Second campaign manager jumps ship on embattled Dem candidate after one week: report
The teetering campaign of Maine oysterman Graham Platner to be the Democratic Party’s nominee to oppose Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) should she run for re-election in 2026 suffered another blow over the weekend.
According to a report from Axios’ Holly Otterbein on Monday, Kevin Brown, who took the place of departed former political director Genevieve McDonald on the Platner campaign, is bowing out after taking the job last Tuesday.
Brown, a longtime friend of the potential nominee for the U.S. Senate seat, issued a statement to Axios explaining, “Graham is a dear friend. I started this campaign Tuesday but found out Friday we have a baby on the way. Graham deserves someone who is 100% in on his race and we want to lean into this new experience as a family, so it was best we step back sooner than later so Graham can get the manager he deserves."
The political neophyte has been battered by revelations about his past for days after making a splash as a potential threat to Collins, whose seat is considered vulnerable because of Donald Trump’s unpopularity.
As Otterbien wrote, “It's the latest in a series of personnel shakeups for Platner's campaign, which was endorsed by progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) but has been thrown into turmoil because Platner made controversial social media posts in the past and had a tattoo that looked like a Nazi symbol.”
“The Democratic Senate primary in Maine has become a battle between the party establishment and its progressive wing. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is the top target for Senate Democrats in the 2026 midterms,” she added before pointing out the Gov. Janet Mills (D) jumped into the race last week, adding more turmoil to the closely-watched race.
California voters pass Gavin Newsom’s scheme to fight back against Trump’s gerrymandering
California voters handed Democrats yet another victory on an already action-packed election night, passing Proposition 50.
The ballot measure, passed and championed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, is a response to President Donald Trump's push for GOP-controlled states to rig their congressional district maps to give themselves extra seats and eliminate Democratic representatives — plans which have already been passed in Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina.
Under Proposition 50, the state's nonpartisan redistricting commission is temporarily suspended until the next Census, and a map is passed that seeks to eliminate five Republican congressional districts in California.
The measure was supported by a number of lawmakers and groups that generally oppose partisan gerrymandering, as an emergency measure to prevent Republicans from being able to block voters from voting out their majority in next year's midterm elections.
