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Morris Katz, the Democratic strategist who helped recruit Graham Platner to run for the U.S. Senate in Maine, reflected on the string of controversies that led up to Platner’s decision to exit the race.
In a podcast interview with The New York Times’s Ezra Klein released Friday, Katz addressed resurfaced Reddit posts the Democratic candidate made about Black people and sexual assault in the military.
Specifically, Klein asked him about a since-deleted post in which Platner advised people to “not get blacked out” to avoid being sexually assaulted. The oyster farmer withdrew from the race earlier this month after a woman he used to date alleged that he forced her to have sex with him in 2021.
“I think it should’ve been a red line,” Katz said about the Reddit post. “I think he talked about it being one of the things he regretted saying the most, that it was indicative of a time in his life when he was lost, when he was angry and that it was in no way reflective of who he was.”
Katz also addressed the allegation of sexual assault that “ended” Platner’s campaign, noting that there was “no standard vetting process” that would have caught this when they recruited him to run for Maine’s Senate seat. Platner has forcefully denied the allegation.
The Democratic strategist pointed to the allegations of sexual assault against former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), which came out after his years of service in Congress as he made a bid for California governor. Swalwell has also denied these allegations.
“That being said, I think in hindsight, knowing what we know now, the Reddit posts alone probably should have been enough … the tattoo should have been enough, the initial New York Times story on troubling behavior should have been enough,” Katz said. “And I think both things can be true that we need different kinds of candidates running outside of the political arena and that it’s the United States Senate.”
On Saturday, Maine’s Democratic Party will formally select Platner’s replacement in the race to challenge incumbent GOP Sen. Susan Collins this November.
Former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, who was defeated in the state’s Democratic gubernatorial primary earlier this year, is considered the party’s top choice for the Senate race.
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