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The Republican Susan Collins has held one in every of Maine’s Senate seats for practically thirty years, and Democrats, in attempting to take it away from her, have rather a lot at stake. Graham Platner, a fight veteran, political activist, and small-business proprietor who has by no means served in workplace, appeared to examine many bins for a progressive upstart. Platner, who says he and his spouse earn sixty thousand {dollars} a yr, has spoken passionately about affordability, and has referred to as common well being care a “ethical crucial.” He appeared like a rising star, however then a few of his previous feedback on-line directed in opposition to police, L.G.B.T.Q. folks, sexual-assault survivors, Black folks, and rural whites surfaced. A photograph was printed of a tattoo that he received within the Marines, which resembles a Nazi image, although Platner says he didn’t notice it. He apologized, however will Democrats embrace him, regardless of ugly former views? “As uncomfortable as it’s, and personally unenjoyable, to have to speak about silly issues I stated on the web,” he advised David Remnick, “it additionally permits me to publicly mannequin one thing I believe is admittedly vital. . . . You possibly can change your language, change the way in which you consider stuff.” The truth is, he frames his candidacy in a means that may attraction to disillusioned Trump voters: “It’s best to be capable to be pleased with the truth that you may flip into a special sort of particular person. You possibly can take into consideration the world another way.”
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