Mainers who supported Platner are expressing a range of emotions about the situation facing Democrats in the race to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
Robin Ratcliffe, who has lived in Maine for over 20 years and voted for Platner in the primary, said she is “devastated” that he dropped out, but acknowledged it was “the right thing to do under the circumstances.”
“He wouldn’t have made it. It would have been horrible,” she said. “I’m very sad, and I hope the allegations aren’t true. But unfortunately, we don’t know for sure, but it’s not — it makes his candidacy not viable.”
As the process of picking a replacement for Platner begins, Ratcliffe worries the three-week stretch could be a “mess.” “It’s just thrown confusion into everything,” she said.
Gary Brunotte, another Platner supporter, said he was angry about the situation.
“If he knew that, why didn’t he expose it up front and say, ‘No, I can’t run.’ But he didn’t, so it pisses me off,” Brunotte told NBC, referring to a barrage of allegations against Platner, including an accusation of sexual assault, which he denies.
“I’m just disappointed that he had a chance at beating Collins,” Brunotte said. “Now I don’t know if anybody can, and that’s going to be the problem.”
Ratcliffe, Brunotte, and James O’Keefe, an Independent voter who was supporting Platner, all compared Platner’s last-minute exit from the race to Joe Biden stepping aside in 2024.
“It’s a Kamala Harris situation. Whoever walks in here is kind of behind the eight ball right away,” Ratcliffe said.
O’Keefe said that, similar to the 2024 presidential election, Democrats have been “stymied” by the “power brokers” of the party who got involved in pushing the nominee out.
“They’re not Mainers,” Brunotte said of lawmakers in Washington who have weighed in on the race. “Maine people should decide, but the people don’t have a chance to do that. So now it’s down to the committee here.”