This feels like it completely ignores the fact that Platner is consistently out-polling Mills in general election matchups as well as head to head.
And it also ignores the fact that working class voters are less likely to be engaged with a June primary in March, which means Mills as the governor of the state is still going to have the name ID edge over him with that demographic.
Overall, this seems like you wanted an excuse to write another “Platner bad, actually” article and worked backwards from there.
Edit: I looked at the underlying data, and Platner is ALSO winning working class Dems, just by less. Sorry to say but this has to be the most dishonest article I’ve seen out of The Argument.
From what I’ve seen, polls seem to show Platner outperforming Mills in the general. The question honestly is whether *Mills* is worth the risk, especially with how old she is.
There's the question of how much early polls should be taken seriously, but notably, Platner is overperforming Mills vs Collins by a greater degree than Talarico was outperforming Crockett in general election matchups.
I would be curious if there is some type of Simpsons paradox when looking at white male support for Platner across all voters vs registered dem only. If a blue collar white voter is still a registered democrat in 2026, that is likely a revealed preference for status quo politicians like Mills. So it wouldn’t surprise me that she outperforms Platner here. Blue collar white males though have been hemorrhaging from the Democratic Party for over a decade now. Does Platner connect better with independents and republicans in this group compared to Mills?
Platner reminds me of John Fetterman, the darling for Pennsylvania in 2022. Unfortunately he defeated Conor Lamb, who would have been a much better senator for Pennsylvania and in my opinion, for the whole country. I used to live in southern California, where we all got behind Katie Hill for a congressional race. She also had a despicable tattoo, and was a regrettable choice for Congress where her best friend was Matt Gaetz. To quote Rebecca Solnit, an election is a chess move, not a valentine.
Planter has been quite vocal about distancing himself specifically from Fetterman. If you listen to him speak for any length of time it's pretty obvious that he does at least care about the same things that democratic primary voters tend to care about. He isn't faking it. It's difficult to imagine him getting to Washington then immediately going against his base in the same way Fetterman has.
Unless Graham Platner repudiates everything he's said about foreign policy and/or has a massive stroke in the next six months I think this is overplayed. Fetterman was always more heterodox than progressive per se, and then had medical issues that clearly emphasized all the worst aspects of his personality. Most of the similarities are only skin deep (or a direct result of the fact that they have some of the same people working on their campaigns).
But I supported Jess Phoenix in that primary, and I still am bummed she didn't win, she would've been great.
Re: Platner, I've met him in a small group setting and talked with him. He's a lot more thoughtful in-person than you might guess from his Reddit post history. He speaks quite movingly about how the VA saved his life when he was struggling with PTSD, depression, and chronic pain, and how that led him to start learning how other countries provide universal healthcare.
My hot take is that, for a Democrat like Platner, the Nazi tattoo and politically incorrect Reddit comments aren't that big of deal. Why? Because they cut against what people usually fear from Democrats--that they're moral scolds who care more about progressive identity groups than kitchen table issues. Nobody believes Platner is a Nazi, and I doubt any ads on TV will move the needle much since everyone in Maine has probably already heard about his scandals given the amount of media coverage. But him having certain rough edges in his past makes him seem like "a different kind of Democrat".
The hottest dunk on Platner is that he's a rich man's idea of the working class, but his actual working class cred is questionable. He went to private school and his dad was a fairly successful lawyer (and not a native Mainer). It seems like most of his income is from disability pay related to military service, not his oyster farming. Per Politico reporting, the farm itself was a "hobby farm" before he bought it. He went to college in DC but dropped out. Except for his serious military experience, he's more coastal elite dropout than he is working class. Maybe that won't matter. People are ready to vote for any non-Republican under 65. But he is a risk.
This feels like it completely ignores the fact that Platner is consistently out-polling Mills in general election matchups as well as head to head.
And it also ignores the fact that working class voters are less likely to be engaged with a June primary in March, which means Mills as the governor of the state is still going to have the name ID edge over him with that demographic.
Overall, this seems like you wanted an excuse to write another “Platner bad, actually” article and worked backwards from there.
Edit: I looked at the underlying data, and Platner is ALSO winning working class Dems, just by less. Sorry to say but this has to be the most dishonest article I’ve seen out of The Argument.
From what I’ve seen, polls seem to show Platner outperforming Mills in the general. The question honestly is whether *Mills* is worth the risk, especially with how old she is.
There's the question of how much early polls should be taken seriously, but notably, Platner is overperforming Mills vs Collins by a greater degree than Talarico was outperforming Crockett in general election matchups.
I would be curious if there is some type of Simpsons paradox when looking at white male support for Platner across all voters vs registered dem only. If a blue collar white voter is still a registered democrat in 2026, that is likely a revealed preference for status quo politicians like Mills. So it wouldn’t surprise me that she outperforms Platner here. Blue collar white males though have been hemorrhaging from the Democratic Party for over a decade now. Does Platner connect better with independents and republicans in this group compared to Mills?
Platner reminds me of John Fetterman, the darling for Pennsylvania in 2022. Unfortunately he defeated Conor Lamb, who would have been a much better senator for Pennsylvania and in my opinion, for the whole country. I used to live in southern California, where we all got behind Katie Hill for a congressional race. She also had a despicable tattoo, and was a regrettable choice for Congress where her best friend was Matt Gaetz. To quote Rebecca Solnit, an election is a chess move, not a valentine.
Planter has been quite vocal about distancing himself specifically from Fetterman. If you listen to him speak for any length of time it's pretty obvious that he does at least care about the same things that democratic primary voters tend to care about. He isn't faking it. It's difficult to imagine him getting to Washington then immediately going against his base in the same way Fetterman has.
Unless Graham Platner repudiates everything he's said about foreign policy and/or has a massive stroke in the next six months I think this is overplayed. Fetterman was always more heterodox than progressive per se, and then had medical issues that clearly emphasized all the worst aspects of his personality. Most of the similarities are only skin deep (or a direct result of the fact that they have some of the same people working on their campaigns).
From what I understand, Katie Hill's tattoo was a skateboarder thing, not a Nazi thing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_Truck_Company
But I supported Jess Phoenix in that primary, and I still am bummed she didn't win, she would've been great.
Re: Platner, I've met him in a small group setting and talked with him. He's a lot more thoughtful in-person than you might guess from his Reddit post history. He speaks quite movingly about how the VA saved his life when he was struggling with PTSD, depression, and chronic pain, and how that led him to start learning how other countries provide universal healthcare.
My hot take is that, for a Democrat like Platner, the Nazi tattoo and politically incorrect Reddit comments aren't that big of deal. Why? Because they cut against what people usually fear from Democrats--that they're moral scolds who care more about progressive identity groups than kitchen table issues. Nobody believes Platner is a Nazi, and I doubt any ads on TV will move the needle much since everyone in Maine has probably already heard about his scandals given the amount of media coverage. But him having certain rough edges in his past makes him seem like "a different kind of Democrat".
The hottest dunk on Platner is that he's a rich man's idea of the working class, but his actual working class cred is questionable. He went to private school and his dad was a fairly successful lawyer (and not a native Mainer). It seems like most of his income is from disability pay related to military service, not his oyster farming. Per Politico reporting, the farm itself was a "hobby farm" before he bought it. He went to college in DC but dropped out. Except for his serious military experience, he's more coastal elite dropout than he is working class. Maybe that won't matter. People are ready to vote for any non-Republican under 65. But he is a risk.