Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / Tamara Keith and Carrie Dann on Platner facing calls to drop out of Maine Senate race

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Tamara Keith and Carrie Dann on Platner facing calls to drop out of Maine Senate race · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: Democrats in Maine are scrambling again, and the state Democratic
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  Speaker 1: Party is calling on Graham Platner to drop out of
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  Speaker 1: the Senate race as a new accuser against the nominee
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  Speaker 1: comes forward. Political reported this afternoon that a woman named
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  Speaker 1: Jenny Rosscott says Platner sexually assaulted her nearly five years ago.
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  Speaker 1: She spoke to CNN about the alleged rape.
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  Speaker 2: I don't believe that you can think that that scenario
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  Speaker 2: is consensual. You have to understand that that wasn't when
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  Speaker 2: somebody is repeatedly, I mean, when somebody in the middle
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  Speaker 2: of it says, don't touch me like, that's obviously not consensual.
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  Speaker 1: Rosscott says she's speaking out now as she balanced supporting
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  Speaker 1: Platner's politics but not him personally. Platner responded to the
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  Speaker 1: allegations in a video on social media.
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  Speaker 3: Any accusation of non consensual behavior is categorically false, regardless
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  Speaker 3: of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but mindful the political
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  Speaker 3: reality it will inflict, we are taking the time to
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  Speaker 3: reflect on the best path forward for the state that
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  Speaker 3: I love, the people that I love, the movement I
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  Speaker 3: belong to, and the goal of defeating Susan Collins.
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  Speaker 1: For more on this development and the week's top political headlines.
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  Speaker 1: We turned to politics Monday Today with Tamara Keith of
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  Speaker 1: NPR and Carrie Dan of The Cook Political Reports filling
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  Speaker 1: in for Amy Walter this week. Thanks for being here, Carrie,
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  Speaker 1: Thanks I to see you.
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  Speaker 4: Tam.
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  Speaker 1: Let's start with this late breaking news now happening in May.
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  Speaker 1: And Carrie, we were already seeing some Democrats start to
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  Speaker 1: come out and call for Platner to step down and
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  Speaker 1: step out of the race. What do you think is
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  Speaker 1: going to happen here?
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  Speaker 5: Well, look, I've never seen a candidate make a video
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  Speaker 5: like that saying I'm going to assess the situation, move forward,
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  Speaker 5: and go on to say actually, I'm going to stick
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  Speaker 5: this one out. It looks like this is trending towards
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  Speaker 5: him making the decision to drop out. Now, the timing
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  Speaker 5: is really important here. If this story had broken after
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  Speaker 5: five o'clock next Monday, Democrats would have been stuck with
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  Speaker 5: Graham Platner on the ballot. As it stands, he has
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  Speaker 5: a week to drop out, and then if he chooses
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  Speaker 5: to the party can choose another candidate within the next
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  Speaker 5: two weeks. Who they choose if he is to drop
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  Speaker 5: out is going to be really crucial here. I think
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  Speaker 5: if you're Democrats, you want to pick the most generic
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  Speaker 5: Democrat you possibly can for that seat. Now, the main
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  Speaker 5: governor's race just took place. There are candidates who ran
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  Speaker 5: statewide there, as well as other candidates who ran for
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  Speaker 5: Senate who are probably raising their hands to maybe want
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  Speaker 5: to be that candidate on the ballot. Susan Colins remains
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  Speaker 5: very vulnerable. This could end up being the best news
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  Speaker 5: Democrats could have had if they are able to replace
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  Speaker 5: him with a candidate who can be competitive against her. However,
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  Speaker 5: that person is going to have to raise a lot
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  Speaker 5: of money and a lot of name I d really darnfast.
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  Speaker 1: Damn that were you looking at this?
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  Speaker 5: Yeah?
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  Speaker 6: I mean Platner took that primary by storm. He got
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  Speaker 6: voters very excited about him and his progressive policies, and
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  Speaker 6: then there's just been this drip drip drip of controversies, scandals,
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  Speaker 6: red flags leading up to this point where you know,
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  Speaker 6: we have seen Democrats start to separate themselves from him,
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  Speaker 6: including people who were early to endorse him. Rocanna, who
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  Speaker 6: is a progressive Democrat and congressman, has said, oh, that's
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  Speaker 6: a little bit too far, so has Reuben Diego a Senator,
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  Speaker 6: and more are coming. This is just one of those
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  Speaker 6: things where it becomes insurmountable. And as Carrie said, he
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  Speaker 6: said that he's taking time to reflect on the best
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  Speaker 6: path forward. That is not what you say if you're
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  Speaker 6: fighting and staying in.
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  Speaker 1: Meanwhile, I know you're also tracking another big race in Michigan.
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  Speaker 1: This is the Democratic Senate primary race, a big moment
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  Speaker 1: this weekend when one of the candidates, Mallory mcmorro, decided
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  Speaker 1: to drop out. The race is now down to two people.
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  Speaker 1: There's a centrist candidate in Haley Stevens and a progressive
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  Speaker 1: candidate in Abdul el Sayid tam As you know, this
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  Speaker 1: is a state that Trump narrowly won in twenty twenty
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  Speaker 1: four after flipping it in twenty sixteen. So the dem
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  Speaker 1: winner here will likely face Republican Mike Rogers. What do
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  Speaker 1: you take away from.
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  Speaker 4: All of this?
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  Speaker 6: Yeah, I think that what we are watching with this
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  Speaker 6: race and have been watching, and now it'll become an
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  Speaker 6: even sort of clearer example of this is where is
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  Speaker 6: the heart of the Democratic Party? What did Democratic primary
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  Speaker 6: voters want? Not just in very blue places like Denver,
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  Speaker 6: and New York City, but also in a purple state
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  Speaker 6: like Michigan, and what you had was this progressive lane,
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  Speaker 6: and you had the more conventional democratic standard lane, whatever
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  Speaker 6: you want to call it. And Mallory McMorrow was competing
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  Speaker 6: with Congresswoman Stevens in that more mainstream, mainline democratic lane,
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  Speaker 6: and McMorrow, I talked to someone who has worked with her,
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  Speaker 6: mcmorroe just couldn't compete. Stevens had a ton of money,
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  Speaker 6: a ton of backing from the Democratic establishment, and mcmorroe
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  Speaker 6: couldn't get her name idea out there. I will note
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  Speaker 6: she has not endorsed, she has not thrown her support
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  Speaker 6: behind either of them. And I think that there's a
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  Speaker 6: real question of where her supporters go because certainly some
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  Speaker 6: of the people who told polsters they were supporting her
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  Speaker 6: they wanted change, They just wanted a different flavor of change.
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  Speaker 6: And I think that trying to figure out this how
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  Speaker 6: to capture the energy that a lot of Democratic and
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  Speaker 6: frankly Republican voters have for change, I think is a
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  Speaker 6: theme that we're seeing in all of these races.
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  Speaker 1: Well, this is the question we ask over and over again, Carrie,
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  Speaker 1: does this race tell us anything about the direction of
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  Speaker 1: the Democratic Party.
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  Speaker 5: I think it certainly will, and I think abdil I'll
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  Speaker 5: say it. I do think Michigan Democratic voters are thinking
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  Speaker 5: about electability as part of their calculation.
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  Speaker 3: Here.
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  Speaker 5: I'll say it makes the argument I can remake the
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  Speaker 5: electorate I am with progressive ideas, with the backing of
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  Speaker 5: somebody like Bernie Sanders, I can mobilize young progressives. I
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  Speaker 5: can mobilize disaffected Trump voters who liked Trump because they
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  Speaker 5: were voting for change. He represents certainly bold change. I
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  Speaker 5: think it's interesting that mcmora was not able to get
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  Speaker 5: that momentum because she was sort of this Goldilocks candidate.
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  Speaker 5: If you're thinking about electability and you also want bold
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  Speaker 5: change in somebody who says, hey, I'm going to tell
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  Speaker 5: Chuck Schumer that I don't support him. She would have
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  Speaker 5: been that candidate, but she just simply couldn't compete. Elsaiah,
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  Speaker 5: on the other hand, seems to have the momentum. He's
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  Speaker 5: being outspent on the airwaves by Haley Stevens by seventeen
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  Speaker 5: to one, So the support that he is getting is
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  Speaker 5: really from the grassroots movement that he has been able
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  Speaker 5: to build. And also I think from being a talented candidate,
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  Speaker 5: policy aside, he communicates. I think he looks and sounds
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  Speaker 5: like a normal person and is calling for change, and
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  Speaker 5: I think that's what a lot of voters want in
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  Speaker 5: their politicians. He does these great he does these advertisements
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  Speaker 5: for he's water skiing. I mean, he looks like a
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  Speaker 5: normal guide people that may be appealing to people.
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  Speaker 1: Before I let you both go, I need to kind
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  Speaker 1: of look back at this weekend's to fifty eight celebrations
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  Speaker 1: and a bit of a split screen. I know you've
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  Speaker 1: both been mulling over as well, because you saw the
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  Speaker 1: President speak as he often does, sort of marrying historical
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  Speaker 1: narratives with political grievances in his remarks. And then we
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  Speaker 1: also saw these marches that caught a lot of attention,
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  Speaker 1: which was members of this white nationalist group, the Patriot Front,
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  Speaker 1: marching through the streets of Washington, DC, chanting reclaim America.
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  Speaker 1: I know a lot of people saw this photo that
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  Speaker 1: went viral of a black woman on the Toronto train
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  Speaker 1: surrounded by these people. This was taken by photographer Cheney.
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  Speaker 1: Or what does all of this say to you about
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  Speaker 1: America at two.
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  Speaker 6: Fifty Yeah, America in twenty twenty six is still a
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  Speaker 6: very complicated country that doesn't have just one red, white,
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  Speaker 6: and blue narrative, but it has a lot of competing
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  Speaker 6: ideas and the idea that it is still working towards
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  Speaker 6: being a more perfect union.
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  Speaker 5: Ken when you talk about that video of this white
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  Speaker 5: supremacist group, I think it just is a reminder of
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  Speaker 5: how much the Overton window has moved on this. Recall
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  Speaker 5: the Charlottesville Unite the Right rally, how horrifying that was
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  Speaker 5: for Americas because they were so unused to people being
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  Speaker 5: so brazen about those views. Now this happened on a
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  Speaker 5: very busy weekend otherwise, but still it was sort of
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  Speaker 5: a tershy story, and I think that just shows you
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  Speaker 5: how much the country has changed over this period of
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  Speaker 5: time of Donald trmp's presidency.
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  Speaker 1: Complicated, as you say, but hopefully on her way to
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  Speaker 1: a more perfect union. Carried in Tamara Keith. Great to
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  Speaker 1: see you both.
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  Speaker 4: Thank you.
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  Speaker 6: You're welcome.
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  Speaker 4: Baby.
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