# Are there any reasons to reject Graham Platner in Maine (campaign suspended July 8, 2026) **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 4, 2026, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179 "2026-03-04T03:50:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 64
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1263 "2026-06-13T15:22:41Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > Those in this thread that think Platner will go full trojan horse republican on day one, what is your take on Fetterman? I don’t actually think he will (in fact, I have absolutely no idea how Platner will conduct himself in office when / if he’s elected), but both of them strike me as fairly similar personality types. Impulsive, bad at predicting the consequences of their actions, inconsistent about everything except their desire to be the center of attention. The fact that they don’t like each other is beside the point. (Most attention hogs don’t like other attention hogs, for understandable reasons.) Drives me crazy that this sort of thing is seen as “authenticity.” Give me a nice generic corporate Democrat who listens to focus groups and has been polishing their resume since elementary school. _That’s_ someone who knows how to delay gratification and act like a team player. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1264 "2026-06-13T16:23:12Z")
Fetterman is, I suspect, less impulsive and more calculating than he is given credit for. His positioning is very consistent with focus group driven in his state. He overall is above water on favorability, more popular with Republican voters than Ds, even as he actually does vote with the Ds the vast majority of the time. Just critically not always. Able to sell himself as other than an obedient foot soldier. If he can survive being primaried he’d win a next election. Winning the general there is much easier if he is perceived as pushing against progressives and the left end of the Democratic party, and bucking what many of the voters there perceive as knee jerk trying to block anything Trump does. What positions did he actually flip on between his ‘22 Senate campaign and as a Senator? My take is that he is an asshole, not a completely reliable D vote but more often than not is, and that Oz winning the seat would have been a much more disastrous outcome. Platner has stated positions that Fetterman did not run on. They are both appealing to working class voters as the swing they need, both selling being willing to go against the establishment powers, but through very different messaging. Maine working class Independents are a different group than the PA working class voters. It serves them both well to call each other names. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1265 "2026-06-13T16:49:41Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Fetterman is, I suspect, less impulsive and more calculating than he is given credit for. His positioning is very consistent with focus group driven in his state. He overall is above water on favorability, more popular with Republican voters than Ds, even as he actually does vote with the Ds the vast majority of the time. Just critically not always. This would be more convincing if he had been this way from the start, and not just after the stroke. I think he is exactly what he appears to be, a con man that lost the ability to stay in character. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1266 "2026-06-13T17:03:48Z")
**Moderating:** > [@China\_Guy](#): > > Those in this thread that think Platner will go full trojan horse republican on day one, what is your take on Fetterman? Take it to the Fetterman thread if it isn’t about his actual actions compared to, or about Graham Platner, such as the earlier reported comments where Fetterman was attacking Platner. > [@John Fetterman really needs to resign](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-fetterman-really-needs-to-resign/1017875): > > By all accounts, he’s not doing well health-wise and in fact seems to be deteriorating in many ways, physically and mentally. This is where I first saw this story. They also mentioned a Colorado congresswoman who had repeated expressed suicidal ideations, and that person appears to be Yadira Caraveo. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1267 "2026-06-13T17:04:51Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > I think he is exactly what he appears to be, a con man that lost the ability to stay in character. Well anyone who is listening to focus groups and has been polishing their resume since elementary school is a con artist, giving the suckers what they want. The current character positions him to win the next election cycle in PA better than being a loyal foot soldier or part of the progressive team would. When did an incumbent Senator last get successfully primaried in PA? I’m sure it has happened but not very often. Maybe this is just who he is, post-stroke, authentically, but if he _was_ a focus group driven politician positioning for re-election in this specific purple state, this would be a good character to play. And that is not a character that would serve a Senator Platner’s goal to win next time at all. ETA: sorry posted before seeing mod guidance. Please feel free to move to a different thread if felt appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1268 "2026-06-13T17:06:49Z")
You’re fine, it was a nearly simulpost, and while comparisons have been, and are likely inevitable (and have been allowed), if it’s a discussion of Fetterman _specifically_ it’s best taken to the existing thread. If anyone _wants_ there posts here moved to the Fetterman thread, PM me or flag, please and thank you. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1269 "2026-06-14T02:33:02Z")
[Platner on X, June 1, 2026:](https://x.com/grahamformaine/status/2061504370903060966) > [@](#): > > A staggering one-third of her money raised this quarter came directly from AIPAC. > > Senator Collins is bought and paid for by Benjamin Netanyahu . . . Dual loyalty trope. That would be a reason for me to reject him, if a Mainer. But I’m not telling anyone how to vote. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1270 "2026-06-14T03:27:39Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Dual loyalty trope. > > That would be a reason for me to reject him, if a Mainer. But I’m not telling anyone how to vote. It is a reasonable point, now that Bibi is buddies with tramp. I am pro Israel, but anti Netanyahu . ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1271 "2026-06-14T03:44:11Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > It is a reasonable point, now that Bibi is buddies with tramp. …what does that have to do with AIPAC, which is an organization of American citizens? ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1272 "2026-06-14T04:35:57Z")
The phrasing “bought and paid for by Benjamin Netanyahu” is of course hyperbolic. AIPAC does not constitute foreign agents, and money is not funneling from Bibi to Collins. AIPAC is though an unflinching lobbyist of support for Netanyahu’s leadership in Israel, and Israel’s actions have been … let’s just say widely disapproved of by much of the not MAGA demographic that Platner hopes to win with. Getting large support from AIPAC, and support for anything and everything that Israel does is a vote loser for many swing and Independent voters as well as many Democratic ones, including many American Jews. I do not read that as a dual loyalty trope; it is more akin to pointing out gun lobby donations that are large enough to warrant a bought and paid for charge. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1273 "2026-06-14T05:17:19Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Israel’s actions have been … let’s just say widely disapproved of by much of the not MAGA demographic that Platner hopes to win with. To give that some numbers - > **[Israelis No Longer Ahead in Americans' Middle East Sympathies](https://news.gallup.com/poll/702440/israelis-no-longer-ahead-americans-middle-east-sympathies.aspx)** > > Israelis no longer lead the Palestinians in Americans' sympathies, with independents' shift toward the Palestinians driving most of the change. > ## Independents’ Sympathies Shift Toward Palestinians in Past Year > > Americans’ shifting sympathies in the Middle East situation this year are mostly driven by changes among political independents. By 41% to 30%, independents say they sympathize more with the Palestinians than the Israelis, whereas in all prior years, they were more sympathetic toward the Israelis, including by 42% to 34% last year. Being a strong supporter of Israel at the current time is popular in strongly GOP identifying voters. Less so for everyone else. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1274 "2026-06-14T07:30:03Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Dual loyalty trope. Collins is [Catholic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Collins#Personal_life). The dual loyalty attack against [Catholics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_loyalty#Catholics) is that the Pope controls them, not the Prime Minister of Israel. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1275 "2026-06-14T13:15:28Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Getting large support from AIPAC, and support for anything and everything that Israel does is a vote loser for many swing and Independent voters as well as many Democratic ones, including many American Jews. As mentioned in this NYT article from the other day: [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/12/magazine/aipac-democrats-israel.html?smid=nytcore-android-share](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/12/magazine/aipac-democrats-israel.html?smid=nytcore-android-share) ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1276 "2026-06-14T13:52:06Z")
I am still a vehement supporter of the existence of the nation of Israel. I am not a supporter of the current and recent behavior of the current government of Israel. For multiple reasons, one of which (certainly not the only one) is that I’m afraid it will lead to the destruction of the country. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1277 "2026-06-14T13:54:39Z")
Yeah. The article points out that there are cracks on AIPAC even from the right as well, and what I cited notes that: > Republicans continue to express greater sympathy for the Israelis than the Palestinians. Seven in 10 Republicans (70%) say they sympathize more with the Israelis, compared with 13% who sympathize more with the Palestinians. Although this remains a substantial gap, sympathy for the Israelis among Republicans has declined by 10 points since 2024 to its lowest level since 2004. Yes some of _that_ softening is coming from the Tucker Carlson camp, and some of that _is_ a veneered Jewish cabal crap. But some even on the GOP side just don’t see American enabling of everything and everything that Israel does as either moral or in American best interests. (Or as @thornylocust notes, in Israel’s interest for that sake.) Strong AIPAC funding can buy airtime but it correctly comes with baggage that team Platner would be foolish to not exploit. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1278 "2026-06-14T14:29:52Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > AIPAC, which is an organization of American citizens So are the NRA and CPAC and their endorsement will be held against a candidate by many around here. I know, I know… with AIPAC there IS a deeper darker issue at play, not just “Israel”, something ugly beyond mere policy. But it doesn’t help them that _institutionally_ they too tend to boast about how you’d better be on their good side, or that for practical purposes they **have** assumed the position of demanding unconditional, unlimited support for a faction. They make it too easy. Ideally everyone would be _proactively_ informed of who’s supporting whom, and they’d tell us “make of that what you will”, rather than wait for oppo research. But this is what we’ve got. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1279 "2026-06-14T17:54:45Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > …what does that have to do with AIPAC, which is an organization of American citizens? Which is strongly aligned with Netanyahu, advocates strongly for Israel’s military objectives, and has Bibi as a speaker quite often. Not to mention- donates to trump and other MAGA causes, such as - Collins. > [@DSeid](#): > > The phrasing “bought and paid for by Benjamin Netanyahu” is of course hyperbolic. AIPAC does not constitute foreign agents, and money is not funneling from Bibi to Collins. AIPAC is though an unflinching lobbyist of support for Netanyahu’s leadership in Israel, and Israel’s actions have been … let’s just say widely disapproved of by much of the not MAGA demographic that Platner hopes to win with. Right. ---
**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1280 "2026-06-14T21:16:27Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > The whole thing is a delightful read, because Valente knows her way around a fucking sentence. She lost me with “since like March.” ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1281 "2026-06-14T23:01:35Z")
Okay! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179/1282 "2026-06-14T23:19:50Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > One of my all-time favorite authors, Catherynne Valente, weighs in. She is calm and measured. > Do I think he’s a beautiful leftist cinnamon roll of a messiah who must be protected and elevated at all costs? Absolutely not. Are there things that bother me about both him and his supporters? Definitely. Do I think any of that fucking matters right now? Not even a little bit. > > Am I going to vote for him? _Of fucking course I am what are we even doing here?_ > > Well, I’ll tell you what we’re doing here. The same thing we do every single time a Democratic candidate gets any traction or momentum at all. Passively watch the media tuck a napkin into its bib and eat that D alive with a massive bowl of hot buttery hypocrisy to dunk them in before shrugging helplessly and losing again. What else could we possibly do? > _I fucking live and vote in goddamned Maine_. Which no poster here does, IIRC. Maine is different, and weird- they like Platner, and all us calling him a Nazi is doing nothing but helping trump. Mind you- Platner wouldnt stand a chance in California- but Maine is not California. Do I like him? Nope, but I dont live in Maine either. Maine didnt even bother to join the USA until 1820. And where the hell were all the “we must have YOUNG candidates, to hell with all the old fogeys! No more old people for candidates” posters? Collins 73, Mills 78. Platner? 41. Suddenly, they are in another thread. And, Platner is not a Nazi. Period. Mind you, again, not someone I would pick, not here in California, his judgement seems flawed. Posters here toss around “fascist” and “nazi” so much the terms have become watered down and nigh meaningless. (Okay, I have called trump a “fascist wannabe”, but not an actual 'fascist"- he is a Right Wing Populist- which in History have become real Fascists too many times) Platner is a bad choice- except for Maine. But in any case, he is 100% better than “in bed with the MAGAs Collins”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179.md?page=63) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-reasons-to-reject-graham-platner-in-maine-campaign-suspended-july-8-2026/1028179.md?page=65)