Politics

More than half of Senate Democrats have urged Platner to drop out

Published

3 months ago

July 7, 2026

More than half of the Senate Democratic caucus has called for Graham Platner to drop out of the Maine Senate race, less than 24 hours after Blue Light News reported that a woman the oysterman once dated had accused him of sexual assault.

Platner called the claim “false.”

Most Democrats previously stuck by Platner even as his beleaguered campaign battled scandal after scandal in recent months. By Tuesday, the tide had turned firmly against Platner, with 31 of the Senate’s 47 Democratic senators calling for him to drop out as of early Tuesday afternoon.

The revolt included some top former allies who had previously defied calls to distance themselves from Platner. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement Tuesday that he had spoken with Platner and “in light of these very serious allegations, I have recommended that he step aside.”

And Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Monday said that there “can be no tolerance for sexual assault,” just months after referring to the progressive outsider as “my kind of man” while stumping for him in April.

The list — according to Blue Light News’s tally of every sitting Democratic senator’s social media posts and public statements — also includes some of the party’s top leaders. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), the chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said in a joint statement that he should withdraw and the DSCC “will not invest in the Maine Senate race if Platner remains on the ballot.”

More than a dozen Democratic senators appeared to have not yet publicly commented on Platner, and did not immediately respond to Blue Light News’s request for comment on their stance.

It’s not just senators who are breaking with Platner. The Maine Democratic Party put out a joint statement calling for him to exit the race, and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who shares a number of top advisers with Platner but never endorsed him, also called for him to step down on Tuesday.

Platner has denied the allegations. But he said his campaign is “mindful of the political reality” and “taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love” in a video released on social media Monday, shortly after Blue Light News published its article.

Platner had not yet reached a final decision on his campaign.

Platner’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the calls from senators for him to step aside.

The office of Maine Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats and will serve with the eventual winner of the 2026 Maine Senate election, said he would not be commenting on Platner, per a longstanding policy not to comment on races involving his colleagues.

Two Democratic senators who had previously endorsed Platner, Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) condemned him and withdrew their endorsements, but did not explicitly call for him to drop out of the race in social media posts. Whitehouse’s office pointed to his Thursday statement when asked if he would demand Platner drop out, while Gallego did not immediately respond to a question on if he believed he should exit the race.

“The allegations against Graham Platner are troubling and deeply serious,” Gallego said on X. “I am rescinding my endorsement.”

Politics

Mike Collins For Senate Memorandum

Published

43 minutes ago

September 23, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The memo comes at a key time for Rep. Mike Collins.

Politics

Crypto weighs revenge against Democrats — and the risks that come with it

Published

6 hours ago

September 23, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The cryptocurrency industry is at a political crossroads.

Reeling from the demise of its longtime top legislative priority, crypto companies must now decide how scorched-earth to go against Senate Democrats, who last week voted unanimously against the so-called Clarity Act, a sweeping bill that would create a bespoke new regulatory framework for digital assets.

A crypto-backed PAC network’s move this week provides a hint of what may be to come. The group, known as Fairshake, announced it would spend at least $30 million to help block Democrat Sherrod Brown from recapturing a pivotal Ohio Senate seat, representing the first major signal of how the industry plans to deploy its massive campaign war chest in the final weeks before the 2026 midterms.

Some crypto executives have publicly signaled an appetite in recent days for punishing Democrats. But a partisan strategy carries major political risk for the industry: A broad offensive against Democrats ahead of an election where they have a chance to reclaim power on Capitol Hill could further alienate lawmakers the industry may soon need to revive its agenda.

“As much as some people may want to, they can’t wave a wand and make Democrats go away,” said Sheila Warren, the former CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation, an industry trade group. “Every industry — not just crypto — has to figure out what to do with that reality.”

The crypto industry’s spending could have immediate consequences after the election. Democrats are signaling that a Senate GOP-aligned spending spree would suppress any appetite for lame duck dealmaking involving the Clarity bill — although it remains a long shot that it would come back to life regardless. A Senate Democratic aide involved in the crypto effort said a full-scale assault on the party’s Senate candidates “would absolutely eviscerate any hope” of a post-election deal.

The Fairshake PAC group, funded primarily by crypto firms Coinbase and Ripple and venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz, had more than $120 million at its disposal as of the end of August. It has previously deployed its war chest to help members of both parties who support industry-friendly policies.

Fairshake is preparing to announce additional spending decisions supporting both Democrats and Republicans in the coming days, according to a spokesperson for the group, Geoff Vetter. But it’s unclear what races — or which chamber — it will target next.

Kara Calvert, Coinbase’s vice president of U.S. policy, said in an interview that bipartisanship has been crypto’s “superpower.”

“Nobody is eager to erode that,” she said.

Though Fairshake says it will maintain a bipartisan approach, it hasn’t specified what shape that will take. One potential avenue for the PAC is to continue to back crypto-friendly Democrats running for the House — where the Clarity bill advanced with 78 Democratic votes last year — but primarily help Republicans in the Senate.

Fairshake spent in favor of several Senate Democrats in the 2024 elections, including in battleground general election races in Michigan and Arizona, where it backed Democratic Sens. Elissa Slotkin and Ruben Gallego, respectively. It also plowed more than $40 million into the effort to help defeat Brown in his 2024 reelection campaign — by far its biggest spend of the cycle.

This time, Republicans are pressing the industry to recalibrate its approach and ditch the Democrats.

“To reward people who voted against the motion to proceed on Clarity after the Democrats got 126 amendments in the bill would be a huge mistake,” said Sen. Cynthia Lummis, the crypto bill’s leading champion in the Senate. The Wyoming Republican is retiring when her term ends in January.

Democrats, who feel increasingly confident about their chances in November despite the GOP’s spending advantages, say Republicans are trying to play the crypto industry.

It’s “been the goal of Republican colleagues all along to try to get folks to invest in races, versus them trying to get a piece of legislation done, and someone needs to call the Republicans out on their bullshit,” said Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), who added: “Sherrod’s gonna win.”