Tamara Keith and Carrie Dunn on Blatner are facing calls to withdraw from the Maine Senate race

Amna Nawaz:

Maine Democrats are scrambling again, and the state Democratic Party is calling on Graham Blatner to withdraw from the Senate race, with a new accuser emerging against the candidate.

Politico reported this afternoon that a woman named Jenny Racicot said Blattner sexually assaulted her nearly five years ago. She spoke to CNN about the alleged rape.

Jenny Racicot, accused Graham Plattner:

I don’t think you can believe that this scenario was by consensus. You have to — you have to understand that it wasn’t, when someone repeatedly — I mean, when someone in the middle of it says, “Don’t touch me,” like, obviously that wasn’t consensual.

Amna Nawaz:

Racicot says she is now speaking out while balancing support for Blattner’s policies, not him personally.

Blattner responded to the allegations in a video on social media.

Graham Blattner (D), Maine Senate Candidate: Any accusation of non-consensual behavior is flatly false. Regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but given the political reality it will bring, we are taking the time to consider the best path forward for the state I love, the people I love, the movement I belong to, and the goal of defeating Susan Collins.

Amna Nawaz:

For more on this development and the week’s top political headlines, we turn to Politics on Monday, today with NPR’s Tamara Keith and The Cook Policy Report’s Carrie Dunn, replacing Amy Walter this week.

Thanks for being here, Carrie.

Carrie Dunn, Managing Editor, Cook Political Report with Amy Walter:

Thanks.

Amna Nawaz:

Great to see you, Tam.

Let’s start with this breaking news happening right now in Maine.

Carrie, we’ve already seen some Democrats start to come out and demand that Blatner step down and withdraw from the race. What do you think will happen here?

Carrie Dunn:

Well, look, I’ve never seen a candidate make a video like this saying, I’m going to assess the situation, move forward, and then go on to say, in fact, I’m going to stick with this. This seems to be heading towards a decision to withdraw.

Now, timing is really important here. If this story had been published after 5 o’clock next Monday, Democrats would have been stuck with Graham Blatner on the ballot. Currently, he has a week to withdraw, after which, if he so chooses, the party can choose another candidate within the next two weeks.

Who they choose, if he’s going to drop out, will be really crucial here. I think, if you’re Democrats, you want to pick the most at-large Democrat ever for this seat. Now, Maine’s governor’s race has just been called. There are candidates who ran statewide there, as well as other candidates who ran for Senate, who might be raising their hand maybe wanting to be that candidate on the ballot.

Suzanne Collins is still very weak. This may ultimately be the best news Democrats can get if they can replace him with a candidate who can compete against her. However, this person will have to collect a lot of money and a lot of personal names very quickly.

Amna Nawaz:

Tam, how do you see this?

Tamara Keith, NPR:

Yeah, I mean, Blatner swept that primary. He got voters very excited about him and his progressive policies. Then there was this drip, drip, drip of controversies and scandals and red flags that led to this point, where we saw Democrats start to separate themselves from him, including people who early on were supportive of him.

That’s a bit exaggerated, said Ro Khanna, a progressive Democrat and congressman. So did Ruben Gallego, a senator. And more are coming. This is — this is just one of those things where it becomes insurmountable.

As Curry said, he’s taking some time to think about the best path forward. That’s not what you say if you fight and stay.

Amna Nawaz:

Meanwhile, I know you’re also following another big race in Michigan. This is the Democratic Senate primary race, and it’s a big moment this weekend when one of the candidates, Mallory McMorrow, decided to drop out.

The race is now limited to two people. There is a centrist candidate in Haley Stevens, and a progressive candidate in Abdel Sayed.

Tam, as you know, this is a state that Trump narrowly won in 2024 after flipping it in 2016. So the Democratic winner here will likely face Republican Mike Rogers. What do you conclude from all this?

Tamara Keith:

Yeah, I think what we’re seeing and what we’re seeing in this race, and now it’s going to become a more clear example of this, is, where is the heart of the Democratic Party? So what do Democratic primary voters want, not just in blue places like Denver and New York, but also in a purple state like Michigan?

And what you had was this progressive path and you had the more traditional standard Democratic path, whatever you want to call it. Mallory McMorrow was running against Congresswoman Stevens in this more popular Democratic lane.

And McMorrow–I talked to someone who worked with her. McMorrow was unable to compete. Stevens had so much money, and so much support from the Democratic establishment, that McMorrow couldn’t publish her name tag.

I will note that she did not endorse. She did not throw her support behind either of them. And I think there’s a real question about where her supporters are going, because certainly, some of the people who told polls that they supported her, they wanted change. They just wanted a different flavor of change.

Amna Nawaz:

Yes.

Tamara Keith:

And I think trying to figure out this — how to capture the energy that a lot of Democratic and Republican voters have, frankly, for change, I think is a theme we’re seeing in all of these races.

Amna Nawaz:

Well, that’s the question we get asked again and again, Carrie. Does this race tell us anything about the direction of the Democratic Party?

Carrie Dunn:

I think it definitely will.

And I think Abdel-Sayed — I think Democratic voters in Michigan are considering electability as part of their calculations here. The gentleman makes the following argument: I can reshape the electorate. I — with progressive ideas, and with the support of someone like Bernie Sanders, I can mobilize young progressives. I could rally disaffected Trump voters who liked Trump because they were voting for change.

It certainly represents a bold change. I think it’s interesting that McMorrow wasn’t able to get that momentum, because she was kind of a moderate candidate. If you think about electability and also want a bold change in someone who says, hey, I’m going to tell Chuck Schumer that I don’t support him, she would have been that candidate, but she just couldn’t compete.

On the other hand, the master seems to have momentum. It was outspent on the airwaves by Haley Stevens 17-1. So the support he gets actually comes from the grassroots movement that he’s been able to build, and I also think from him being a talented candidate. Regardless of politics, he communicates — I think he seems like a regular person and calls for change.

I think that’s what a lot of voters want in their politicians. He does these things great — he does these commercials when he’s surfing.

(crosstalk)

Carrie Dunn:

I mean he looks like a normal guy. People – This can be attractive to people.

Amna Nawaz:

Before I let you guys go, I need to look at the 250th weekend celebrations and a little bit of the split screen that I know you’ve been thinking about as well, because we’ve seen the president speak, as he often does, kind of marrying historical narratives with political grievances in his remarks.

And then we also saw these rallies that got a lot of attention, where members of this white nationalist group, the Patriot Front, were marching through the streets of Washington, D.C., chanting “Take back America.”

I know a lot of people saw this photo that went viral of a black woman on a train surrounded by these people. This photo was taken by photographer Cheney Orr.

Tam, what does all this tell you about America in its 250th year?

Tamara Keith:

Yes, America in 2026 is still a very complex country, and it doesn’t have a single red, white, and blue narrative, but it does have a lot of competing ideas, and the idea that it’s still working to be a more perfect union.

Amna Nawaz:

curry?

Carrie Dunn:

And when you talk about the video of this white supremacist group, I think it’s just a reminder of how much the Overton Window has changed on this.

Let us remember here the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” march. How terrifying that was for the Americans, because they are not accustomed to dealing with people so rudely regarding these opinions. Now, this happened on a very busy weekend. But it was still a third-rate story, and I think that shows you how much the country has changed during this period of Donald Trump’s presidency.

Amna Nawaz:

Complicated, she says, but hopefully on her way to a more perfect union.

Carrie Dunn, Tamara Keith, great to see you both together. Thank you.

Tamara Keith:

You’re welcome.

Carrie Dunn:

Thank you.