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Graham Platner 'vigorously' making the case against establishment candidates for Maine Senate seat · INSIGHT TODAY

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  Speaker 1: And you might have heard us say tomorrow's election day,
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  Speaker 1: which puts us just about a year away from the
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  Speaker 1: twenty twenty six midterm elections. But one key Senate battle
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  Speaker 1: is already heating up, and that is the Senate seat
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  Speaker 1: in Maine that's currently held by longtime Republican Senator Susan Collins.
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  Speaker 1: That will be a critical race for Democrats if they
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  Speaker 1: hope to pick up any seats in the upper chamber. Now,
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  Speaker 1: Graham Plattner, an Oyster farmer and combat veteran, is hoping
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  Speaker 1: to challenge both Senator Collins and the Democratic Party establishment.
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  Speaker 1: But in recent weeks he's faced an onslaught of damaging revelations,
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  Speaker 1: including past offensive comments on social media and a tattoo
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  Speaker 1: on his chest that resembles a Nazi symbol, which I
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  Speaker 1: understand he has since covered up. Now, my colleague saihil
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  Speaker 1: Kapor sat down with Graham Plattner and asked him how
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  Speaker 1: he's been able to keep his campaign viable.
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  Speaker 2: You're still standing, yes, Why why is that the case?
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  Speaker 2: And how have you been able to transcend what other
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  Speaker 2: candidates would not have been able to one?
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  Speaker 3: I think because I just addressed them, but we didn't
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  Speaker 3: run away from it. I'm very confident in my worldview.
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  Speaker 3: I'm very confident in my politics. But it took years
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  Speaker 3: and years of not being confident, of being confused, and
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  Speaker 3: being disillusioned, being angry. It took all of that to
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  Speaker 3: get me where I am.
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  Speaker 2: One of the arguments that the Mills team is making
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  Speaker 2: and will make is that she's one twice, that she's tested,
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  Speaker 2: that she's a safe bet, and that you haven't run
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  Speaker 2: for office before, and that you would be too risky.
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  Speaker 2: How do you respond to that.
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  Speaker 3: I think the risky candidate is the establishment candidate. I
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  Speaker 3: think my quote unquote lack of experience is a positive.
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  Speaker 3: People don't want establishment politicians. People don't want to see
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  Speaker 3: the same playbook run over and over and over again,
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  Speaker 3: a playbook which, by the way, has failed to unseat
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  Speaker 3: Susan Collins time after time. I firmly believe risk is
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  Speaker 3: running an establishment candidate that is not trying something new.
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  Speaker 1: NBC two senior national political reporter Sihel Koper joins me now,
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  Speaker 1: and obviously he is an interesting figure in politics of
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  Speaker 1: the moment and has a pulse on some things, but
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  Speaker 1: also a lot of baggage coming into your conversation. What
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  Speaker 1: other takeaways after you've spent a little time with.
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  Speaker 2: Him, Yeah, a few things, Kelly. The first is grand
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  Speaker 2: Platner is leaning into the scandals around his offensive posts,
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  Speaker 2: using it as an argument to tell his own story
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  Speaker 2: as a veteran who went to combat, had a dark
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  Speaker 2: disillusion period where he started saying nasty things online on
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  Speaker 2: the internet, fighting with people. He is betting that the
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  Speaker 2: voters of Maine will see that evolution, will believe, you know,
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  Speaker 2: when they come see him, that he's a better person
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  Speaker 2: on that he's moved past those, you know, that previous
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  Speaker 2: phase of his life. Second, he's leaning into electability, which
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  Speaker 2: is interesting. It's not the traditional politician move of, you know,
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  Speaker 2: deflecting and pivoting to your strengths. This is the weakness
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  Speaker 2: for him because on paper it's his opponent, Janet Mills,
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  Speaker 2: who is generally seen as the electable candidate, having won
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  Speaker 2: twice in Maine. He's making the case pretty vigorously that
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  Speaker 2: it's a bad idea to nominate an establishment candidate in
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  Speaker 2: a populist moment, recognizing that this is an argument that
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  Speaker 2: he has to make to voters and win. And finally,
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  Speaker 2: he is extending an olive branch to the DSCC, the
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  Speaker 2: Democratic Campaign Arm even though they're backing Janet Mills, not
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  Speaker 2: taking that personally.
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  Speaker 1: And certainly, Governor Mills has been in politics there a
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  Speaker 1: long time, so has Susan Collins. He is a newer face,
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  Speaker 1: also a younger face, if there's any generational component to this.
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  Speaker 1: But do you get a sense that when you look
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  Speaker 1: at Governor Mills or you look at centat to Collins,
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  Speaker 1: both are very sort of proper politicians. They are not
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  Speaker 1: the type to have extensive controversies. And do you think
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  Speaker 1: that's part of why he's leaning into sort of owning
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  Speaker 1: his own sort of bumps along the way.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, there's certainly a desire Kelly among many of the
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  Speaker 2: voters I spoke to for a different kind of candidate.
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  Speaker 2: Susan Collins has been around for nearly three decades now.
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  Speaker 2: Janet Mills is a known quantity, having served two terms
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  Speaker 2: as governor. Some of the voters I spoke to had
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  Speaker 2: you know, they really liked genimal as They voted for
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  Speaker 2: her twice. Some of them even voted for Susan Collins
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  Speaker 2: on the past. By the way, grand Plattner told me
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  Speaker 2: years ago he voted for Susan Collins in the past,
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  Speaker 2: and many of them are undecided in this primary. The
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  Speaker 2: through line here is all of them are willing to
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  Speaker 2: at least give grand Platten or a chance to explain
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  Speaker 2: himself before they disqualify him. Take a listen. He apologizes
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  Speaker 2: for what he did and he is different now, and
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  Speaker 2: I think that that's a noble quality and a politician.
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  Speaker 1: It's something that I'm going to continue to pay attention
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  Speaker 1: to if there's any more things that come to light.
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  Speaker 2: But I genuinely don't think it's disqualifying because he hasn't
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  Speaker 2: been evasive, he hasn't been defensive.
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  Speaker 3: If you look at the controversies surrounding the current president,
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  Speaker 3: this is nothing. In my opinion.
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  Speaker 2: It gave me pause, but I read his responses and
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  Speaker 2: I'm still intrigued to hear more about him and Kelly.
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  Speaker 2: That could be the crucial question in this idly important
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  Speaker 2: main cenate race. Do the voters want another insider or
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  Speaker 2: are they willing to take a chance on an outsider?
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  Speaker 1: Really interesting sichel thank you so much.
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  Speaker 2: We thank you for watching, and remember stay updated on
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