Graham Platner Opposes Chuck Schumer Staying Senate Leader as Maine Democrat Shrugs Off 2020 Posts
Updated
Updated · Fox News · May 13
Graham Platner Opposes Chuck Schumer Staying Senate Leader as Maine Democrat Shrugs Off 2020 Posts
9 articles · Updated · Fox News · May 13
Graham Platner, the presumptive Democratic Senate nominee in Maine, said he would not support Chuck Schumer remaining Senate Democratic leader, aligning himself with progressives pushing for new leadership.
Platner said attacks over his past online comments and a Nazi-linked tattoo would not derail his campaign, arguing Democratic primary voters already rejected those lines of attack.
Janet Mills, 78, who had Schumer’s backing, dropped out in late April after trailing Platner in public polling despite ads highlighting his past remarks about rape.
The scrutiny includes since-deleted posts from 2013, 2018 and 2020—among them comments on rape, political violence, police and rural white Americans—that Platner has tied to PTSD after multiple combat deployments.
The Maine race against Republican Susan Collins is a key contest in Democrats’ long-shot effort to retake the Senate, giving Platner’s break with Schumer broader significance.
Can a candidate's controversial past be overcome by a message targeting a broken political system?
When a public figure claims ignorance about a hateful symbol, how should voters evaluate their apology?
In the digital age, what does it take for a public figure to prove they have genuinely changed?