Khanna backs Maine Democrats as Platner controversy swirls

Ro Khanna used a Sunday interview on Face the Nation to keep standing by Graham Platner even as Maine Democrats headed into a June 9 primary shadowed by allegations that have rattled the party’s Senate hopes. With Susan Collins still the Republican to beat and control of the Senate in play, Khanna argued that the race was about more than scandal, and more than Maine.

Khanna called Platner’s conduct “misogynistic, shameful, and wrong,” but said it did not come as a surprise to many people in Maine. He pointed to Platner’s two tours in Iraq, his return home in a “dark place,” and his decision to start an oyster farm, saying the candidate had taken accountability and had “redemption.” Khanna said he was still backing Platner because the campaign was built around national health insurance, taxing billionaires and opposing foreign war, while Susan Collins was aligned with cuts and tax breaks for the wealthy.

The controversy around Platner has widened well beyond a single Senate primary. Khanna was asked about allegations that Platner sent sexually explicit texts to multiple women while married, had a tattoo with Nazi symbols that he later covered up, and posted material on social media insulting rural people and downplaying sexual assault. Khanna said the damaging information seemed to be largely out before the primary and drew a firm line, saying he would not support Platner if there were evidence of violence or sexual assault.

The race has become a test case for the Democratic Party’s national message as much as for Maine politics. Janet Mills suspended her campaign in April, leaving Platner as the field’s anti-establishment progressive and, many Democrats believed, the likely nominee to challenge Collins. Khanna’s decision to keep campaigning for him suggested that one wing of the party is still willing to defend a messy outsider if the candidate can sell a sharper economic and anti-war message. That same broader broadcast also turned to intelligence-community concerns, an expiring surveillance program and the coming fight over artificial intelligence, underscoring how Democrats are trying to tie elections to health care, technology, security and power.