Latest / INSIGHT TODAY / With Graham Platner out of the Maine Senate race, Democrats scramble to find a replacement

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With Graham Platner out of the Maine Senate race, Democrats scramble to find a replacement · INSIGHT TODAY

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  Speaker 1: After mounting scandals and a massive drop in support, mains Grain,
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  Speaker 1: Platina has ended his campaign for US Senate. The Democrat
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  Speaker 1: posted an eleven minute video last night. He blamed the
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  Speaker 1: political establishment for his exit from the race and denied
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  Speaker 1: the allegations against him.
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  Speaker 2: I just want to make it clear this is all false.
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  Speaker 2: The things that have been claimed did not happen. It's
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  Speaker 2: not real. We believe that for the movement to continue,
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  Speaker 2: it can't be made now.
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  Speaker 1: Maine Democrats face a July twenty seventh deadline to choose
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  Speaker 1: a replacement nominee, and the pool of contenders is already growing.
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  Speaker 1: CBS News has learned Maine's former CDC director, that's doctor
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  Speaker 1: Nirov Shah, officially announced his campaign this morning. Our Kaitlin
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  Speaker 1: Hue Burns spoke with him yesterday. He says getting Maine
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  Speaker 1: voters involved with the with selecting the new candidate is crucial.
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  Speaker 3: And when we think about going up against an opponent
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  Speaker 3: like Senator Collins, who is uniquely vulnerable this year, we
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  Speaker 3: need to make sure that our nominee comes out of
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  Speaker 3: the gate with as much strength as possible. They need
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  Speaker 3: a full head of steam behind them and a strong
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  Speaker 3: nomination process will help generate and propel them forward.
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  Speaker 1: Obvious News political director fing Gomez joins us now from
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  Speaker 1: his DC office with more on this Fingo Morning to you.
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  Speaker 1: Platna really seemed to come off as defiant in his
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  Speaker 1: clip and in his statement. What do you make of that?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah?
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  Speaker 4: Absolutely, Eral, I think his message was unmistakably defined. He
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  Speaker 4: sworned in eleven minutes, adamantly denying the allegations against them,
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  Speaker 4: calling them false, calling them not real, in arguing that
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  Speaker 4: he was pushed out by the democratic political establishment in
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  Speaker 4: corporate media. He also talked about the populist movement that
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  Speaker 4: he helped create and name. But regardless of how he
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  Speaker 4: framed it, I think the political reality was just too much.
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  Speaker 4: It really shifted. These outgations were just too severe to
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  Speaker 4: overcome any lost support, as you know, not just from
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  Speaker 4: establishment leaders like Chuck Schumer, but from fellow progressives like
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  Speaker 4: Bernie Sainterers And I think you saw that sort of
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  Speaker 4: from national to Maine Democrats party donors, they all abandoned
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  Speaker 4: his campaign and really leaving him with virtually no path forward.
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  Speaker 1: Eryl. So we just said from doctor Nurov shaw a
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  Speaker 1: moment ago, I want to show you former Maine Senate
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  Speaker 1: president and gubernatorial Kindada Troy Jackson, speaking before Plattna dropped
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  Speaker 1: out of the race. I'm definitely gonna seek the nomination.
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  Speaker 1: There's a movement right now with people that are upset
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  Speaker 1: with government, and I don't want to see it die.
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  Speaker 1: You got Shaw, you got Jackson. How big do we
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  Speaker 1: expect this field of contenders potential replacements to be.
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  Speaker 4: A great question. I think then that is the question
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  Speaker 4: right now, because I think it's going to be probably
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  Speaker 4: pretty big, pretty crowded. Look, Troy Jackson was a gubernatorial
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  Speaker 4: nominee excuse melatorial can this year. He did not win
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  Speaker 4: in that race, but he was backed by who Senator
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  Speaker 4: Bernie Sanders, so he immediately gets a lot of attention
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  Speaker 4: from progressives. Democrats have until July twenty seventh to the
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  Speaker 4: trews that replacement nominee after Planner drops out. He still
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  Speaker 4: hasn't officially followed that paperwork. But look, there's not gonna
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  Speaker 4: be another primary, and there's already intense interest behind the scenes.
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  Speaker 4: He talked about near rob Shaw, but there's also others
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  Speaker 4: Troy Jackson, like you mentioned Dan Kleeban, who's a business
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  Speaker 4: leader who did have who did initially launch a Senate
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  Speaker 4: campaign last year but bowed out and actually ended up
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  Speaker 4: endorsing Janet Mills in that race. You also have you know,
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  Speaker 4: there's also Congresswoman Kelley Pingree, who's interesting. Her NIE's been
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  Speaker 4: discussed a lot, and along with Secretary of State Shabt Bellows.
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  Speaker 4: And also like another question that I have and a
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  Speaker 4: lot of people have, is what does Janet Mills do?
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  Speaker 4: That's the governor who faced the platner and lost and
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  Speaker 4: really suspended her campaign in the that in that race
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  Speaker 4: before the primary, she was the handpicked candidate by Chuck Schumer,
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  Speaker 4: by the established it established more of a concern, more
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  Speaker 4: of a excuse me, more of a moderate if you will, like,
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  Speaker 4: what does she do? Democrats in Maine will now hold
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  Speaker 4: a delegate nomination convention, uh, following that paperwork that the
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  Speaker 4: planner has to file, and then you know, and then
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  Speaker 4: it's it's big pivot you go from you know, they
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  Speaker 4: have to find someone who can unify the party right
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  Speaker 4: now in all this chaos, and then immediately pivot to
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  Speaker 4: the general election. Juli was supposed to be sort of
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  Speaker 4: a quiet month, really raising money, but now getting ready
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  Speaker 4: for the general election. But now they have to pick
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  Speaker 4: a nominee. Uh and in the race against Susan Collins,
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  Speaker 4: who's the incumbent Republican in this race, that's really now
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  Speaker 4: the big challenge. She was and is considered one of
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  Speaker 4: the most vulnerable Republicans at the beginning of this year,
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  Speaker 4: at the beginning of this cycle. H but now obviously
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  Speaker 4: this helps her. So the question now is who will
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  Speaker 4: be that Democrat who's going to be carrying the Democratic
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  Speaker 4: banner against her in this must win state that Democrats
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  Speaker 4: need if they want, if they hope to take back
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  Speaker 4: the Senate come November.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's why we're paying so much attention to
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  Speaker 1: this and we're leading with this. National Democrats see this
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  Speaker 1: as a must win that certainly in jeopardy. Finn, thank
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  Speaker 1: you so much.