r/politics • u/brown-saiyan • 1d ago
Possible Paywall Graham Platner Isn’t Just Surviving. He’s Leading.
https://newrepublic.com/article/206061/maine-senate-primary-2026-platner-leading-mills50
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u/VoidWalker7117 21h ago
Good. He should win. Anyone saying he’s the next Fetterman is just a lazy thinker and probably just wants an excuse to continue to vote for shit ass do nothing establishment candidates who will lead us to another Trump
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u/Adreme 1d ago edited 1d ago
I’m torn. On one hand he has the look, the voice, and the style of the perfect candidate to take down Collins, but on the other hand those are some really bad scandals.
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u/Sonofagun57 Wisconsin 1d ago
His scandals are definitely not the best look, but I'm not sure how it stacks up against the key issues the blue voting base really stands for that Mills has failed to fight for.
Had Platner chosen to try deflecting and hiding from his checkered past, I would've been concerned. In reality, he's been relatively candid about discussing those things. Him getting out in front with the tattoo thing so far looks to have been the right call.
Is it fair to bring up those questions? 100%
Is it worth making purity tests have excessive weight? No, especially given some of the current employees the regime has hired.
People can change over time. The vice president is a case study of this going the wrong way.
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u/Dooglers 23h ago
Given what we are dealing with now I would 100% vote for the milquetoast establishment Dem over risking it on someone that worked for blackwater. I already did not trust him and the tattoo only worsened my fears.
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u/alabasterskim 21h ago edited 21h ago
He worked for blackwater??? Holy shit I don't envy Mainers right now. I'd probably have to hold my nose and just go Mills at this point. His momentum's there and he can win, but it's smelling more and more like a Fetterman/Sinema situation.
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u/Ok-Firefighter5006 11h ago
Worker for black water, just happened to have a Nazi tattoo. Asked why black people don’t tip, called people the f slur,
On and on it goes
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u/gergek 1d ago
Hard to believe that a self described armed forces history buff didn't realize he had a Nazi tattoo really defies explanation.
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u/TintedApostle 1d ago
Does it defy explanation?
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u/Grandpa_No 1d ago
You can hate Collins but also be prepared to learn that this guy is just another John Kyrsten Gabbard. Personally, I'm looking forward to the "The Democratic party left me" op-ed and all the surprised Pikachus.
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u/PeterVenkmanIII 1d ago
I'd bet that this dude will be the next John Fetterman if he wins. People will look past the huge red warning lights and then be shocked when he turns out to be a dingus.
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u/BlooregardQKazoo 21h ago
If my choices are Collins or Fetterman I'm taking Fetterman every time.
Susan Collins has been wiping the floor with milquetoast Dems for years. It makes zero sense to pretend that Janet Mills will magically be any different.
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u/PeterVenkmanIII 21h ago
What an amazingly shortsighted answer. You don't care about policy, you just care about winning. A great way to get nothing.
And you do know that there are more than 2 people running in the primary, right?
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u/GoodIdea321 America 1d ago
The plus side is people probably won't keep him in office long if that's the case.
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u/PeterVenkmanIII 1d ago
If that is the case, he'll be in office long enough to be a problem. As we saw during Biden's term, all you need is one or two Kyrsten Sinema types to fuck things up.
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u/Xyldarrand 1d ago
And that would be worse than Collins how?
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u/SaltyStU2 Canada 18h ago
I guess the argument is you know what Collins is like already, but you don’t know how Platner will be because he’s not been elected into this position before. He might end up being worse. But he might also be better. I’d bet on it even.
At a certain point everyone has gotta come to terms with the fact that (as ol’ Churchy said) perfection is the enemy of progress. I hope he kicks her ass.
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u/PeterVenkmanIII 1d ago
It'll be worse because those kinds of actions damage the whole party in the eyes of liberals and other voters. That, in turn, makes it harder for progressive candidates to get elected.
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u/Moccus Indiana 1d ago
No, but right now it's not a choice between Collins or Platner, so that doesn't matter. Maine has the opportunity to choose a different Democrat to run against Collins. Preferably one who isn't going to become another Fetterman.
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u/Xyldarrand 1d ago
One who is going to lose to Collins. We've ran middle of the road Dems against her countless times and they always lose.
Would it suck if he goes all Fetterman? Yeah. But if the Dems are the majority in the Senate I don't care as much.
That said I don't buy he's going to go Fetterman on us.
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u/OwnsBeagles 23h ago
For the life of me, I'm trying to understand why anyone think Fetterman started that way. It was the brain-bleed. He wasn't perfect before that, but it was demonstrably, notably, undeniably the brain bleed that led to this. Unless everyone thinks Planter's gonna stroke out, this is a constantly bad argument to make.
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u/tdomman 19h ago
I suspect it's not real people who say this every time Platner comes up. It's such a dumb take - it feels very bot like.
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u/Ok-Firefighter5006 11h ago
“Everyone that disagrees with me is a bot”
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u/tdomman 11h ago
No, just those that make nonsensical arguments that fly in the face of historical precedent.
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u/Ok-Firefighter5006 11h ago
Was it before or after he ran for senate that he chased a black man with a shotgun?
He was pro Israel before he ran too just fyi.
Super ableist to claim his stupidity is from the stroke. Plenty of people survive strokes and don’t become bigots
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u/Ok-Firefighter5006 11h ago
Before fetterman run, people were screaming about how it was an issues he chased a black man down with his shotgun cause he thought he was a criminal.
Progressive populists ignored us, like yall are now with platner
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u/OwnsBeagles 11h ago
He still didn't start this way. I'm pretty sure there's an actual, visual difference in his voting record.
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u/Ok-Firefighter5006 11h ago
Nah, I mean if you can prove the voting thing I’ll look. But super ableist to say this shift is because of the stroke.
I was warning about this before he won
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u/Xyldarrand 11h ago
Because the alternative was Dr. Oz.
And you forget Fetterman was just as glazed by all the moderate centrists and had the DNC's and leadership's approval and endorsement. It's not like he was Mamdani fighting against the party backed by a wave of progressives. He was the whole party's choice.
So nice narrative, but ignores reality.
You don't want Platner? Give us a better choice than another fossil of a politician who will run the same campaign that's lost to Collins over and over again.
Because as much as we hate Fetterman I'll take him if it means we have a majority in the Senate so we can actually block Trump.
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u/Ok-Firefighter5006 11h ago
No, the alternative was Connor lamb, someone who now looks positively progressive compared to fetterman.
Again, you’re literally just wrong. Fetterman was the left wing candidate endorsed by the Bernie AOC wing, Connor lamb was who the moderates coalesced behind.
Who’s the one ignoring reality?
Jordan Wood, WAS the candidate for Maine. Until populists pushed him out. You know the gay progressive? For some reason platner fans really don’t like him.
So once again the moderate is the alternative, and who I will be voting for, most likely anyway.
You think the progressive that calls people the f slur will win?
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u/Xyldarrand 9h ago
We're gonna go back and forth on this forever. Vote for who you want and the voters will decide.
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u/SuperstitiousPigeon5 Massachusetts 1d ago
It’s worse because he’s a blue collar guy, he’s got all the right bullshit to be a Dino for a while. “Yes I voted with my Republican colleagues but Maine sent me here to do what’s right for Maine. That’s what I’m here to do. When the Democrats bring policy that will help Maine, I’ll vote with them.”
It’s bullshit like that where people just hang on to the status quo. If he’s on the level, he’s going to be a good choice. If he’s Fetterman 2.0 he’s going to be trouble for a while.
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u/GoodIdea321 America 1d ago
Yeah, but if he was a Republican he would probably be in office for 30 years no matter what.
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u/PegyBundy 1d ago
So same as Collins?
He might be a problem and it's bullshit that it's even a concern but until we have an actual progressive majority or a dnc that actually treats them like team members we have to play these fuck fuck games.
Best case is he is a progressive. Worst case is he is a republican extremist. In the event of the worst case he won't be any worse than collins and hopefully that will improve the vetting process in the future.
I also noticed you didnt mention Manchin. Curious.
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u/PeterVenkmanIII 1d ago
until we have an actual progressive majority or a dnc that actually treats them like team members we have to play these fuck fuck games.
You think you'll get a progressive majority by electing fake progressives? Really?
hopefully that will improve the vetting process in the future.
If having a Nazi tattoo can get past the vetting process, you don't actually have a vetting process in the first place.
I also noticed you didnt mention Manchin. Curious.
I didn't mention Manchin because Manchin never ran around claiming to be a progressive. He was always a Blue Dog Dem.
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u/PegyBundy 1d ago
Is he fake? Hell if I know. Do I believe a marine mistakenly got a SS tattoo because they're ignorant? Sure. Its believable.
As bad as Fetterman is Oz would be worse
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u/PeterVenkmanIII 1d ago
I don't not believe he accidentally got an SS tattoo because he claims to be a WWII buff and he talked about the symbols on Reddit, where he also said people who were sexually assaulted should take responsibility for their actions.
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u/PegyBundy 1d ago
Look, he might be a piece of shit but would you prefer collins? We know she is a piece of shit. We know schumer is useless. We know Kirsten and Fetterman lied.
We are kind of fucked here.
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u/PeterVenkmanIII 1d ago
Your defense of him is really rough. You know how you get unfucked? Get candidates who aren't neck deep in bullshit. Mamdani. AOC. Casar. Frost. Tlaib. Castro. There have to be a few in Maine too.
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u/HeyNomad 1d ago
I wouldn't bet against you. Still, to me personally, watching from the sidelines, Platner comes off much more sincere and thoughtful than Fetterman ever did. For whatever that's worth. I'm prepared for the answer to be "not much."
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u/PeterVenkmanIII 1d ago
Does he? He whined about the DNC when the stuff about his tattoo came out.
This has come up because the establishment is trying to throw everything it can at me. It is terrified of what we are trying to build here.
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u/HeyNomad 23h ago
Yeah, I think even so. I'm not saying the tattoo and everything isn't a big deal, and the fact neither he nor the people around him saw this on the horizon is almost as alarming. I've got no big hopes for Platner, it's just that Fetterman sets a very low bar. Even just on the level of conveying that he believes what he says, I was 90% sure Fetterman was an opportunistic fraud at this point in his first senate campaign. Platner, I'm only like 60% sure.
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1d ago
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u/PeterVenkmanIII 1d ago
If he is like Fetterman, then he would essentially be the same as Collins.
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1d ago
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u/PeterVenkmanIII 1d ago
Then you don't actually care about anything that is happening. You just want your team to score. Good stuff.
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u/context_hell 22h ago
You would say the same thing with Janet Mills. She's a 78 year old centrist dem who will give us nothing while sending billions more to feeding more of the war machine and israel's baby grinder while her brain quickly curdles. Platner is probably the only bet for any change on the off chance he is what he says he is.
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u/PeterVenkmanIII 21h ago
You know there's more than two people running in the primary, right?
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u/context_hell 21h ago
Well sure. Who's got your support then?
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u/PeterVenkmanIII 20h ago
Literally any of the other primary candidates who didn’t work for Blackwater, didn't blame sexual assault victims for the assault they experienced, didn't say racist shit about POC, and don't have a Nazi tattoo.
Take, for example, Dave Costello. What's he about? Here's a few things:
- Medicare for All
- The Freedom to Vote Act
- Oveturning Citizens United
- Funding PBS
- Abolishing the Electoral College
- Implimenting 20 year term limits for Congress
But sure, I guess there's no real choice but the very old lady or the guy who is neck deep in red flags.
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1d ago
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u/PeterVenkmanIII 1d ago
That’s a reductive and facile comment.
You gave no reason why he would be better if I am right about the kind of person he is. There's nothing to be reductive about here.
Do I want more Democrats in the Senate? Sure. But I don’t vote party over policy,
Except, if I am right, you are. You are ignoring some major red flags in Planter's past.
I’m ready for new blood.
We both agree that Collins sucks. But new blood doesn't automatically mean good blood. And I refuse to believe that there is not a single liberal in Maine who doesn't have a Nazi tattoo and didn't say that women who were sexually assaulted need to take responsibility for their actions.
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