The end of a Democrat’s disastrous bid for a must-win US Senate seat has blunted the party’s efforts to oppose President Donald Trump’s agenda.
Graham Platner’s populist campaign ignited the Democratic grassroots but many soured on the scandal-plagued candidate, underscoring the deepening rift between the party’s moderates and the left wing.
Platner’s defiant departure on Wednesday raised doubts that Democrats could unify behind a replacement, threatening their chances of taking control of the Senate in the midterm elections. The debacle may have blown the Democrats’ opportunity to rein in Trump’s power, the Guardian’s Washington Bureau chief argued, suggesting Maine is a “warning that help is not necessarily on the way.”