Will the controversy surrounding Platner deter primary voters?
6/8/202619 min
Democrat Graham Platner is the frontrunner in his party’s primary contest to represent Maine in the U.S. Senate, but Platner’s campaign has been dogged by controversy. Unseating longtime incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins will not be easy but is vital to Democrats' hopes of winning control of the Senate.
This episode: political correspondent Ashley Lopez, senior political correspondent Tamara Keith, and Maine Public state house correspondent Kevin Miller.
This podcast was produced by Bria Suggs and edited by Rachel Baye.
Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
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Ashley Lopez· Host0:14
[upbeat music] Hey there. It's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Ashley Lopez. I cover politics.
Tamara Keith· Host0:23
And I'm Tamara Keith, senior political correspondent.
Ashley Lopez· Host0:25
And Maine Public's Kevin Miller is back with us today. Hi, Kevin.
Kevin Miller· Guest0:29
Hi. How are you?
Ashley Lopez· Host0:30
All right. So today on the show, Maine has a primary tomorrow. Democrats are hoping to flip the Senate seat there in November to unseat longtime Republican Senator Susan Collins. But Kevin, the front runner in this race, Grand Platner, has had a, a rough couple of weeks. I- can you give us a quick recap of what's been going on?
Kevin Miller· Guest0:48
Yeah. So Platner has been sort of, I'd say, shrouded in controversy since last fall. I think people may remember the stories about his insensitive comments on Reddit- Mm-hmm ... a few years ago about women and minorities and rural voters. And then of course, there's this skull and crossbones tattoo on his chest that turns out, uh, resembles a Nazi design. But this most recent controversy centers on this New York Time story from last week in which several of his former romantic partners described r- kind of really toxic relationships and what some felt as intimidating or even threatening behavior from him.
Ashley Lopez· Host1:27
How has Platner responded to all