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As a now-former volunteer leader with the Graham Platner campaign and former state convention delegate, this week has been filled with immeasurable disappointment. These allegations are serious, credible, and Graham’s withdrawal was the right decision for this moment.
The contempt I saw from the Maine Democratic Party and self-proclaimed moderates in the party has been something else entirely. The amount of vitriol directed at progressives and Platner supporters would, I think, make even the most ardent MAGA voter blush. Regardless of what you think of the man, he won with more primary votes than any other Democratic U.S. Senate candidate in Maine history. No amount of “we told you so” will change that. Conceit won’t re-open rural hospitals.
I believe this campaign was never about Platner. His name was on the ballot, but the real candidate is the working class that has suffered far too long. Graham merely put a face to the reality we experience daily. We don’t show up only for Graham Platner. We show up for our neighbors: those who Republicans and Democrats alike have left behind.
I believe Sen. Susan Collins’ five terms in the U.S. Senate have nothing to do with winning Republican strategies and everything to do with a failure of the Democratic Party. Given the tone set by the Maine Democratic Party, it’s evident to me that, absent radical changes, we are doomed to repeat history.
I think the people of Maine deserve a real, progressive candidate, selected by a fair and transparent process. Moneyed interests and entitlement don’t enact meaningful change. People do. And we, the people, demand it.
Mitchell Cooper
Bangor