Will Platner controversy sink Democrats in a crucial U.S. House showdown?
EXCLUSIVE - AUGUSTA, Maine - Graham Platner is gone, but the trail of debris left from the mounting controversies that brought down his nearly year-long insurgent Senate campaign is giving...
By Fox News · Fox News
EXCLUSIVE - AUGUSTA, Maine - Graham Platner is gone, but the trail of debris left from the mounting controversies that brought down his nearly year-long insurgent Senate campaign is giving Republicans ammunition to use against a Democrat on the ballot in another equally crucial midterm race in Maine. Former two-term Maine Gov. Paul LePage, the GOP nominee in the high-stakes battle for the state's 2nd Congressional District, one of roughly two-dozen races that may determine the House balance of power, says that Matt Dunlap, the Democratic Party's nominee, "miscalculated" by aligning himself with Platner. LePage is aiming to flip the Democrat-controlled open seat in a mostly rural district President Donald Trump carried in the past three presidential elections. And the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is heavily targeting the race as it works to hold onto its razor-thin House majority in the midterms. "Way, way too close to Platner. Way too close to Bernie. Way too close to AOC. That whole gang," LePage said of Dunlap as he spoke exclusively with Fox News Digital on Tuesday and pointed to Platner as well as progressive champions Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. DEMOCRATS RUNNING TO REPLACE PLATNER IN KEY SENATE RACE CALL FOR ABOLISHING ICE Dunlap campaign manager Harry Burke, firing back, called LePage's criticism "desperate and weak." Platner, a populist Democrat backed last September by Sanders and later by other top progressives, was challenging longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins in a combustible and very expensive race in Maine , which is one of a handful that will determine if the GOP holds onto its slim Senate majority in November's midterm elections. Platner's exit from the race came days after an explosive report contained an allegation of rape from a woman he previously dated. It was only after that report when a chorus of calls emerged from top Democrats across the country for him to immedia…