Maine Senate campaign implodes: the Democratic Socialists' hidden hand in creating Graham Platner

In June, the local Maine chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America celebrated Graham Platner's Senate campaign, despite the candidate’s “unforced errors,” for its potential to “represent a seismic shift in our country’s political movement” away from centrists in the Democratic Party. 

Just one month later, after another round of accusations of sexual assault and rape by a woman Platner previously dated, the Maine DSA backtracked. “To set the record straight: we never endorsed Platner. He is not a DSA candidate,” the chapter posted to X on Monday after new allegations against the Maine Democrat surfaced and just days before he suspended his campaign Wednesday night.

However, the claim belies the indispensable role that the DSA, its ideology, and its fellow travelers played in shaping, recruiting, and supporting Platner in his bid to unseat Maine’s long-serving Republican Sen. Susan Collins, even while increasingly concerning information about the candidate’s past emerged.  

The Democratic Socialists and other left-wing progressive groups, even as they abandoned Platner, say that his success in becoming the frontrunner to unseat Collins shows that Mainers were “inspired” by his campaign and platform, and argue that he should be replaced with someone in the same mold now that he has stepped down.  

“The power of the Platner campaign was undeniable, but that power does not come from the candidate; it comes from the tens of thousands of Mainers who were inspired by the campaign’s platform and urgency,” Maine DSA said in a statement posted to X. 

“Our real path to building power is uniting around the platform that DSA also fights for: Universal Healthcare, an end to senseless wars, and the transition of power from the ruling class to the working class,” the group added. 

The Democratic Socialists and their fellow travelers were instrumental in plucking Platner from relative obscurity in Maine, which was followed by his rise to becoming the state Democratic Party's Senate nominee. In July, a progressive couple, Daniel Moraff and Leanne Fan, who met working on Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, showed up in Maine seeking a candidate of the same ilk to contest the Democratic primary, they told Politico in an interview last year. 

Moraff and Fan are both democratic socialists, and their consulting work has been behind a series of progressive candidates like Dan Osborn, who is running for Senate in Nebraska, and Pennsylvania Rep. Summer Lee, a member of the House “Squad” alongside fellow Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York, and Ilhan Omar, Minnesota.

When Moraff was an organizer for the Democratic Socialists of America in 2017, he wrote “Want to Elect Socialists? Run Them in Democratic Primaries.” In the piece published by In These Times, Moraff argued that exploiting the Democratic Party’s primaries would allow socialists to “win elections and build power now.” 

The argument mirrors the official strategy adopted by DSA’s national leadership known as the “dirty break”–“where DSA continues to run candidates on the Democratic Party’s ballot line, while building the infrastructure and base of supporters necessary to one day run our candidates independently,” as described by the party’s youth wing. 

Various forms of the strategy have been referenced in party resolutions since 2019, when the party first defined it as a key goal: “to form an independent working-class party, but for now, this does not rule out DSA-endorsed candidates running tactically on the Democratic Party ballot line.”

Sanders, in fact, ran for president in 2016 and 2020 on the Democratic ticket. 

After first meeting Platner and pitching the idea of a campaign for senate, Moraff told Politico that he called Morris Katz, a political strategist at the Philadelphia-based firm Fight. Katz publicly served as a senior adviser to Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani’s successful campaign for New York mayor.

“Within, like, five minutes,” of meeting with Platner, Katz told Politico, “I was thinking, ‘Holy shit, this guy can help save the Democratic Party.’”

Beyond the early assist from democratic socialists and adjacent bigwigs, Platner’s platform aligns closely with the political priorities of the Democratic Socialists of America. He supports Medicare for All, increasing taxes on high earners and the wealthy, and “dismantling” Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

“It’s proof that if you can capture the attention of voters, a leftist platform is popular and deeply felt,” the Maine DSA wrote in its voter guide, published in June. “This is an exciting campaign that could represent a seismic shift in our country’s political movement as the fracture within the Democratic party widens and leaves the uninspiring centrist party leaders on unstable ground.”

In that same voter guide, the Maine DSA recommended that its members vote for Platner without explicitly endorsing his candidacy. 

Before he ran for office, Platner even described himself as a “pretty radically left” socialist who was an official member of the Democratic Socialists of America. He said he was “vegetable growing, psychedelics taking socialist” and also at one point called himself a “communist.” 

In a later interview with The New Yorker during the campaign, Platner downplayed his prior statements and told the outlet that he would not call himself a socialist. He said his political involvement centered on “organizing around mostly local economic justice issues or social justice issues.” 

“I don’t consider myself a democratic socialist. I do say that I certainly have a critique of capitalism,” Platner said. 

The democratic socialist-aligned Moraff’s rapid effort to help launch Platner’s campaign played a big part in the candidate’s later troubles with repeated, damaging reports about his former Reddit (a social media platform) posts, sexually explicit texts, and eventually allegations of sexual assault from women he previously dated. 

Though high-profile campaigns usually contract for thorough background checks that can cost as much as $20,000, Moraff ordered an expedited review that could be completed within days, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. 

A firm produced a brief risk assessment for the campaign that flagged some of Platner’s Reddit posts, but which overlooked or failed to uncover the major issues that have plagued his campaign, including the full scope of his social media posts and text messages. 

Platner has also been accused by at least three women he formerly dated of unsettling, volatile and emotionally abusive and by two women of sexual assault. 

The latest allegation, from 41-year-old Jenny Racicot, is that during an intermittent relationship with Platner, he arrived at her home one evening in 2021 intoxicated and allegedly forced her to have sex with him. The allegation, made public Monday, prompted many Democrats to begin withdrawing their endorsements and call for him to step aside. 

Platner ultimately decided to drop out of the race and make way for another Democratic candidate despite denying the accusations against him. The Democratic Socialists quickly moved on to back Troy Jackson who the party previously endorsed for governor. Jackson shares many of the same policy priorities as Platner.