Graham Platner Is Staying in the Race

The New Yorker Radio Hour is supported by Morris and Essex books, presenting History Nation, a citizen's guide to the history of the United States. Author David Hanna makes sense of our nation's history by connecting past to present while emphasizing connection over division, a reminder, in the words of the San Francisco Book Review, to never stop learning. Available in paperback, Kindle, and Audible. This is the New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker. Welcome to the New Yorker Radio Hour.

I'm David Remnick. Since Donald Trump's populist rhetoric first began to resonate with voters, particularly disaffected white voters, the Democratic Party has been looking for candidates who could talk more convincingly about economic insecurity and other related issues. There's been an emphasis on people who seemed to be outside the party establishment, particularly working people and military veterans too. Graham Plattner checked a lot of those boxes.

He had served in the Marines and in the army, and coming home to Maine, he took over a small oyster farming business. Plattner was recruited to run for the Senate seat that's been held for a long time by Susan Collins. But early in his campaign, the picture got a little complicated. Comments that Plattner had made over the years on Reddit and elsewhere began to surface, and you probably heard about this. He called police officers bastards and said victims of sexual assault should, quote, take some responsibility for themselves.

We already have this episode, so unlocking it is cheap and permanent: the full transcript (52 minutes, 8,728 words), segment and word-level timestamps, and .txt, .srt, .vtt and word-level JSON downloads, as many times as you like, forever.

No account needed, we create one from your checkout email. With credits it is 1 credit; packs start at 10 episodes for $5, and monthly plans are cheaper still.