With Graham Platner’s campaign teetering from an allegation of sexual assault, there’s no shortage of people arguing that the 41-year-old Maine oysterman and progressive political neophyte was always too risky for a key Senate race. However, it’s likely more candidates will follow his path in the future.That’s because Platner’s starburst candidacy followed an increasingly familiar arc that’s shown no signs of abating in American politics — the outsider who defies the warnings of party veterans and captures the hearts of primary voters, even as liabilities pile up and complicate the odds of winning the general election.With so many ways to raise money and draw attention, and so little faith in longstanding institutions, the country remains primed for new waves of anti-establishment campaigns, no matter how erratic. “I think there’s going to be a lot more of this,” said Seth Masket, a political scientist at the University of Denver.
Platner initially surged onto the scene with a grassroots campaign in defiance of Democratic leadership, who had rallied around 78-year-old Maine Gov. Janet Mills as their best hope of unseating Republican Sen. Susan Collins. But Mills dropped out as Platner, 41, consolidated support, weathering a steady drumbeat of revelations over a tattoo recognized as a Nazi symbol, extramarital sexting and controversial social media posts that would have wrecked a typical campaign.
