A new accusation that Graham Platner once sexually assaulted a woman he was dating has rocked the U.S. Senate race in Maine and cast fresh doubt on Democrats’ path to a Senate majority.
Republicans currently have a 53-47 advantage in the Senate, and Maine is viewed as a necessary win for Democrats to gain the minimum of four new Senate seats.
But now there’s a question of whether Platner, who denied the allegation, will remain on the ballot and, if he does, whether he can defeat five-term Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
Here’s a closer look at the top races that Democrats are targeting.
Democrats see some pickup opportunities
ALASKA: Former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola’s candidacy against incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan has buoyed her party.
Peltola, one of a handful of Democrats who’ve won in Republican dominated states, was the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress, winning special and regular elections in 2022 for the state’s only House seat.
At center stage for the state’s Aug. 18 primary is drama involving a man running with the same name and party affiliation as Sullivan. The state supreme court has said the challenger is qualified to be on the ballot.
Peltola’s campaign and state Democrats have denied Sullivan’s allegation that they’re working with the challenger to cause confusion..
MAINE: Platner catapulted to the Democratic nomination despite earlier controversies. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer initially backed sitting Gov. Janet Mills but reluctantly aligned behind Platner — until Monday’s latest bombshell accusation.
Now, Schumer and many Democrats are pushing for Platner to withdraw. If he does that by July 13, Maine Democrats can put a replacement on the ballot. If not, Platner could have to face Collins with little to no national party support.
If Platner drops out, his replacement could meet a similar challenge to what presidential candidate Kamala Harris faced in 2024, when she had a late start to appeal to a general election audience without having won the nomination in a competitive primary.
Meanwhile, Collins has won elections for 30 years despite no Republican presidential nominee, including President Donald Trump, winning Maine since 1988.
NORTH CAROLINA: Democrats landed one of their prize recruits with former Gov. Roy Cooper, who has never lost a statewide election through four terms as attorney general and two terms as governor. Republicans answered with Trump’s handpicked candidate, Michael Whatley, who’d previously served as state GOP chairman and as the Republican National Committee chairman.
Whatley was viewed as a prodigious fundraiser and ideal Trump surrogate in a state the president carried three times, and he has history on his side — Democrats have won just two U.S. Senate races and one presidential contest in North Carolina in the last three decades.
Yet Cooper won governors races in two of Trump’s three presidential cycles and is leveraging his centrist image at a time when independents have soured on Trump. That leaves Whatley with the difficult tasks of satisfying Trump’s core supporters without alienating other voters; introducing himself to voters who don’t know him; and convincing enough North Carolina voters that they’ve been wrong about Cooper for decades.
OHIO: Democrats are counting on former Sen. Sherrod Brown to unseat Republican incumbent Jon Husted in what’s shaping up to be another expensive contest in the state — its third in four years.
The Senate Leadership Fund, a GOP super PAC, has pledged $79 million to defend Husted’s seat.
Brown served three terms in the Senate before losing a tough reelection contest in 2024.
Ohio has steadily trended Republican. But Brown won previously as an advocate of unions and the working class, and Democrats believe he can attract some of the voters who’ve helped Trump win the state three times.
Husted, a former lieutenant governor, was appointed to fill the vacancy created when JD Vance became vice president.
Underdogs could offer surprises
IOWA: The state, which Trump won three times gives Democrats an opportunity to flip a Senate seat with two-term Republican Sen. Joni Ernst’s retirement.
Democratic Iowa state Rep. Josh Turek faces Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, who has been endorsed by Trump.
Turek is a relative newcomer to elected office and has pointed to his experience winning in a red, Trump-won state House district as proof he could appeal to independent and moderate Republican voters in November.
Hinson is a three-term House incumbent representing northeastern Iowa, and claims Trump needs a fighter who would “always have his back.”
TEXAS: State Rep. James Talarico, a 37-year-old seminarian, has become a national fundraising phenomenon.
Talarico faces the scandal-ridden Republican nominee Ken Paxton. The Texas attorney general has weathered an impeachment attempt by his own party, a yearslong corruption investigation and public airing of his martial difficulties. Through all that, Paxton has won multiple reelections.
Democrats were buoyed by their primary turnout of about 2.3 million eclipsing Republicans’ 2.2 million, something that hasn’t happened since the state flipped to Republicans in the 1990s. But the challenge for Talarico is turning that momentum into a racially, ethnically and geographically diverse coalition in November.
The seats Democrats have to hold
GEORGIA: Sen. Jon Ossoff is the only Democratic senator running for reelection this year in a state Trump won in 2024.
He had no primary opposition, and he’s been a fundraising force with more than $30 million cash-on-hand as he entered the general election campaign. Ossof has attracted national attention with his unapologetic broadsides against Trump.
Republican Rep. Mike Collins is playing catchup after winning a bruising GOP primary runoff. He must navigate skeptical Republicans who believe he’s too conservative or controversial for this battleground state. Collins repeats Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was rigged, and he’s also facing a House ethics inquiry over allegations that he misused taxpayer money to pay the girlfriend of a former top aide.
Collins’ strongest line of attack against Ossoff comes on immigration. Collins sponsored the Laken Riley Act, named for a Georgia nursing student killed by a Venezuelan man in the U.S. illegally. The law, among other provisions, requires immigrants accused of certain crimes to be held without bond. Ossoff voted against the measure before reversing his vote after Trump returned to the White House.
MICHIGAN: Democratic Sen. Gary Peters’ retirement opens up a seat the party must hold in a key presidential battleground that Trump won twice and former President Joe Biden carried in 2020.
The Aug. 4 Democratic primary is a contest between moderate Haley Stevens and progressive Abdul El-Sayed. It was a three-way contest until Mallory McMorrow, who had backing from some progressive Democratic senators, suspended her campaign.
Stevens and El-Sayed have split support among Democratic senators. Stevens has the support of Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, while El-Sayed has support from Sen. Bernie Sanders and other progressives.
Stevens has also benefited from heavy outside spending, including nearly $8 million from a super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
El-Sayed, a former Wayne County health director, has run on issues like Medicare for All and halting all U.S. weapons transfers to Israel. He has campaigned with popular-yet-controversial streamer Hasan Piker, who has millions of followers online and has said things such as that “America deserved 9/11.”
The winner is expected to face Republican Mike Rogers, who lost to now-Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat, in 2024.
Bill Barrow And Mike Catalini, The Associated Press
