Politics

Platner’s advisers urged him to go out with ‘gratitude.’ He led with grievance.

Published

3 months ago

July 9, 2026

Graham Platner went down swinging — even as some of his political confidants urged him not to.

Several of the embattled Maine Democrat’s closest advisers pleaded with him Wednesday to strike a “conciliatory” tone in the announcement terminating his Senate campaign, according to two people close to Platner’s team with knowledge of the internal discussions. But the progressive bucked their advice and made it a condition of dropping out of the race that he get free rein to assail establishment Democrats and blame them for the ignominious end to his rapid political rise.

And so, shortly after 8 p.m. Wednesday — just two days after POLITICO reported that a woman accused him of sexually assaulting her in 2022 — the oysterman released a defiant, emotional social media video. He continued to deny the allegations against him. He blasted the “corporate media system and the political establishment” for acting as “judge, jury and executioner.” And he railed against Washington Democrats for ripping the rug out from under him.

“Those in power, who have the ability to do so, are using these allegations as an excuse to take away all of the things that we need to run a campaign,” Platner said. “They would rather see Susan Collins win than have me be the next senator from Maine.”

The behind-the-scenes details about the debate that unfolded inside Platner’s campaign before his Wednesday night announcement were confirmed by the two people on condition they be granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.

One of the individuals said Platner’s aides specifically urged him to focus on “gratitude” in his campaign farewell message — but to no avail. Platner’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Platner’s fiery 11-minute missive now stands as the capstone to an improbable campaign that overpowered staunch establishment opposition but collapsed as prominent Democrats — including the party’s powerful campaign arms and the candidate’s biggest backers — swiftly abandoned ship after Blue Light News’s report.

Shunned by national Democrats and locked out of state party negotiations over how to proceed, Platner unleashed his video — one final attempt to shape a race he once dominated.

But the end of Platner’s campaign was a massive relief to Democrats who saw their tough road to retake control of the Senate crumbling if he continued on against Collins in one of the most critical races on the map.

The Democratic apparatus rushed back in the minutes after his departure from the race, with Senate Democrats’ campaign arm launching a fund to raise money for the party’s new nominee. Senate Majority PAC, a top Democrat-aligned group, said it was “committed” to defeating Collins, the incumbent Republican — just days after declaring it was “redirecting resources away from” the race because of Platner’s initial reluctance to drop out.

The about-face capped off a frenzied two days in which Platner and his top advisers debated how to proceed in private while publicly sparring with the state Democratic Party over the terms for his departure and multiple candidates began jockeying in the shadow campaign to replace him.

By the time Platner dropped out, his former ally and unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate Troy Jackson, who had frequently campaigned alongside Platner and was also backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), had already filed the paperwork to run. Jackson’s former gubernatorial primary rivals Shenna Bellows and Nirav Shah had also made not-so-subtle moves toward campaigns. Maine Beer Company founder Dan Kleban, who briefly ran for the seat last year, officially entered the race. Unsuccessful House candidates Paige Loud and Jordan Wood, as well as state Rep. Valli Geiger, another Platner ally, are also weighing running.

Platner, whose anti-oligarchy messaging generated significant excitement on the left, had pushed for the state party to commit to replacing him on November’s ballot with a progressive in his mold, arguing that doing so would be reasonable since he won last month’s primary with more than 150,000 votes, according to one of the people who spoke with Blue Light News. But the party “refused to engage” with Platner’s requests, they said, leaving his campaign in the dark on next steps.

The same person said Platner shot his vertical, scorched-earth video more than four hours before releasing it. He waited to publish it on social media because his team wanted to lock in Platner’s entire staff for an all-hands call before news broke, the person said.

Platner spoke on that call around the time his video went live, expressing “a deep sense of gratitude” to his team for helping build a “working-class movement” and a desire for a “transparent” process for selecting his replacement, according to a person on the call who was granted anonymity to share details of the private discussion.

In the intervening hours between recording the video and the all-staff meeting, as Platner and his team huddled in Sullivan, Maine, on Wednesday afternoon, members of the state party’s committee governing body convened on Zoom to decide on a process to replace him.

The state party had feuded with the oysterman’s campaign for days: Campaign manager Ben Chin accused party leaders of allowing national Democrats to plan a succession process behind “closed doors” in a text to supporters midday Wednesday, while party officials slammed Platner’s team for what they saw as improperly trying to influence the process.

Chin was among the Platner aides who unsuccessfully urged the candidate to tone it down in his Wednesday night video, according to two of the people who spoke with Blue Light News.

When state party committee members emerged from the Zoom meeting a bit after 7 p.m., they had a framework for a party convention to replace Platner later this month, with delegates to be selected from each county and a growing list of candidates vying for the nod. The general lack of details and prospect of a convention — rather than a caucus open to the public — left some progressives worried.

But the time for discussion was over.

The plan was in place, party leaders said, “if there is a vacancy to fill.” Less than an hour later, Platner gave them that opening.

Aaron Pelish contributed to this report.

Politics

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

Published

4 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.”

Politics

Can Mitch Landrieu break through in 2028?

Published

4 hours ago

September 23, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Can Mitch Landrieu break through in 2028?

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Politics

Sen. Jon Husted: Iran war ‘needs to come to an end as quickly as possible’

Published

19 hours ago

September 22, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Jon Husted became the latest battleground Republican this week to call for a quick end to the Iran war, as panic grows over how high gas prices and President Donald Trump’s agenda could imperil the party’s chances in November.

“The war needs to come to an end as quickly as possible so that we can lower gas prices,” the Ohio senator told Blue Light News, in his furthest comments yet on the matter.

Coming after Iowa Senate nominee Ashley Hinson, who broke from Trump over the war on Monday, and Michigan Senate nominee Mike Rogers, who followed suit hours later, Husted’s comments are another example of the pressure he and other Republicans are under to address prices at the pump. Several candidates are creating some distance from Trump, as voters continue to blame the president for the current economy and the Iran conflict for high costs of living.

Husted said in the interview that he still thinks Iran needs to reach a deal with Trump to end the conflict, but added: “I don’t know anybody that doesn’t want the war to come to an end.”

He has a finer line to walk with Trump in his state, and Republicans close to him say he can’t and won’t completely break with the president. Husted does not plan to support the Democratic-led war powers resolution when it comes up for a vote in the Senate this week, a spokesperson said. And Trump and Vice President JD Vance are expected to visit the state in the coming weeks to shore up his campaign and drive GOP turnout.

Husted is staring down a tight race against former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, where millions in spending and recent polling have put Brown slightly ahead. Top Hill Republicans and Senate GOP operatives have said the Ohio Senate race is among their primary concerns in the battle to keep control of the chamber.

But Ohio is just one in a series of battlegrounds where rising gas prices have become a defining issue. Beyond Hinson and Rogers, a growing number of Republicans are starting to call for emergency actions like a diesel export ban to lower gas prices, including Iowa GOP Reps. Zach Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks.

“Hinson broke the dam,” said one GOP operative, who was granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), who is locked in an incredibly competitive race, called Tuesday for a diesel export ban to provide voters relief. He didn’t mention the Iran war.

The panic is being felt most acutely in the Midwest, as high gas and diesel prices and Trump’s tariffs hammer families, truckers and farmers just a few weeks ahead of the peak harvest season with no relief in sight.

By Sunday night, Rogers had filmed an ad at a grocery store decrying high prices and, straight to camera, breaking with Trump to call for an end to the Iran war, according to two Republicans involved in the matter, granted anonymity to discuss internal conversations.

Rogers’ team was putting the finishing touches on the ad Monday morning when Hinson posted her break with Trump over the war directly on social media.

“The war’s just gone on too long. Mike still thinks Iran shouldn’t have a nuclear weapon, but we originally thought this would take six weeks,” said one person with direct knowledge of the conversations in Rogers’ camp about the move. “Voters have been paying for it at their kitchen tables for too long.”

Michigan’s GOP nominee for governor, Rep. John James, also said Tuesday the Iran war needs to end “quickly.” And Rep. Tom Tiffany, Wisconsin’s GOP governor nominee, said Tuesday he believes “we should be exiting Iran, that it’s time to move on, we’ve degraded their nuclear facilities, we’ve degraded their military … time to come home, take care of business here in America.”

Trump, for his part, told reporters Tuesday that he asked his team to consider a diesel export ban, and that his administration is mulling it.

But the move is rife with internal GOP fighting behind the scenes: Trump’s team is getting an earful from GOP lawmakers in oil states who oppose the move, according to four people with direct knowledge of the matter who were granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. That makes any decision before the midterms highly problematic with at least one corner of the party.

Both the top House GOP leaders — Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise — have opposed similar measures from the past to protect their oil state of Louisiana. The Texas GOP delegation is also “strongly opposed,” according to another Republican.

Husted told Blue Light News on Tuesday that he supports his state legislature suspending Ohio’s gas tax for a period. Democrat Amy Acton, who is running for governor, called for a gas tax suspension Monday. Her GOP opponent Vivek Ramaswamy and a broader swath of Republicans called for the state legislature to convene and pass legislation to suspend the state’s gas tax hours later.

“I think in the long run we are going to have lower gas prices,” Husted said, citing the war in Ukraine as a factor for spiking diesel costs as well as the war with Iran. “It’s taking longer than any of us wish it would. So in the interim, while those things are concluding, the idea of providing relief from the gas tax for Ohioans for a short period of time is a reasonable thing for Governor [Mike] DeWine to consider.”