Progressives have been championing a theory of candidate recruitment that, at its core, believes that the key to winning back white working class voters, especially in red areas, is to run candidates from the working class.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is the modern champion of this theory, and even though it hasn’t yet proven to be effective, there is a segment of progressivism in the United States that tends to fall in love with candidate biographies and overlook red flags.
The Democratic Party put itself in a difficult position in the Senate primary in Maine when Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer backed Gov. Janet Mills in the Democratic primary. Mills is an older Democrat who, according to those in Maine, never expressed much interest in running in the primary, leaving a big opening for progressives in the state to win the Senate nomination.
I am not a Democrat or a Republican, so I have no dog in the fight over who should have been the party’s Senate nominee, but as a political scientist, I saw red flags around Graham Platner’s candidacy, and it was also understandable why he won the primary.
The problem is that those red flags have turned into a raging five-alarm fire.
Politico first reported the allegation of rape against Platner:
A woman who dated Maine U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner says he forced her to have sex with him nearly five years ago despite her repeated objections, an allegation Platner denies.
The woman, a 41-year-old Maine resident named Jenny Racicot, detailed the alleged incident to POLITICO in three interviews over the past two weeks. POLITICO also spoke with a man Racicot dated and confided in the years after the alleged incident, and reviewed documents, including emails between Racicot and her therapist and messages between Racicot and an acquaintance whom she warned against getting involved with Platner years before he ran for office.
The accuser is a Democrat who shares Platner’s views, and the more details there are, the more troubling the story becomes.