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Bernie Sanders on Graham Platner: ‘I have recommended that he step aside’
Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who has been a staunch supporter of Graham Platner, is now urging the embattled Democratic candidate to withdraw from the Maine Senate race.
In a short new statement, Sanders said:
I have spoken with Graham Platner about the best path forward for Maine. In light of these very serious allegations, I have recommended that he step aside.
We are still waiting for more news from the Platner campaign.
Key events
Richard Luscombe
A federal appeals panel struck down a significant chunk of Ron DeSantis’s so-called Stop Woke Act on Tuesday, delivering another rebuff to the Republican Florida governor’s efforts to stifle free speech in higher education.
In a scathing order, judges of the 11th circuit court of appeal said by a 2-1 majority that the higher education component of the law – which prevented college and university professors teaching or sharing thoughts on concepts of race and gender – breached the free expression rights guaranteed under the US constitution’s first amendment.
It accused the state of “puppeteering”: making the educators their mouthpieces by controlling what they can say or teach.
“Because the government pays the professors’ salaries, Florida says, their speech is the state’s speech,” Britt Grant, a Donald Trump-appointed judge who wrote the majority opinion, said. “Emphatically no.
“Florida’s salary-for-speech rule is a breathtaking assertion of power to ban unpopular ideas from public discourse in the very places the state’s own statutes recognize as centers of inquiry – classrooms where students are trusted to puzzle through ideas that are good and bad, easy and hard, ideally getting ever closer to the truth.”
It added: “The ideas Florida targets may well be noxious. Or maybe not. Either way, in this context the first amendment trusts students to figure it out for themselves.”
Earlier today, the New York Post reported that Morris Katz, who is Graham Platner’s campaign strategist and a former campaign adviser to NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani, was still recommending that Platner remain in the Maine Senate race, citing a source.
“[Platner’s] team is delusional,” the Post’s source said, adding that Platner and Katz are deliberating about the Maine Democrat dropping out but only if his replacement shares his leftwing values.
Katz responded to the report on X this afternoon:
To be very clear, no one in campaign deliberations or familiar with my thinking is talking to the NYP.
The New York Times also reports (paywall) that Graham Platner said on a private call with his campaign staff yesterday evening that he believed he still had leverage to influence which candidate would replace him on the ticket, citing three people familiar with the conversation.
On the call, he didn’t announce plans to withdraw but implied such a decision would be coming, the people added.
And further to our earlier post about senator Mitch McConnell, who has been in hospital since 14 June, spokespeople for Senate majority leader John Thune and majority whip John Barrasso have confirmed to Politico that the two leaders spoke with the Kentucky Republican this week.
The disclosures come amid growing online speculation about McConnell’s health, with little detail from his own office about why he was hospitalized or his condition, and an increasingly rattled GOP that is wondering whether it can afford his continued absence from the Senate.
Thune and McConnell “had a lengthy and substantive conversation that covered a variety of topics, including national security”, a spokesperson for the majority leader said in a statement to Politico today.
Kate Noyes, a spokesperson for Barrasso, said the No. 2 leader and McConnell “had a lengthy conversation early this afternoon”, speaking by phone for roughly 20 minutes.
“They caught up about the latest news impacting Senate races, the Graham Platner scandal and the recent supreme court ruling on coordinated spending limits,” as well as the Senate agenda, she added. “Senator McConnell was fully engaged and is eager to get back to the Senate.”
Both Thune and Barrasso previously said they had spoken to McConnell after his hospitalization. In addition, CNN commentator Scott Jennings, who was for a long time a McConnell adviser, posted on X today that he had also spoken with McConnell.
I spoke to my old friend Mitch McConnell this morning, the senior Senator from Kentucky. He’s still recovering in the hospital. We talked for just shy of 20 minutes … about IRAN, UKRAINE, the unfolding situation in MAINE, my visit to the TR Presidential Library, and even a little bit of Senate history. I told him we want to see him back at work as soon as possible.
With his Maine Senate campaign on the brink after most of his allies urged him to back out, Graham Platner has yet to comment since yesterday’s video addressing the allegations against him.
But his campaign has stopped running ads on Meta’s platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, the New York Times (paywall) reports, citing the company’s ad disclosure database. He had been running multiple ads as recently as yesterday evening.
Troy Jackson, a former Maine State lawmaker, has filed paperwork to run for US Senate on Tuesday, as Platner’s campaign teeters on collapse.
Jackson is a fifth-generation logger and former state Senate president who ran unsuccessfully for governor. Our Revolution, a political organization aligned with Senator Bernie Sanders, has announced that it would back Jackson – an early indication he would the left’s preferred candidate should he run for Senate.
The group rescinded their endorsement of Platner after a woman accused him of rape, calling the allegation “too serious to treat as a distraction from the campaign or the issues”. Platner has called the account “false”.
The state of crucial Senate races
Democrats path to winning control of the Senate is narrow – and some fear, following the upheaval in Maine, getting narrower. Republicans currently hold a 53-47 advantage in the upper chamber. Democrats must flip four seats to clinch a majority.
Maine is key. Defeating the state’s five-term Republican incumbent, Senator Susan Collins was already an uphill task, but now with Platner’s campaign in turmoil and uncertainty over whether he will even remain on the ballot, the path becomes potentially more challenging.
Democrats are also eyeing Alaska, where a former Democratic congresswoman, Mary Peltola, is running for Senate, North Carolina, where the state’s former governor, Roy Cooper, is Democratic nominee.
From there, Democrats would have to gain a seat in at least one other very red state – either Ohio, Iowa or Texas, where the party is unexpectedly hopeful that their nominee, James Talarico, can pull off an upset.
At the same time, Democrats will also need to defend the seats in swing states, including Georgia, New Hampshire and Michigan.
Even with historical precedent and Trump’s low approval ratings, clinching the Senate remains a tall task for the minority party.
Mitch McConnell’s absence after hospitalization causes stir in Republican Party
The weeks-long hospitalization of GOP senator Mitch McConnell is rattling his party’s narrow majority today as members awaited word on whether he would return, AFP reports.
The Kentucky Republican, 84, who led the Senate GOP for longer than anyone in history before stepping down last year, has not voted since 11 June and is serving the final months of a congressional career that began in 1985.
McConnell was admitted to hospital on 14 June, with his office saying only that he was “receiving excellent care”.
But emergency dispatch audio reported by multiple outlets has deepened concern in Washington, indicating that responders were sent that morning to McConnell’s address for an unconscious person and that CPR was in progress.
The recordings don’t name McConnell, and his office has not publicly said what caused his hospitalization or what treatment he is receiving.
“Senator McConnell appreciates the outpouring of support he’s receiving while he continues his recovery in the hospital,” his spokesman said in a statement. “The senator continues to improve, and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the Senate is out of session.”
The lack of detail has fueled speculation over whether McConnell will be able to return when senators come back to Washington next week – and whether Republicans can afford his continued absence.
With the party’s narrow 53-47 Senate majority, majority leader John Thune has little room for missing votes or defections as he tries to advance spending bills and other priorities before November’s midterm elections.
McConnell’s absence has already mattered.
He missed a 23 June vote on a House-passed resolution directing Donald Trump to withdraw US troops from the military conflict with Iran. Four GOP senators joined Democrats, and the measure passed with McConnell and Republican senator David McCormick absent.
His continued hospitalization could also complicate efforts to move defense funding and other legislation through the Senate appropriations committee, where his absence can leave Republicans and Democrats evenly split.
Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan has joined the chorus of Democrats rescinding their endorsements of Graham Platner and urging him to drop out of the Maine Senate race as the window to replace him narrows.
Tlaib wrote on X:
I am withdrawing my endorsement of Graham Platner and calling on him to exit the race immediately so that he can be replaced by a progressive fighter who will deliver for the people and help win back the Senate. These allegations are devastating and must be taken seriously.
‘I’m in tears’: Maine voters react to latest allegation against Graham Platner
Maine voters spoke to the Associated Press in the wake of the latest sexual assault allegation against Graham Platner, the Democratic candidate for US Senate.
Joanie Monteith, a passionate supporter from the southern Maine town of York who organized a trivia night about Platner in March, told the AP through tears Tuesday that she was “numb” and “heartbroken” at the news. She was waiting for another public statement from Platner before making a decision about whether she could keep supporting him.
“I’m in tears. I’m numb and I’m waiting for what Graham has to say. I’m trying not to be a part of this public trial. And I’m heartbroken. And I’m heartbroken for him and his wife.”
She added she believes the allegations are serious.
“I’m not going to blame a victim. Because if this is true I feel very bad for the woman,” she said. “You just don’t know how to feel.”
Another Maine voter, Lee Holman, said she wants Platner to stay in the race.
“I feel like the people of Maine have spoken,” the Democrat said. “If they wanted Janet Mills, they could have voted for her.”
She said the allegation against Platner may be legitimate, but she questions the timing. Democrats, she added, can be too quick to “throw the baby out with the bathwater” by calling on politicians facing allegations to resign.
“Every time we think we have a chance to snatch our democracy back, something gets in the way,” she said.
Up until this point, Bernie Sanders was a critical backer of Graham Platner throughout the Maine primary even as earlier allegations of misconduct came to light.
Last month, the Vermont senator said he would stand by the Democratic candidate amid media reports that Platner had previously exchanged sexually explicit text messages with several women while he was married.
At the time Platner posted a video taken by his wife, Amy Gertner, who reportedly told his campaign of the text messages last year, the Associated Press reported. In the video, Gertner decried coverage of the issue as “gossip” and said “being married is hard.”
In June Sanders said, “People can’t afford healthcare. Can’t afford groceries. Can’t afford to put gas in their cars. And I think it might be a good idea if we focused on the important issues facing the working families of Maine and this country.”
Bernie Sanders on Graham Platner: ‘I have recommended that he step aside’
Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who has been a staunch supporter of Graham Platner, is now urging the embattled Democratic candidate to withdraw from the Maine Senate race.
In a short new statement, Sanders said:
I have spoken with Graham Platner about the best path forward for Maine. In light of these very serious allegations, I have recommended that he step aside.
We are still waiting for more news from the Platner campaign.
The second day of the preliminary hearing in the case against Tyler James Robinson – the man accused of murdering Charlie Kirk – is under way in Provo, Utah.
On Monday, former Utah state bureau of investigation agent David Hull was brought to the stand. He said that hundreds of hours of video were reviewed by investigators as they sought to track the suspect’s movements. They used university surveillance footage and Ring home security video, captured from the doorway of a nearby home, along with cellphone videos of the incident shared by the public.
Hull was testifying again on Tuesday, and new security footage was entered into evidence that shows Robinson arriving at Utah Valley University’s amphitheater, hours before Kirk was shot, and speaking to Turning Point USA supporters.
As my colleagues Dani Anguiano and Gabrielle Canon note, unlike the more definitive proof required to return a guilty verdict, the bar for moving a case to trial is much lower, and legal experts believe prosecutors will be able to clear it throughout this hearing.
Mamdani says Platner should drop out of Maine Senate race
While speaking to reporters at City Hall on Tuesday, Zohran Mamdani weighed in on the sexual assault allegation against Graham Platner, and called for the Democratic nominee to end Senate bid.
“I believe that it’s time for him [Platner] to drop out of the race,” the New York mayor said. “I think the focus of today should be to respond to the gravity of what so many of us have read, and I think that the only appropriate response is for the campaign to come to an end.”
While Mamdani had not backed officially endorsed Platner throughout the midterm cycle, the two have shared strategists and campaign officials, including close adviser Morris Katz.
Potential replacements for Platner could come from crowded gubernatorial primary
As we discuss the mechanics of how Democrats could replace Graham Platner as the Senate nominee, it’s worth digging into some of the names that are floating around as potential candidates.
Many of the contenders who have gained traction from national Democrats and state operatives appear to be the runners-up in the crowded Democratic gubernatorial race which former Maine House speaker Hannah Pingree won in June. Nirav Shah, the former deputy director of the Maine Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), current secretary of state Shenna Bellows an former state Senate president Troy Jackson are all names that have been floated.
All three have called on Platner to step down in the wake of a sexual assault allegation, so the party can select a replacement. “For too long, women who survive sexual violence have been told to stay quiet, to protect the men who hurt them, to think about the campaign, the party, the cause. We cannot ask women to trust us with their futures while looking the other way when one of our own hurts them,” said Jackson, who campaigned alongside Platner.
Speaking to the Bangor Daily News, Jackson said that he had “never considered” stepping into the race, but if Platner ends his bid, Jackson – a logger and former state lawmaker – said he is “very interested” and “the best person to replace him”. The outlet also reported that Shah and Bellows received “numerous encouraging calls of support Monday as potential Platner replacements”, according to people familiar with the conversations.
On Tuesday, a grassroots effort to “draft” Jackson as the Democratic Senate nominee was launched – which included a campaign-style video meeting with voters and local businesses. While Shah issued a statement saying that “anyone running for this nomination should agree to at least one televised debate and hold multiple public town halls across every corner of the state”.
The former public health director added that he is “committed” to doing that should he run.
Jordan Wood – a former congressional staffer who initially ran against Platner before switching to a competitive House race and losing to Matt Dunlap – has also reportedly been fielding calls about potentially entering the Senate race.
Gaya Gupta
Ninety-five per cent of Americans believe the US is suffering an affordability crisis, as many report trouble with the rising cost of groceries and gas, according to an exclusive new poll conducted for the Guardian.
The survey, conducted by Harris Poll, paints a bleak picture of how people feel about the US economy amid the war in Iran and ahead of the key midterm elections this fall.
Despite stable employment and record-high stock markets, more Americans believe the overall economy is getting worse (57%) than in February (46%), when the poll was last conducted and before the war in the Middle East sent gas prices soaring. Fewer people today also believe the economy is getting better (16%, compared with 28% in February) and more say their financial security has gotten worse.
The affordability struggle crosses party lines: about half of all Democrats, Republicans and independents say they are having trouble affording everyday necessities like gas and groceries. Two-thirds of Americans – including 49% of Republicans – said they have little faith that the federal government will improve the cost-of-living crisis they face.
Though Republicans have been far more optimistic about the economy than Democrats and independents under Donald Trump’s second term, the war in Iran seems to have soured those in the president’s base.
While 49% of Republicans said the economy was getting better in February, just 27% said the same in the new poll. Meanwhile, 38% of Republicans say the economy is now getting worse compared with 22% who said the same in February.
The window for replacing Graham Platner narrows
A reminder that it is possible for Democrats to replace their party’s Senate nominee in Maine.
However, the clock is ticking for this to be a possibility. In order to have a new candidate on the ballot for the general election, Graham Platner would have to end his campaign by 13 July at 5pm ET, according to state law.
Democrats would then have a two week window – until 5pm ET on 27 July – to pick a replacement.
Following the recent sexual assault allegation reported by Politico on Monday, Maine Democratic party leaders called on Platner to step down. The powerful Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has already said that it would no longer invest in the Maine Senate race as long as Platner remains on the ballot.
State law doesn’t dictate the exact process for selecting a replacement nominee, but there has been consternation among Democrats about a closed-door party selection, which would bypass a competitive process that effectively allows voters to repeat the primary process.
“If a process for selecting a new nominee becomes necessary, it will be open, transparent, and inclusive,” said Devon Murphy-Anderson, the Maine Democratic Party’s executive director, in a statement. “[The party] hopes that we have broad participation of Mainers and Democratic voters in what happens next. In no scenario is there a legal possibility for a nominee to be selected by an individual campaign.”
