STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Here is how Graham Platner defended himself against earlier allegations in a video interview with our own Leila Fadel.
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GRAHAM PLATNER: I think a lot of people recognize that the ability to transform, the ability to change, is kind of just a normal human trait.
INSKEEP: That was weeks ago for the NPR program Newsmakers. Now Platner says he's considering his options, and we have called Joel Payne to talk them through. He's a strategist who has worked with politicians and activists from different wings of the Democratic Party, including the late Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid. Mr. Payne, welcome to the program.
JOEL PAYNE: Thanks so much for having me.
INSKEEP: What advice would you give Graham Platner?
PAYNE: Well, I think right now, being as transparent and as clear as possible about if there are any other things in his past, which is actually the request that many national Democrats made about a month ago when the first wave of, you know, troubling stories about Platner came out. I think that is very necessary for him to move forward as the candidate. It's unclear whether that will actually be enough, but I think that's the only path forward for him.
INSKEEP: Yeah. I'm surprised that you even raised the possibility that he could endure this. He himself referred to the, quote, "political reality," as we heard.
PAYNE: I think part of what those realities exist as, Steve, is the fact that many people were already skeptical of Platner as a national candidate because there was a lot of uncertainty and a lot of unknowable things about his past. I think this story validates a lot of the concerns of some people in the national Democratic Party. What is unclear is how Maine voters are reacting themselves. If you'll remember, Platner, about a month ago, won about 3 in 4 Democratic voters in the state of Maine in a contested primary against Janet Mills. And there were other opportunities for national Democrats to field competitive candidates against him. And so that's the tension right now.
INSKEEP: Yeah. Well, give me your gut assessment. You note correctly that Platner has been accused of a lot of things in the past. He's acknowledged some wrongdoing. He's largely shrugged things off. His supporters have shrugged things off. Is there something about this allegation that is fundamentally different?
PAYNE: You know, as your colleague, Elena, mentioned, the fact that you do have an accusation of assault, I think, is an elevation of some of the previous claims that were made about Platner. I think, you know, right now, if you're looking at this race, the fair assumption would be that it would be difficult for Platner to continue, not just because of the loss of faith and support and the loss of infrastructural support from national Democrats, but also the fact that you've got people like the main Democratic Party and you have local voices starting to speak out against him. And then the question becomes, what does it look like for replacing Platner on the ballot by next Monday and eventually by the end of the month of July?
INSKEEP: Would you assume - if you're a professional, if you're in that campaign trying to think ahead, would you assume that Republicans are quite possibly waiting with further information to drop after July 13, after it's too late to change candidates?
PAYNE: I think that would be fair to say or even teasing out further information that's already in the public record. There's been a lot of public discourse about the things that he's posted online, some of the conversations he's had outside of his marriage and, of course, these really troubling accusations of assault. And what I would say is that whether it's new allegations or even digging deeper into allegations that are already on the public record, it's pretty clear that Republicans were going to make this fall campaign about Graham Platner. That's a political problem for him. This should have been a referendum on Susan Collins if he wanted to have a real chance to win. The fact that it has become a referendum on Graham Platner makes his path much, much less likely.
INSKEEP: Does this underline a more fundamental challenge for Democrats? They're trying to figure out who they are, what they stand for and what message can prevail, even against an unpopular president and an unpopular Republican party in power. Some Democrats thought that this person, with all of his flaws, was the answer, and maybe now Democrats are left with nothing.
PAYNE: I think the challenge here is that there are a lot of Democrats who understand that the dynamics of their coalition are changing. What Donald Trump did to the political coalitions over the last decade has changed, and you might need different types of candidates to appeal to different coalitions of voters. And so this question of, well, candidates that don't come from central casting, candidates that frankly don't have perfect backgrounds become maybe more - you know, more interesting to the public. You've seen it in the Michigan Senate Democratic primary. You've seen it in some of these primaries all across the country, whether it's in New York or Colorado recently. And I think that's a question that is going to continue to be vetted out by Democrats in this cycle and the lead-up to 2028.
INSKEEP: Joel Payne, Democratic strategist who served as deputy national press secretary for Senator Harry Reid, thanks so much.
PAYNE: Thanks, Steve. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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