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Despite these stories, Platner still seems to be a formidable force in the Democratic primary for Senate in Maine. According to a recent University of New Hampshire poll that was conducted while these stories were coming out, Platner is leading Mills by 34 points among likely primary voters. He has also maintained unwavering support among progressive leaders including Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. That doesn’t mean there isn’t any trouble ahead for Platner. Another recent poll showed Mills starting to pull ahead. But given that Platner’s support hasn’t exactly evaporated and that he’s still drawing big crowds to his campaign events, there is a chance that he could weather the storm of this news cycle. So how is it that a candidate with such a controversial past has a shot at defeating Mills and the Democratic establishment? Part of the answer is that Platner’s campaign platform has energized progressives in the wake of President Trump’s second term. Platner came out swinging against billionaires and the American oligarchy, launching his campaign with a video in which he says ,“The enemy is the oligarchy. It’s the billionaires who pay for it, and the politicians who sell us out.” He’s also come out in support for Medicare for All and against Trump’s mass deportations. And he’s condemned Israel’s war in Gaza, calling it a genocide — a position that half of Americans agree with and that reflects the growing consensus among experts. It’s also probably not just the platform that has progressives excited. It’s Platner’s identity. Since Trump won the presidency in 2016, Democrats have fretted over their loss of white working-class voters. And Platner, a scruffy oysterman who served in the US military, certainly looks the part. So for many progressives who are interested in bringing white working-class voters into the fold, they see Platner as someone who can effectively speak to them and their concerns, while redirecting their anger away from immigrants and toward the billionaire class and political elites. Meanwhile, the Democratic establishment, embodied by Mills, has left a vacuum for candidates like Platner to fill. The party’s leaders have come off as feeble opponents to Trump’s authoritarianism, grown more antagonistic toward the left, and gotten out of step with the party’s base, especially on issues that animate young and disillusioned voters, like Israel’s war in Gaza. So despite Platner’s checkered past, many progressives in the Democratic party’s base might be willing to look the other way because he’s offering them fresh energy and a new kind of politics. He might even bring non-progressives into the fold who could be willing to overlook his controversies. Trump’s influence over American politics has disabused people of the notion that politicians have to be scandal-free. And even when Democrats put up candidates with almost squeaky-clean personal backgrounds — people like Barack Obama or Zohran Mamdani, the frontrunner in New York City’s mayoral race — Republican politicians and conservative media still put them through the meat grinder. At some point, Democratic voters might start to question whether their old playbook of running older, tested candidates like Mills is still worth betting on, or whether it’s time to try something new. And with Trump back in the White House, many Democratic voters might be ready to throw out the old playbook, even if the alternative is the risky unknown. This column first appeared in Right, Left, and Center, Globe Opinion’s free weekly newsletter about local and national politics. If you’d like to receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign uphere.
