging that Platner was volatile and had been trouble towards them in various ways.
Through all this, the Democratic establishment had mostly defended Platner. Then, a few days ago, one of Platner’s exes came forward alleging treatment by Platner that would seem to satisfy the legal standard for rape (some disagree that the alleged conduct would constitute rape - see the discussion below for details).
Anyway, I’m not really interested in re-litigating any of these items. But what really fascinates me is that the Democratic establishment now seems to have arrived at a consensus that Platner’s campaign needs to end so that another candidate might be selected (Platner has essentially lost all prominent public-backing over the last 48 hours). But ultimately, it seems that procedure requires that Platner himself formally resign his campaign in for this to happen. My question is, how can Platner be influenced to abandon his campaign?
Normally, you influence with carrots (rewards for good behavior) and sticks (punishments for bad behavior). Democrats can appeal to Platner’s sense of dignity (such as it is), patriotism, and desire for the common good. But what other levers do they hold?
I doubt that Democrats would just concede Maine if Platner were to remain in the race. If he drops out now, he’ll always be remembered for this last week. But if he stays in the race, then I assume he'll benefit from 4 months of Democrats campaigning for him, seeking to rehabilitate his image. Even if he ends up losing the Senate race badly, that seems like a better outcome for Platner individually than the alternative of dropping out now.
What am I missing here?
It's official. He's gone. The only stick they needed was unified unrelenting social pressure.
I find it rather distasteful. The Democratic party apparatus at all levels has displayed sheer contempt for both the results of the primary election and the entire concept of personal loyalty. They gave him nothing for all of his hard work and sucess.
I think there's a strong argument that Platner is the one who broke the concept of loyalty here, not the party. If this allegation was waiting in the wings, and Platner knew it was, his entire candidacy was based on false pretenses. He explicitly told his supporters that nothing more would be revealed after the initial round of scandals. That was clearly a lie.
I’m not a Maine voter, but I was a supporter of his until this point, and I generally back the populist left. I’m more than happy to ditch him now. He tanked his own movement by hiding a massive liability, and looking at the polling, a standard Democratic suit filler that isn't 70+ has a perfectly decent shot against Collins without all of this baggage.
I think it's quite likely he either didn't remember (the consent accident happened while he was totally wasted) or didn't think it was important info for voters (who doesn't send dick picks on the sly?) to know, so not quite a lie.
The core issue is that people can forgive a youthful mistake; I can definitely imagine perfectly fine people I know getting a Nazi tattoo when they were 20 or whatever. It makes the person seem more relatable, if anything. But a long pattern of bad judgments makes people start seeing you as the asshole they know in real life, not the dopey friend.
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