The Democratic Party has too many issues to cover in a single Substack post so this evening I’m going with how the Maine US Senate primary campaign is illustrating deeper issues than just who will win a Primary Election next year.
Before we start, let’s take a trip through the Republican Party’s not-so-recent history. Years ago, I remember sitting in focus groups with GOP voters. If we showed a picture of Nancy Pelosi, the participants would do the normal amount of grumbling about her.
When we showed pictures of Mitch McConnell or former-Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, these same die-hard Republicans would throw things at the screen. They loathed their party’s leadership, seeing them as traitors to the cause, to the country, and in the pocket of well-funded special interests.
All of these charges were (and are) accurate.
Though I haven’t been invited to observe any Democratic focus groups recently, it’s easy to imagine a similar dynamic featuring House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Like their Tea Party counterparts, the base of the Democratic Party has had it with its leaders, and I can’t blame them.
Remember (the) Maine
Oyster farmer Graham Platner caught fire early in Maine’s US Senate race. Burly, working class, and plain spoken, Platner ignited the imagination and the enthusiasm of primary voters in Maine and Democrats across the country. As a business owner and combat veteran, you’d think his party would be clamoring for someone resembling the white, working-class men Democrats have been hemorrhaging for more than a decade.
But…Then you read this quote and understand why the Establishment, (pre-opposition research) wanted nothing to do with him. At a rally with Bernie Sanders last month, Platner declared:
“We do not live in a system that is broken. We live in a system that is functioning exactly as it’s intended. We live in a system that has been built by the political class to enrich and support billionaires on the backs of working people.”
He’s opposed to Israel’s actions in Gaza, has pledged to vote against Schumer as leader if he’s elected next year, and was voted ‘most likely to start a revolution’ by his high school class. Washington-based politicians and staffers got the vapors about Platner even before the oppo-drops began just after Maine Governor Janet Mills (D-Paleolithic Age) announced she was joining the race.
In their zeal to ensure Platner doesn’t just lose, but knows who is trying to dismantle him, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee opened a joint-fundraising committee (JFC) with Mills, their preferred candidate. The online reaction to this revelation has relegated Mills’ social media accounts to one of two bad outcomes: 1) No interaction at all or 2) massive ratios.
Trumpian Backlash?
With Washington’s thumb on the scale, offensive to most locals but even more so to proud Mainers, we could see a dynamic developing not unlike that of Donald Trump in 2015 during the Republican presidential primary: The party’s base didn’t care what he’d said or done, he wasn’t them. The more the Establishment GOP (of which I was at the time a part) criticized Trump as unqualified, amoral, and flat-out nuts, the more the base dug in their heels.
As we have seen from Platner, and candidates such as Zohran Mamdani, he’s not just going against the party’s ruling class, he’s going against its donors, its long-held neo-liberal orthodoxy, and its leadership. Even without the tattoos and the Reddit posts, Establishment Democrats would want nothing to do with a guy like Graham. He’s too…much. He’s not refined. He doesn’t have experience (read: proven willingness to cave to lobbyists and leadership.)
Perhaps, just perhaps, voters don’t want lifelong, almost-octogenarian pols who know how to play the game. If what we’re seeing after all these years, scandals, tragedies, and busts is the handiwork of ‘political experts’ why shouldn’t we try other, younger, more open-minded people. We want Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Washington Democrats want Governor Mills Took Her Seat and Voted Appropriately.
Schumer and company are already dealing with the effects of Senator John Fetterman’s (?-PA) intransigence on everything from the dress code to the government shut down. They want a loyal soldier in Maine’s US Senate seat. If they can’t have Janet Mills, another six years of a ‘disappointed’ Susan Collins will do.
Reality Bites
At its core, the Trump Era represents an anti-establishment, populist period. With nearly 60% of Americans living paycheck-to-paycheck, more voters are unwilling to go along with politicians whose promises are never made good and (rightly) resent a political class that so clearly disdains them. Trump’s two elections were warning signs, for all of us, yes, but for Democrats in particular.
Governor Janet Mills may indeed beat Graham Platner in next year’s primary. If she does, she’ll have the full backing of her party. If Platner wins, however, he should not expect such largesse. Groups like the DSCC (run by Schumer’s state-mate Kirsten Gillibrand) will turn off the taps and then blame Platner (and candidates like him) for losing.
The Bottom Line
Like the aforementioned Mamdani, and candidates like Mallory McMorrow in Michigan’s US Senate race, the real strike point for the Democratic Establishment isn’t so much youth or inexperience, but a willingness to express a populist and expansive economic program for poor and working-class Americans.
To watch the reaction to Mamdani’s altogether modest proposals is to see a parasitic elite scared out of its wits. The world has worked for Chuck Schumer and his friends, and they’ll do whatever they can to ensure it continues to do so.
In the meantime, we should expect more Graham Platners in the offing and in the hustings. Just because Beltway Creatures don’t like them, doesn’t mean they won’t be swearing them in come January 2027.
Weekly Recap:
It’s was a busy week at The Home Front. I hope you’ll check out some of my terrific conversations.
Ron Insana and I discuss the economy.
Mike Brock and I skewer a bunch of sacred cows.
And I was flattered to join Jim Acosta for a discussion about Trump’s demolition of the East Wing and much more!
I support this new, rising class of independents and fighters for the working class. We need more people like Dan Osborn and Graham Platner. They carry the banner that the Democrats surrendered many years ago. I used to be a Democrat, but the Democratic Party has decayed from within and can no longer stand.
If our party’s victory is in the hands of Schumer and Gillibrand, we’re screwed. I want AOC to primary Schumer and Dan Goldman to go after Gillibrand. Maybe that would light a fire under Jeffries’ ass.