‘We’re not looking for perfection’: Maine Democrats stand by Platner

In Washington, D.C., top Democrats are increasingly worried about Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner’s mounting controversies ahead of Tuesday’s primary. But in Maine’s Hancock County, where Platner lives, some supporters are standing by him.

One day after the New York Times published a report detailing allegations of Platner’s “toxic” behavior in his prior romantic relationships — including an alleged physical assault, which the candidate denied in a Thursday night interview with MS NOW’s Chris Hayes — several voters in the county seat of Ellsworth said they are more concerned about the prospect of re-electing Republican Sen. Susan Collins than with Platner’s past.

Lee Dillon, a voter from the nearby town of Blue Hill, told MS NOW she was “scared” about the state of the race — but not because of Platner.

“I desperately don’t want to have Susan Collins as my senator,” Dillon said. “She says that she cares about Maine, yet she’s shutting down our rural hospitals. She voted for the war in Iran.”

Dillon acknowledged that she sees Platner’s past as “problematic,” and said that as a woman, she worried “about any man who is in a position of power.” But rather than abandoning her preferred candidate entirely, she and other Mainers say they are embracing the redemption narrative that Platner has offered — one in which he has attributed his past behavior, including sexting other women early on in his marriage and posting disparaging comments about victims of sexual assault on Reddit, to ongoing mental health struggles after his service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Does he have a problematic past? Yes,” Dillon said. “But I would rather have a redemption story than somebody telling you how wonderful they are, how much research they do and yet they still make the wrong decision for the people of Maine.”

Her husband, Dan Dillon, agreed, contrasting Platner’s response to his controversies with President Donald Trump’s blanket denials of all sexual misconduct allegations against him.

“That, to me, is the biggest difference between the Graham Platner situation and the Donald Trump situation,” he said. “One person says, ‘Yeah, that’s wrong, I need to do better.’ The other person is like, ‘What are you talking about? That’s not that bad.’”

Of the 7 voters MS NOW spoke to in Ellsworth on Friday, only 1 — a Trump supporter — said they thought Platner’s scandals had the power to tank his campaign.

“The way things are imploding right now on Mr. Platner, I think he’s pretty much toast,” Clay Savage said.