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GRAHAM PLATNER: The whole point of these stories is to make sure we're not talking about healthcare. It's to make sure we're not talking about raising taxes on the rich. It's to make sure we're not talking about getting money out of politics.
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
That's Graham Platner. He's competing to be the Democrat in Maine's U.S. Senate race this year, and what he was talking about with our colleague, Steve Mistler at Maine Public, is a number of revelations about his past. That's where we'll start this morning with NPR senior political correspondent Tamara Keith. Hi there, Tam.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Hello, Ayesha.
RASCOE: Democrats and unaffiliated main voters who choose to vote in the Democratic primary will decide the party's Senate nominee Tuesday. What have these reports about Platner said? And what does it mean for his campaign?
KEITH: Yeah, so this started with offensive old Reddit posts that he deleted. Then last fall, there was a firestorm over a skull and crossbones tattoo he got on his chest in 2007. He swore he didn't know the symbol was associated with the Nazis and got it covered with a wolf tattoo. Then last weekend, it came out that his wife revealed that early in their marriage, she caught him sexting with a number of other women.
Platner is fighting back and also explaining that a lot of his behavior was the result of difficulty adjusting to life after his military service. And so far, high-profile progressives who have endorsed him are sticking with him. But this swirl certainly has Democrats, who had placed a lot of hope on beating Maine Republican Susan Collins in November, asking if there will be more shoes to drop.
RASCOE: Well, I mean, I have to ask, does any of this really matter in the age of Trump?
KEITH: Yeah, a lot of these Platner controversies came out when there was still time for Democrats to change course. And the state's governor, Janet Mills, did get into the race, and she aired ads hitting him on his Reddit posts. But Platner already had so much grassroots support, her campaign really didn't take hold, and she suspended it at the end of April. She was quoted in a local paper last week reminding people that her name is still on the ballot, but she isn't actively campaigning. And Republicans in Texas just nominated Ken Paxton, the state attorney general whose long list of scandals and alleged corruption and personal indiscretions were a central theme of millions of dollars in campaign ads against him.
There's a bit of a mood now among party loyalists that purity tests are a thing of the past. But in Maine, at least, this race in November is going to be decided by independent voters and older women who are key demographics in the state. And despite all the nothing-matters-anymore discourse, there are a number of high-profile candidates in recent years from both parties who lost or dropped out under the weight of their scandals.
RASCOE: Voters in California cast their primary ballots this past Tuesday. We're still waiting for the results. What more have we learned since polls closed?
KEITH: Yeah, so California has this top-two primary system, so candidates, regardless of party, run in the same primary. In the governor's race, former Democratic Congressman and HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra has secured a spot on the November ballot. We learned that. But the second spot is still up in the air. Former Fox News host Steve Hilton is currently in second place with ballots still being counted, and Tom Steyer, the billionaire progressive populist, is in a close third. We're also waiting on results in the LA mayor's race and quite a few congressional contests.
RASCOE: Remind us, why does California take so long to count the ballots?
KEITH: Yeah, the bulk of Californians now vote by mail and any ballot postmarked by election day and received within a week gets counted. This election, a lot of Democrats waited until the last minute to turn in their ballots, so we saw a red mirage. Republicans voted early, so those ballots were counted first, and they skewed far more Republican than those that are still very slowly being counted.
RASCOE: Steve Buyer is a former congressman from Indiana who was convicted of insider trading in 2023. He left Congress in 2011. Why did President Trump pardon him on Thursday?
KEITH: Trump cited a long list of Republican lawmakers who advocated on the former congressman's behalf. And it is certainly part of a pattern from Trump of granting pardons or commutations to well-connected individuals convicted of white collar crimes. You know, this comes in a moment when a lot of voters feel like this system is rigged in favor of the rich and powerful, and you can see where they get that impression.
RASCOE: That's NPR's Tamara Keith. Thank you so much for joining us.
KEITH: You're welcome, Ayesha. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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