{"id":1831,"date":"2026-07-08T19:00:52","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T14:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=1831"},"modified":"2026-07-08T19:00:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T14:00:52","slug":"the-brief-state-party-wants-platner-to-have-no-role-in-picking-replacement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=1831","title":{"rendered":"The Brief: State Party Wants Platner to Have \u2018No Role\u2019 in Picking Replacement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h2-8831c8d8-5bd4-423c-ad66-0a3bd77f48a7\">Platner Replacement Battle Begins to Take Shape <\/h2>\n<p>In the hours after multiple outlets published stories on Jenny Racicot\u2019s allegation that Graham Platner had raped her in 2021, we saw a lot of predictions that he would swiftly step aside. That has not come to pass. His team, according to the state party, is trying to assert some influence over who replaces him \u2014 using leverage that his presence on the ballot continues to create, but that many Democrats say <a href=\"https:\/\/www.messageboxnews.com\/p\/thoughts-on-graham-platners-imploding?hide_intro_popup=true\" target=\"_blank\">he has no right to exercise<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnfortunately, Graham Platner\u2019s team has repeatedly reached out to us in an attempt to put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like,\u201d\u00a0Devon Murphy-Anderson, the executive director of the Maine Democratic Party, said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MaineDems\/status\/2074653501771194683\" target=\"_blank\">video<\/a> posted Tuesday evening. She said Platner would have \u201cno role\u201d in picking his replacement.<\/p>\n<p>Platner\u2019s team denied trying to put a \u201cthumb on the scale.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There is an irony here that Democrats are trying to navigate delicately: attempts by both Platner\u2019s team <em>and<\/em> the party to simply choose a replacement could backfire, taking away voters\u2019 ability to pick who they vote for in a critical race for Senate control this November. <\/p>\n<p>Some potential candidates are calling for a kind of mini-primary. \u201cWhat matters more than anything right now is that the process to select the nominee be as open and transparent as possible,\u201d Nirav Shah, a candidate in the gubernatorial primary and the former head of the state health agency, said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/nirav_maine\/status\/2074521706148884852\" target=\"_blank\">video<\/a> posted yesterday. \u201cFor example, there should be debates and town halls to make sure that Mainers know who they are selecting to take on Senator Collins.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Shah said he is considering a bid to replace Platner, as did Shenna Bellows, the secretary of state and a former gubernatorial candidate. A third gubernatorial candidate, former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, filed <a href=\"https:\/\/docquery.fec.gov\/pdf\/215\/202607079874772215\/202607079874772215.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">paperwork<\/a> to form an exploratory committee. <a href=\"https:\/\/punchbowl.news\/archive\/7826-am\/\" target=\"_blank\">Punchbowl<\/a> reported this morning that outgoing U.S. House Rep. Jared Golden (D) will not enter the race. <\/p>\n<p>Whoever the replacement is, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/07\/08\/upshot\/platner-maine-election-accusation.html\" target=\"_blank\">Nate Cohn writes<\/a> that they would start as a \u201cmodest favorite against Susan Collins.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h2-278026f2-6f9b-40e0-87a5-584027b2d9e8\"><strong>A White Nationalist Group\u2019s July 4 March Sends Ripples Through D.C.<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The white nationalist group Patriot Front marched through Washington, D.C. this past weekend, a grim spectacle amid <a href=\"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/news\/the-great-american-state-fairs-main-exhibit-is-trump-corruption\" target=\"_blank\">an already surreal<\/a> observance of our nation\u2019s first quarter millennium.\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The march set various powerful right-wingers conspiracy theorizing, <a href=\"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/news\/elon-musk-and-gop-house-members-weigh-in-on-deep-white-nationalist-conspiracy-beef\" target=\"_blank\">Hunter Walker reports<\/a>. Elon Musk and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) speculated that the group was a leftist or a law enforcement front, an echo of similar theories about the January 6 insurrection, which some elected Republicans attempted to excuse by baselessly casting it as the work of \u201cantifa\u201d or the FBI.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) <a href=\"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/news\/elon-musk-and-gop-house-members-weigh-in-on-deep-white-nationalist-conspiracy-beef\" target=\"_blank\">took things further<\/a>, proposing that a congressional committee she is on could probe the group while also theorizing that something fishy was going on. \u201cWhat I find odd about Patriot Front is how under Biden they were never investigated,\u201d Luna wrote on X. \u201cWell funded. Never investigated.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Meanwhile, also at TPM, <a href=\"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/cafe\/when-you-hear-remigration-know-that-it-means-ethnic-cleansing\" target=\"_blank\">Christopher Mathias traces how an idea espoused by the founder of Patriot Front<\/a> and various other far-right activists \u2014 the \u201cremigration\u201d of immigrants \u2014 has in a few short years become official Trump administration policy, with a dedicated office at the State Department.\u00a0The term, he writes, is a \u201ceuphemism with the clearest, most traceable of fascist lineages, designed just over a decade ago to soften or obscure the atrocities associated with its actual meaning: ethnic cleansing.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h2-dc98fa0b-fa86-4c6e-803f-9f3d0891dd15\"><strong>Tabs<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ed Kilgore describes the SAVE America Act bait-and-switch I examined yesterday as <a href=\"https:\/\/nymag.com\/intelligencer\/article\/johnson-offers-trump-save-act-consolation-prize.html\" target=\"_blank\">a kind of \u201cconsolation prize\u201d for Trump<\/a>, which feels about right.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>A Trump-appointed federal judge <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/07\/07\/politics\/judge-quashes-justice-department-subpoena-2020-election-workers-georgia\" target=\"_blank\">blocked<\/a> a grand jury subpoena for information about 2020 election workers in Georgia.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Mitch McConnell appears to be talking \u2014 and, after a series of age-and-health related scandals in Congress, his allies really want us to know about it. Majority Leader John Thune <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/07\/07\/us\/politics\/mitch-mcconnell-hospital-thune-barrasso.html\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a> he and McConnell had a \u201clengthy and substantive conversation.\u201d Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) said he and McConnell spoke for \u201croughly 20 minutes.\u201d Conservative talking head Scott Jennings also <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ScottJenningsKY\/status\/2074537046752845872?s=20\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a> he spoke to McConnell for \u201cjust shy of 20 minutes.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h2-3f432078-2fa8-4c86-b2a4-ef82ee937a1c\">Man of the Hour<\/h2>\n<div class=\"GalleryImageWrapper\">\n<h2 class=\"GalleryImageWrapper__Title\"\/>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"564\" width=\"804\" src=\"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2281404024.jpg?w=804\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1551605\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2281404024.jpg 8211w, https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2281404024.jpg?resize=768,539 768w, https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2281404024.jpg?resize=804,564 804w, https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2281404024.jpg?resize=1536,1078 1536w, https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2281404024.jpg?resize=2048,1437 2048w, https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2281404024.jpg?resize=600,421 600w, https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2281404024.jpg?resize=1000,701 1000w, https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2281404024.jpg?resize=1200,842 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 804px) 100vw, 804px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">HOUSTON, TEXAS \u2013 JUNE 12: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks during the Texas GOP convention in the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston Friday, June 12, 2026. (Melissa Phillip\/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>It\u2019s <strong>Ken Paxton<\/strong>. \u201cDespite his own warnings, Paxton appears to have used an address where he did not live while voting in six elections in the past two years, including in May\u2019s runoff that made him the Republican nominee for U.S. senator,\u201d ProPublica <a href=\"https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/article\/ken-paxton-voter-registration-election-law\" target=\"_blank\">reports<\/a>. <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h2-33ad0e18-168e-4500-9bcd-262da52027b5\">Are We At War?<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/world\/trump-says-ceasefire-with-iran-is-over-6cf9675e?mod=hp_lead_pos1\" target=\"_blank\">Today, yes.<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n    window.fbAsyncInit = function() {\n      FB.init({\n        appId: \"101800829865996\",\n        xfbml: true,\n        version: ' v2.6'\n      });\n      window.fbAsyncInit.__didInit = true;\n    };\n    (function(d, s, id) {\n      var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n      if (d.getElementById(id)) {\n        return;\n      }\n      js = d.createElement(s);\n      js.id = id;\n      js.src = \"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\";\n      fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n    }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));\n  <\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Platner Replacement Battle Begins to Take Shape In the hours after multiple outlets published stories on Jenny Racicot\u2019s allegation that Graham Platner had raped her in 2021, we saw a lot of predictions that he would swiftly step aside. That has not come to pass. His team, according to the state party, is trying to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1832,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2279835931.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}