Politics

Maine Democratic voters are wary about repeating mistakes of 2024

Published

3 months ago

July 8, 2026

BRUNSWICK, Maine — The effort to push Graham Platner out of the Maine Senate race has some Democrats flashing back to 2024 — and making them worry about abandoning their nominee.

Platner has seen a dramatic drop in support within the party and has lost his biggest financial backers after POLITICO reported that a woman said he forced her to have sex with him, which he denies. Democrats in Maine are already jockeying to replace him on the ballot and take on GOP Sen. Susan Collins — all before Platner has even dropped out of the race.

That series of events, several voters said in interviews, dredged up unwelcome memories of one fateful summer two years ago, when former President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid late, leaving his Vice President Kamala Harris just 107 days to beat Donald Trump. Then, she lost.

Platner should end his bid “only if he does it in time for another good strong candidate to actually hit the ground really running like hell,” Claudia Knox, 85, told Blue Light News.

“I do want a fighter. I do want Collins out. So, the question to me is, if he withdraws, what happens? That’s my question,” she added. “Maybe he should hurry up, because this is feeling parallel to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.”

Some Maine voters told Blue Light News they’re doubtful that another candidate can replicate Platner’s momentum, even as some of them want him to drop out. They’re skeptical of what the process to replace him would even look like and worried whether Democrats have enough time to both pick a new nominee and unseat Collins.

Linda, a 79-year-old Brunswick resident who declined to share her last name, said that it was time for Platner to end his campaign. But she’s worried Democrats now face potentially insurmountable odds to defeat Collins with just four months left before the general election.

“It’s going to be tough, tough, tough. It’s going to be very tough,” she said. “I think [Democrats] have a reasonable slate of people to work with. … They can’t just go blue sky now. I mean, they’ve got to focus.”

If Platner withdraws by Monday, the Maine Democratic Party has until July 27 to name his replacement. Some officials have already begun maneuvering to identify who can step in and are considering the unsuccessful candidates for governor in this year’s primary — Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, former public health official Nirav Shah and former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson — as well as state Rep. Valli Geiger and brewery owner Dan Kleban, who briefly launched his own Senate campaign last year.

Harris’ experience shows the difficulty for a candidate to step in late in the process and rebuild Democrats’ ticket-topping campaign. Platner’s replacement will have a short runway to reintroduce themself to voters and broadcast their policy priorities — all while continually having to distance their campaign from the oysterman and his string of controversies.

But the two situations are not entirely analogous. None of the candidates have shared a ticket with Platner, and all have forcefully denounced him. Harris, on the other hand, had to contend with the four years she served alongside Biden, as his presidency grew increasingly unpopular.

Biden and Harris spokespeople did not respond to requests for comment.

Those differences haven’t calmed some Maine voters’ early concerns at this nascent stage in the process, though.

“We are just leery about a new kind of Kamala Harris situation, where we don’t get to choose whatever Democratic candidate will be on the ticket,” said Stephanie Gardner, 38, as she removed her Graham Platner campaign sign from her yard in Topsham on Tuesday morning.

Gardner said she believes it’s time for Platner to step aside and wants Jackson to step up in his stead. Jackson, who touted endorsements from Platner and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in his unsuccessful run for governor, has already filed paperwork exploring a run.

Rose Heithoff, 35, said that she might prefer a process in which party leaders help winnow the field to avoid a full intraparty war, but acknowledged that didn’t solve Democrats’ problems in 2024: “If you look back at the Biden-Harris situation, that was a fumble in some ways because I think people felt like they didn’t necessarily have the choice,” she said.

The Maine Democratic Party has promised an open process and that it will reveal details as soon as Platner withdraws from the race. In a fiery Tuesday evening post on social media, Maine Democratic Party Executive Director Devon Murphy-Anderson also slammed Platner’s team for reaching out to party officials to “put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like.”

But for now, it’s unclear whether there will be any public debates and campaigning, or how much voters will have a say.

Platner said on social media within minutes of Blue Light News’s report publishing Monday that he was “taking the time to reflect on the best path forward.” By Tuesday, he had cancelled fundraisers, pulled down ads, and lost support from his biggest backers, including Sanders. The powerful national Democratic campaign arm and outside groups who’ve helped fund Platner’s bid said they would focus their resources elsewhere.

Even so, some voters don’t want to see Platner go at all, worried about the consequences for the race.

On Monday, outside the site of a cancelled town hall in Gorham where Platner was scheduled to field questions from voters, Kirk Little, 78, said “the Democratic Party disqualifies people too soon” and he is sticking with Platner — for now.

Blue Light News had published Racicot’s allegations just an hour before the event was supposed to begin, and Little had heard of it from a radio broadcast in his car.

“If it’s true, is it disqualifying historically? Yes. But since Trump, stuff like this that we used to think of as historically disqualifying isn’t,” he said. “I’ll still vote for the guy.”

The VFW hall in Sanford, Maine, is seen on July 6, 2026, where Graham Platner was set to hold an event that ended up being canceled.

About 30 miles away in Sanford, just north of the Maine-New Hampshire border, a group of about 10 Maine voters gathered in the parking lot of a veterans community center where Platner was set to appear after his town hall in Gorham. Once it became clear that he would not show, the would-be attendees started commiserating over the canceled event and the day’s news.

Rob Brandow, 41, of nearby Waterboro, leaned against the wooden fence surrounding the building and quietly followed the conversation from a few feet away. “It’s a tough one,” he told Blue Light News of the allegations. “The honest answer is, I actually don’t care.”

“I think it’s possible philosophically to walk that line where I say, like, ‘Yes, those things are bad, it shouldn’t happen, and those allegations should be given appropriate due process to see the light of day,’” he said. “And simultaneously Susan Collins should not be re-elected.”

Jessica Piper contributed reporting.

Politics

Trump is promising farmers $8B. Republicans are praying it will save their campaigns.

Published

1 hour ago

October 20, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Republicans locked in tight races this November are desperately hoping the Trump administration’s last-minute gambit to send farmers $8 billion in taxpayer money will work.

President Donald Trump announced the new round of money, aimed at farmers struggling with high diesel prices, during a Monday rally for at-risk GOP Sen. Roger Marshall in Kansas. The move comes as White House officials have scrambled to address anger in farm states from Republicans. Trump’s decisions to import more foreign beef, his tariff regime and high fuel costs amid the Iran war have riled already strained farmers and ranchers — a key GOP voting bloc.

Farmers won’t know how much money to expect for several more weeks. Even then, if approved, they won’t receive the payments until late November or early December at the earliest, according to three people close to the plans, granted anonymity to share details.

With two weeks to go before the election, the new aid may also arrive too late to convince some voters.

But top Republicans are banking on the announcement to stem GOP bleeding in farm states — especially in the Midwest, where Marshall, GOP Senate nominee Ashley Hinson in Iowa and GOP Senate nominee Mike Rogers in Michigan have been struggling in their election campaigns. In some cases, they’ve broken with Trump publicly on high prices and the war.

“This will go a long way to making sure the folks that feed us have it a bit easier when they most need it,” said Rep. Derrick Van Orden, referring to the farmers in his district. The Republican is locked in a highly competitive race in a rural-heavy stretch in Wisconsin’s 3rd District.

However, the internal USDA taxpayer-funded account Trump is tapping for the payments doesn’t actually have enough money in it right now to make the payments, meaning Congress will have to approve the new funds or the administration will have to take it from another program, according to three Trump officials who were granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Marshall — who’s facing a tougher-than-expected reelection campaign in deep-red territory — and Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) were among the Republicans who helped push for the $8 billion, according to the three Trump officials.

Marshall requested the administration allocate money to assist farmers with spiked fuel costs in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins in September.

“Roger Marshall is the leader who fought for that to happen,” Trump said during the Monday rally.

Spokespeople for Marshall and for Scott did not respond to requests for comment. The White House referred Blue Light News to USDA’s announcement on the money.

USDA spokesperson Harry Fones said in a statement that the aid package is Trump’s “latest action to deliver” for farmers and the department is actively reviewing the data to determine payments.

Trump’s decision also comes after administration officials realized the president’s previous step to make off-road dyed diesel more widely available had limited benefits for farm country over other options, according to two of the Trump officials and another administration official involved in the matter. Top agriculture lobbyists further warned the dyed diesel plan could actually backfire on farmers, because they could still be required to pay taxes on the product — just further down the road.

So, Trump officials settled on the $8 billion tranche of direct money for farmers, given that similar kinds of payments to farmers — dating back during the president’s first trade war in 2018 — have quelled enough farmer and rural voter anger to shore up necessary support for Republicans during election season.

Trump officials and Republican operatives in the Midwest are banking on the money shoring up support again this cycle — especially for GOP voters who are angry but also don’t want to vote for Democrats. Trump heads this Thursday to Iowa — where top Republicans have been worried about internal polling that warned several weeks ago they could lose all three Iowa House races, key Senate races and other once-safe red seats across farm states.

“It’s going to help bring farmers’ votes out,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told Blue Light News of Trump’s plan on Tuesday.

“This is some way that the federal government can step in to help farmers for problems that they face through no fault of their own,” he said.

Most Hill Republicans weren’t given a heads-up about Trump’s announcement, including appropriators, and many hadn’t received any details from USDA as of Tuesday morning, according to two people familiar with the conversations who were granted anonymity to share private details.

Top agriculture groups have warned they’d need at least $50 billion in direct aid this fall to make farmers whole following the impacts of tariffs, weather-related disasters and other high costs linked to the Iran war’s chokehold on agricultural supplies. Farm-state Republicans are pushing to add at least $12 billion in direct farm aid payments to a separate year-end legislative package.

Monday’s aid rollout followed a number of other funding announcements made in swing rural districts. The White House doled out a first round of $12 billion in bailout funds earlier this year for growers of top agricultural commodities who were hit hard by Trump’s tariff agenda.

Alongside Republican Senate candidate Mike Collins in Georgia, Rollins announced a $3.3 billion loan to build a power plant last week. Rollins rolled out $180 million in funding for seed research alongside vulnerable Iowa Reps. Zach Nunn and Marianette Miller-Meeks earlier this month.

Trump also said he would approve long-derailed permanent year-round sales of ethanol during the Kansas rally — which would be a critical boon for corn growers across the Midwest. But the move has been long-stalled in Congress.

“With Roger Marshall in the Senate, we will make year-round E15 permanent. But if Adam Hamilton is in, I’m not doing it,” Trump said. “That’s a big deal for Kansas, actually.”

Rachel Shin contributed reporting.

Politics

Poll: Voters see Republicans as the party of Big Tech tax breaks

Published

4 hours ago

October 20, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Americans are fed up with data centers and Big Tech, and Republicans are poised to take more of the political blame in the Nov. 3 midterms.

The Blue Light News Poll found last week that Americans were far more likely to associate the GOP with giving tax incentives to tech companies at a time when the public’s concerns about artificial intelligence and data center sprawl are only deepening.

Nearly half of respondents — 47% — called Republicans the party of tech tax breaks, more than double the 21% who said the same for Democrats.

Voters are also far more likely to want candidates who propose stripping away tax incentives for the data centers needed to fuel the AI boom, according to the new poll, conducted by PF Global.

About a fifth of respondents said that ending those tax breaks would be among their most important tax issues in the midterms, while only 1 in 10 wanted to offer new preferences for data centers.

The top tax priorities for voters, according to the poll, are hiking taxes on billionaires and curbing breaks for big companies.

The findings come as lawmakers in both parties have scrambled to respond to the growing voter concerns over AI and data centers — and as Americans increasingly associate Silicon Valley titans with the Republican Party.

But in both Democratic and Republican-led states alike, governors have sought to put new limits on tax incentives that were already approved for data centers.

Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) rolled out a proposal last week that would take that a step further by imposing a 100% tax on any state or local incentive offered to AI data centers.

But it’s Democrats who have gone more on the offensive about the issue.

Former Sen. Sherrod Brown, for instance, has made data center incentives a key issue as he tries to unseat Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio), a former state lawmaker and lieutenant governor.

“Jon Husted’s ‘deals’ gave wealthy tech companies a windfall and left Ohioans footing the bill,” Brown recently posted on social media.

Democrats have specifically homed in on Meta, which has cut its tax liability in recent years by billions of dollars as it builds out its AI products. And they have sought to tie expanded tax breaks approved by Republicans in last year’s megabill to the increase in data center construction.

The GOP enacted incentives for companies in a broad array of industries as part of the 2025 tax cuts. But Big Tech has found those tax breaks particularly useful, helping to drive a big decrease in corporate tax payments as AI spending keeps trending upward.

Meanwhile, Democrats with 2028 ambitions have floated new taxes on AI companies, while Democratic lawmakers have teed up legislation that would keep data centers from taking advantage of incentives like Opportunity Zones and bonus depreciation, both of which Republicans expanded in 2025.

In fact, Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) recently gave last year’s megabill another new name in a recent debate with his opponent, Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.).

“I want to know if you will commit to voting to repeal that data center tax scam that you voted for,” Ossoff said.

It’s not clear how much the current anti-AI energy will lead to new legislative limits in the coming months. But the new poll found Americans have a real fear of the unknown with artificial intelligence.

A majority of respondents said that tech chief executives had been secretive about the potential risks of AI, while a plurality of Americans believe both that the risks of artificial intelligence development outweigh the benefits and that the government should strictly regulate the emerging technology.

Politics

Two Dans, four choices, one big headache for GOP in Alaska Senate race

Published

6 hours ago

October 20, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

ANCHORAGE — Alaska Republicans have railed for years against ranked-choice voting. Now some worry it could cost them in a critical Senate race.

GOP Sen. Dan S. Sullivan is facing not only well-known former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola in the four-way general-election field, but a same-name challenger who Republicans think could siphon votes from him in the close contest.

Some GOP operatives fear the senator will lose first-choice votes to retired teacher Dan J. Sullivan Jr. — and that supporters of his longshot rival might not rank the incumbent at all in the state’s unusual election system where voters can pick backup options that get counted if no candidate clears 50% of the initial vote. Two recent polls that simulated ranked-choice tabulations showed Peltola as the victor.

Art Hackney, a Sullivan ally who runs a super PAC boosting the senator, said Dan J. Sullivan is “going to get a percent of the vote” and warned it could be “potentially” be “significant in terms of impacting” the result of the race.

“Sullivan can win … but it makes it a heck of a lot harder,” added a Republican operative working on other Alaska races. “It’s what the race is going to come down to: If he loses, it’ll for sure be because of that. And if he wins, it’ll be in spite of that.”

Republicans have for years bemoaned the system that allows voters to rank their preference and eliminates candidates until one reaches a majority as “costly” and “confusing,” and argue it has undercut their party. Top Republicans like outgoing GOP Gov. Mike Dunleavy and President Donald Trump have urged voters to repeal the system via a ballot measure this fall after a previous effort failed two years ago.

“Even if he gets a percent or 2% or 3% percent with the phony ranked choice stuff, you never know what they’re going to do with it,” Trump said of Dan J. Sullivan in a rally in Wasilla last week, adding that it “could be the difference.”

It’s happened before: Peltola benefitted in her House win from a split GOP field, while Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) warded off a Trump-backed challenger in 2022 partly because of ranked-choice voting. Alaska Republicans are also fretting about the governor’s race this year, where three GOP candidates are competing, urging voters to “rank the red.”

Dan J. Sullivan, Heikes and Peltola’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

The similarly named Sullivans are separated on the ballot by their middle initials and party affiliation (the incumbent is listed as a Republican, the challenger without a party).

But the senator and his allies aren’t taking any chances.

They’re employing several of the tactics Murkowski used during her successful 2010 write-in campaign, including giving out rubber wristbands branded with the senator’s name and party affiliation, and airing a radio jingle with the NRSC.

“Dan S. is your No. 1,” the jingle goes. “If he’s not, rank him second, don’t throw your vote away. Dan S., Daniel, Gerry — just don’t rank Mary.”

“Dan S. Sullivan has two opponents in this race: Democrat Mary Peltola, and the ranked choice system she and her allies have deceptively manipulated to her advantage,” said Nate Adams, a spokesperson for the senator. “But our campaign is confident that Alaskans aren’t confused. They know the real Dan, and we’re making sure every voter can find him: ballot facsimiles on every mailer, voters reached at the door and on the phone, and even a jingle.”

Those pushing to keep ranked-choice voting in Alaska argue the system helps mitigate the so-called spoiler effect. The group behind this year’s repeal measure said in an email that it’s a nonpartisan effort focused solely on eliminating the system.

Outside GOP groups boosting Sullivan like Americans for Prosperity Action and Club for Growth Action have been urging voters at doors and via mailers to rank the incumbent first, a slightly different approach than Sullivan’s campaign. “Make Republican Incumbent DAN S. SULLIVAN your 1ST CHOICE and ONLY CHOICE,” read one Club for Growth Action mailer seen by Blue Light News, a slightly different approach than Sullivan’s campaign.

“In a tight election, it doesn’t take a ton of people to get confused to possibly change the trajectory and the outcome,” said Kevin Greene, senior adviser for AFP Action in Alaska.

A version of this article first appeared in Blue Light News Pro’s Morning Score. Want to receive the newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to Blue Light News Pro.