NBC News spoke with voters in Portland, Maine, who urged Graham Platner to end his candidacy for the U.S. Senate as he faces a new allegation of sexual assault.
Lee Van Dyke, a Democratic voter who has lived in Maine for eight years, said that Platner “should have been vetted far more thoroughly.”
“I would tell him: Nice try, buddy, but get out. You’re carrying too much baggage, you’re going to cost the election with your own peccadillos,” Van Dyke, who said he voted for Maine Gov. Janet Mills in the Senate primary, added.
Georgi McCauley, who moved to Maine in 2024, called the allegations against Platner “such a shame,” because “there’s so much about his politics that I love.”
“I’m really tired of politicians having these really ugly backgrounds that give us reason to not trust them, so it’s really disappointing,” she said.
Asked if Platner should drop out of the race, McCauley said she isn’t sure. “I’m concerned about Susan Collins staying in that role, but obviously I’m concerned about having a sexual predator in that role,” she said. “It’s kind of a lose-lose.”
Janice Rice, an independent voter, called both options in the general election “really scary.”
“We’ve got one person that I’m afraid, because he doesn’t seem to be for women, and then the other, the lady that’s running, she’s been in there a long time and… I think it’s just time for new blood,” she said.
Kendall Hinkley, a Platner supporter, said she’s “feeling pretty disheartened” because “what Graham stood for and stands for is something that obviously resonated with a lot of people.”
“I am wondering why there aren’t more people like that, and willing to fight like him, that maybe don’t have a background of risky business with exes and things like that,” Hinkley said. “I think that the real subject matter at hand is, you know, not letting the rich get richer and keep the power in their hands.”