Pro Tip: If you've been hiding crimes, don't run for office.

[Coventina]

All you do is embarrass your friends and supporters when it all comes out.

Please make things right, come clean.

Then, take on helping and supportive roles.

There is always work to be done.

[Peacetrain]

1. I wish I could recommend this op more than once..

You hit it out of the ball park!!!

[Lovie777]

2. Unless you are a Republican.................

seems like their voters don't care.

[Coventina]

4. Point taken.

*sigh*

[Keepthesoulalive]

16. But we do

Good democrats are the only people who can restore our country. Republicans are in a death cult. We don’t need people who pretend to be democrats, progressives or whatever and become like Lieberman and Sinema.

[hookaleft]

3. I am just devastated

It was our chance to get rid of Collin’s

[Coventina]

6. Yes, it is incredibly painful.

[BannonsLiver]

24. I've now written off the senate entirely.

The good news is the House is still very much in play and there are some governor seats that could be pick ups out there. That’s not nothing. We were always going to have to over perform and thread the needle with the senate anyway because of Yogurt Brain Fetterman. Now that it’s off the table resources can be shifted to achieving more realistic goals. I’m still optimistic Talarico can win in Texas though.

[SamuelAdams]

38. There is still NC, OH, TX, AK, and IA.

It's tough but shouldn't be written off yet. Plus, I think Governor Mills can beat Collins if she can run.

[chicoescuela]

39. What a clusterfuck this guy turned out to be.

[Stacey Grove]

47. Almost like it was intentional

I hate the paranoiac tinge in my thoughts sometimes.

[chicoescuela]

49. Had the same thought yesterday.

What the hell was he thinking? This stuff always finds it way out to the media.

[mcar]

5. What a concept

It's not like people weren't warned from the beginning. They chose to bow to their latest great progressive hope.

[SunImp]

14. And some anti progressivess here chose to defend swallwel

[mcar]

19. I don't recall seeing much, if any, defense of Swallwell here

And define "anti progressive" please.

[SunImp]

22. .

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=21165151

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=21164386

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=21167382

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=21164344

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=21164264

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=21164154

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143649617#post15

If someone spends majority of their time here trashing the left/squad/candidates & spouts the same bs against them like Bill Maher does

[mcar]

37. I stand corrected.

Sounds a lot like what the defense of Platner has been here, though, so I'm not sure I get your point.

[Pompoy]

26. This. So worried about what drives progressives these days. Ruining the Democrats chances

All about saying both parties are beholden to the billionaires, that the Democrats aren't progressive enough for them. Blaming Democrats like Kamala Harris because voters voted for Trump.
And the biggest issue these days being Gaza, and Zionism being the most horrible slur.
Imagine, losing to Trump and the Republicans of this day.

[paleotn]

30. I'm still trying to figure out how you know for sure this isn't a Repuke hit job?

Some special power or do you always shoot first and ask questions later?

[-misanthroptimist]

7. Extremely sound advice

I sincerely hope that future candidates take it to heart.

[multigraincracker]

8. Forgiveness requires a confession.

Has he admitted it yet?

[QueerDuck]

9. Opposition Research is a real thing. People make money doing it.

When a first-time candidate throws their hat into the ring... especially someone who's never held an elected office before... and even moreso if the office is something like the US Senate... these things are important and should not be overlooked. It's not like this is an election for dog-catcher or Registrar of Wills.

[LeftInTX]

42. Exactly...

[WhiskeyGrinder]

10. People who run for office tend to have a little bit of tunnel vision and have to have a level of self-promotion that can

make it hard for them to assess their weaknesses. In many cases, that's actually a good thing; a candidate who isn't confident about themselves will go nowhere. But it can be a fatal flaw as well. IMO Platner thought this episode was done and dusted; after all, we heard from Jenny Racicot back in June, and it seemed like maybe he could ride it out.

[EdmondDantes_]

20. Especially since he really did have grassroots support pushing him to run

Understandably it probably made him feel good to be genuinely wanted by people around him and how much many men struggle with that. Not an excuse for either him or men at large, but it's a very powerful feeling.

[Bok_Tukalo]

11. If he committed a crime, he should be charged.

It is the height of irresponsibility to let a rapist go unpunished.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

15. well I've got some very disappointing news about this nation

[Bok_Tukalo]

17. I expect her to file charges soon

Whether he is convicted is another matter.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

18. I'd be very surprised if she did.

[paleotn]

29. Gee, that might take actual evidence.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

31. It takes enough evidence for an attorney and a prosecutor to run with it.

[Katinfl]

23. Why didn't she do that months ago? Why does this stuff always come out too late?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

32. We did hear from her, last month, which means her accusations have been reported out for the last few months.

Racicot previously described “reckless” and “unsettling” behavior by Platner to The New York Times, but says she didn’t go public with the specific assault claim because she didn’t want to be known as a rape victim.

Racicot said she later felt compelled to go public about her experience because the reaction to the Times story was dominated by controversy about another woman, Lyndsey Fifield, who alleged Platner mistreated her and faced attacks because of her ties to the Republican Party. (Contacted by POLITICO, Fifield stood by the allegations she made to the Times and declined to comment further.)

“My part of the story was just a read-over,” Racicot said in an interview. “And the story was Lyndsey, and the accusations of her being politically motivated.”

Racicot said she was torn over coming forward in part because she agrees with Platner politically.

[paleotn]

28. Perhaps a put up or shut up?

Trying to ascertain where you're going with this. Or am I reading too much into it?

[LeftInTX]

43. Isn't it past the Statute of Limitations? 2019?

[pinkstarburst]

12. And I think also, since there is always going to be

that creepy subset of the population that doesn't see their behavior as problematic (Swalwell, Platner) because they view women as subhuman objects and think they should be able to treat them however they like, the DNC needs to do a much better job of recruiting and vetting candidates for major races like US Senate. This was a seat we really wanted to flip. And you're telling me there isn't one candidate in all of Maine who isn't 80 years old or isn't a creep with a Nazi tattoo who sexts with 6 women while married and sexually assaults (at least one, likely more) women??

[kiranon]

45. Agree.

Believe that it is possible that Platner does not believe he did anything wrong, which is a common defense to an even valid charge of rape or sexual assualt. It's cultural. Hope he resigns.

[0rganism]

13. ... as a Democrat

IOKIYAR, as always.

[Escape]

21. We need a new candidate there now...

Plattner needs to drop out immediately.

[nycbos]

25. Gee, if there were only some warning signs about Platner before we made him our nominee?

Maybe, just maybe, we should've looked at the fact that he had an SS tattoo and said maybe he's not the right guy?


I get why people didn't want Mills. People have made it clear that the party wants younger candidates. But surely in the entire state of Maine, we could've found a mainstream center-left progressive under the age of 50 without the baggage that Platner had.

[Stacey Grove]

48. Flabbergasting

The gaslighting, justifying, and excusing of a candidate outright lying about a Nazi SS Totenkopf tattoo still makes my mind reel.

[paleotn]

27. That's that go for Republican hit jobs as well?

Just asking.

[MorbidButterflyTat]

33. Do you have proof of that?

Just asking.

[paleotn]

34. Do you have proof of what you're believing?

We could go on like this all night and accomplish nothing. Well, except make Susan Collins very happy.

[perdita9]

35. I'm enraged by the stupidity

With the kind of scrutiny a senate campaign brings, it was inevitable that skeletons were going to be hauled out of the closet and exposed to daylight.

If the charges are true, Graham Platner is an idiot.

[QueerDuck]

46. Apparently it's easier to cover up an old SS tattoo than it is to cover up one's past...

... alleged past, I mean.

[meadowlander]

36. Unless the rat fucking is the point.

[FakeNoose]

40. Roger Stone has been strangely silent these last several months ...

... but something like this would be right up his alley.

[LeftInTX]

44. He was busy funding Maureen Galindo's campaign. He wanted her to win.

Maybe he was also funding Platner's campaign?

https://www.texastribune.org/2026/05/19/texas-35th-congressional-runoff-democrats-condemn-maureen-galindo-antisemitism/
Dems slam Maureen Galindo’s comments as antisemitic in TX-35 runoff


Advertising dollars have poured into the seat, which includes parts of Bexar County and rural counties to the east, backing both candidates. All of the pro-Galindo spending has come from Lead Left PAC, a pop-up group that was formed in early May and has not yet had to disclose its donors.

Lead Left PAC appears to be tied to the GOP; Punchbowl News reported that the metadata on its website initially linked to WinRed, a major Republican donation platform. Lead Left PAC has not responded to questions about its donors or what entities are behind it.

The PAC has spent nearly $600,000 on broadcast and cable, and additional funds on mailers boosting Galindo and bashing Garcia.

_____________

Fortunately, crazy Maureen lost! Still she has her supporters because of Gaza. But she is crazy, crazy, crazy...

She was known entitiy prior to running for congress. She was a homeless sex therapist who was a socialist and hated Israel, running in a blue dog district, but living in a solid blue district. She had support of people Latina activists, you name it. Then all this came out. We were very relieved when she lost. She was a flake and would have been a total embarrassment.

[WinningAgain]

41. The damage is done regardless. He is quickly lossing support.

The Senate is still in play.....barely.