Gavin Newsom: Democrats must ‘demand the fight’ for Senate control post-Platner
Gov. Gavin Newsom reiterated past remarks that Democrats nationwide need to be more pugnacious as the party casts about for a replacement to Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, who dropped out Wednesday after an ex-girlfriend accused him of sexual assault.
Platner, a Marine veteran and oysterman from coastal Maine, won the state primary last month by running on an anti-establishment platform. Polls showed he was on track to pose one of the most formidable threats to incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins in recent years, despite a lack of large donations. Democrats pinned their hopes of winning back control of the Senate on the outcome of the race.
“Clearly there wasn’t enough vetting done,” Newsom told reporters Thursday at a press conference on special education funding. He said he was “looking forward to the nominating process supporting a Democrat in that way,” referring to Maine Democrats’ scramble to find another candidate to replace Platner ahead of a July 27 state deadline.
“I can’t get into the merits of what they do in Maine in terms of that vetting process, et cetera. I just don’t know enough to have an informed opinion,” Newsom said.
After Politico reported Monday that Jenny Racicot, Platner’s ex-girlfriend, said he broke into her house while drunk in 2021 and assaulted her, much of his support collapsed. Platner was also dogged by unknowingly receiving a tattoo of a Nazi symbol (which he later covered up) and a recent history of sexting women other than his wife and using crude language about women and LGBTQ people on Reddit.
Newsom said “every second we’re talking about the past is seconds wasted in terms of the essential nature of that race,” referring to national Democrats’ plans to take back control of the House and Senate in the November midterms.
The California governor and potential 2028 presidential contender will travel later on Thursday to Nevada to help Democrats there kick off their midterm canvassing campaign and fundraise on behalf of Attorney General Aaron Ford, who is challenging Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo.
Newsom did not respond directly when asked if he would welcome candidates associated with the Democratic Socialists of America, who recently won Democratic primaries in Colorado and New York.
“A supine Congress is not what the founding fathers promoted, not what they advocated for. It’s the rule of law, not the rule of Don,” Newsom said, referring to President Donald Trump. “And to the extent it’s dawning on people, in the spirit of your question, the base of the party is demanding the fight. Yes, I hope more established Democrats wake up to that, because I’ve been screaming from the rafters for years on that.”
He pointed to last year’s successful Proposition 50 redistricting initiative, which inspired similar efforts in other states, as an example of Democrats taking “action” and “making real our values.”
“I think that’s the fight we needed,” Newsom said.
Newsom, who is a prolific fundraiser even in off years in the election cycle, said he had been meeting with people about how to “nationalize” statehouse races to win back Democratic control of local offices in his role as policy chair of the Democratic Governors Association.
He is also expected to return to the South later in the summer and said his Nevada trip would be the “first of a few campaign road trips” including trips to support Democrats in the Central Valley.
