Graham Platner dropping out ‘the right thing to do,’ Maine Democrats' Exec. Director says

[0:00] And leading off our coverage tonight, someone Graham Plattner considers a party apparatchik, [0:05] Devin Murphy Anderson, the executive director of the Maine Democratic Party. [0:11] Thank you very much for joining us tonight on this difficult night for Maine, difficult night for you. [0:16] I know you just got your orders there from Graham Plattner about how not to do this. [0:24] What are you going to do from this point forward? [0:27] Graham Plattner dropping out today was the right thing to do. [0:32] It's very important that I lead with that. [0:34] The allegations that were brought against him were very real and they were very credible. [0:39] Additionally, this election cycle here in Maine, we have seen absolutely unprecedented energy and enthusiasm around the ideals that we share together as Democrats. [0:50] And so here's what I want to say to the Maine people tonight. [0:53] Here's what I want to promise, that as we embark in this process together, we are going to be guided by those ideals that we share and that many of us voted for when we cast our ballot for Graham Plattner. [1:08] And those ideals are that working people in this state shouldn't be struggling to put food on the table while billionaires are only getting Richard. [1:18] And that also those ideals include that our farmers and our fishermen and our loggers and our families deserve health care. [1:26] And that women deserve to have their reproductive rights restored in this country and that us Maine people are going to vote in the first election where Susan Collins is going to have to face us after she cast the decisive vote for Justice Brett Kavanaugh that overturned Roe v. Wade. [1:44] Those are the ideals that are grounding us in this process. [1:48] It is time for us to unify, and what I can say about the process is that we are going to come out of this stronger than ever. [1:55] If you have ever met a Mainer in your life, you know that we are incredibly resilient, we are incredibly grounded, and we have a lot of integrity. [2:04] And what we need from the rest of you all watching, the rest of the American people, and we are well aware that the eyes of our nation that we are hoping to serve well are on us. [2:14] What we need from you is your support in this process, and what we need are donations, because we have got a U.S. Senate nominee that is going to start in two weeks from scratch. [2:26] And we have to have some groundwork laid for them and the resources for them to compete so that we can beat Susan Collins in November. [2:34] Does the Plattner campaign have money that it can use in this election to support the Democratic nominee? [2:43] The Plattner campaign most definitely has resources. [2:48] Whether or not they will commit those resources to the next U.S. Senate nominee is not something that I have insight into. [2:55] If you all would like to support us, you can go to mainedems.org forward slash Senate and make a contribution this evening or in the coming days to help us. [3:04] You made a reference there to we who voted for Graham Plattner. Did you vote for Plattner? [3:09] That's not something that I'm comfortable sharing. [3:12] What I will say is that the energy here on the ground has been undeniable. [3:17] We agree with Plattner's campaign on that. [3:20] And what I want to say to Plattner's supporters is that this is why we asked Graham Plattner immediately upon seeing these allegations come to light. [3:27] We asked him to withdraw, not because we don't believe in those policies and those ideals, but because he was no longer the best steward to lead that movement. [3:37] And that grassroots energy and that momentum remains here on the ground and we can harness it together. [3:44] But it does require us coming together. And it also requires us to participate in a process that is inclusive and transparent, representative and fair. [3:55] Graham Plattner withdrawing this evening now gives us the ability to start to put forth those details for Mainers as to how they are going to be able to participate [4:04] and to potential candidates as to how they are going to be able to declare their intent to run to be the next U.S. Senate nominee from Maine. [4:11] So if I'm in Maine tonight, I'm a state legislator or I'm a farmer and I think this is my moment. [4:19] I'm going to step forward. I'm going to run for this. What do I do? What's the process? [4:23] Well, there's process details coming forthcoming. What we need to do right now is ensure that Maine Democrats are aligned on that process. [4:32] So what I can share is that earlier today, we convened special meetings of both our executive committee and our Democratic state committee. [4:40] Those two committees together make up the governing body of the Maine Democratic Party. [4:44] What I am very excited and proud to share is that the process that we have put in place to convene a nominating convention was voted on by those Maine Democrats. [4:56] And that vote passed with over 82 percent of the vote, which is a full endorsement of the direction that we are taking to to replace this nominee. [5:06] The details are forthcoming. We are seeing folks that are going to be doing media and press tonight, tomorrow, opening exploratory committees. [5:13] Those folks are going to be running a campaign. And we really encourage people to do that. [5:18] We are, of course, going to require folks to talk to Maine voters in some way that's going to qualify them to be our U.S. Senate nominee beyond just declaring their intent. [5:29] What that will most likely look like is petition collection from Maine Democratic voters across the state. [5:34] And what is the timetable for this? [5:37] So we need to submit our new nominee's name by 5 p.m. on July 27th to the secretary of state. [5:45] So in the next less than two weeks, we need to put together what we typically have a full professional team do in six to eight months. [5:54] And so a candidate listening to you tonight thinks I've got to be out there at the supermarket tomorrow getting signatures. [6:02] I have to have my friends, my family, whoever I can get getting signatures from Maine voters to offer myself as a candidate. [6:10] We don't know how many signatures might be required, but something like that beyond just a declaration of candidacy by a candidate will be required here. [6:19] What I would encourage candidates to do this evening is to really tap into what us Mainers are seeing and feeling on the ground. [6:27] The top of your segment talked about, you know, how we have had folks come into our state to involve themselves in this process. [6:34] Again, if you know Mainers, you know that we are incredibly independent and we value our independence more than very many other things. [6:42] Right. And so I am a Mainer. [6:44] I am from here. [6:45] I am the daughter of a lobsterman and the daughter of a teacher. [6:48] And what I care about is that Mainers feel represented in this process, that they feel included in this process, [6:55] that we have the full transparency every single step of the way for folks to understand where we are at. [7:01] And where we are at right now is that we do have a vote to move forward with a nominating convention that will happen at some point prior to July 27th. [7:11] If you are a candidate that is interested in participating in that, it is critical that you start talking to Main voters about the values that we saw drive such historic turnout in the primary we just had on June 9th. [7:23] Are you taking any guidance or consultations with Chuck Schumer or the Democratic Senate campaign committee in Washington, D.C., what Graham Plattner tonight was referring to as the Democratic establishment? [7:38] Again, us Mainers are very attached to our independence. [7:42] We are completely in charge of running our own process. [7:46] That is not just our own preference. [7:47] That is actually also what our state statute and our charter requires. [7:51] The only entity, despite anything else that you might have heard up until this point, the only entity that is legally able to make these decisions about this process is the main Democratic Party, [8:04] specifically our main Democratic Party chair in consultation with the county chairs of our 16 counties. [8:10] That is the process we have put forth. [8:12] There is nobody else who is able to participate in helping us put that plan together legally from outside of our state. [8:18] It sounded like Graham Plattner was referring to all of those people, including yourself, as party apparatchiks tonight and that you people should not be involved or in charge in any way in organizing this. [8:35] If not you and if not the Democratic Party officials who are already in place, who else could possibly do it? [8:42] That's not a question that I have spent literally one second thinking about because I have stepped up as the rest of my very smart and talented team. [8:50] to serve our state and to serve our nation. [8:53] That is how we view this. [8:54] We understand the responsibility that is on our shoulders, and we take that incredibly seriously. [9:00] I can tell you that the team has been in this office quite literally nonstops on Sunday evening. [9:04] There is quite a few of us that have not slept. [9:07] That is how seriously we take this process. [9:10] I am not interested in exploring the hypotheticals of who else could be a part of this. [9:15] I can tell you that, as Jen said at the top of the hour here, I am 31 years old. [9:20] I am from this state. [9:21] This is not just a hypothetical for me. [9:23] This is my future. [9:24] This is the future of my nephew. [9:25] This is the future of my aunt and my uncle and their welding business that they can no longer afford to produce their products at at the same rate as last year because of the steel tariffs from the Trump economy. [9:36] That is where we're at. [9:37] That is what we are doing. [9:38] We are fully qualified to run this process. [9:41] We don't need to think about who else could do this better than us because us Mainers know exactly what is best for us. [9:47] So your message tonight is we're going to do this according to Maine law and what is required under the law. [9:56] With our legal counsel as well as what is actually logistically viable. [10:00] Every single day that passed this week was a day that we lost in that process. [10:04] We explored everything in this process from on one hand of the spectrum of a very closed door vote between our 100 state committee members of who could be our next U.S. Senate nominee all the way to what it would look like to administer by the main state Democratic Party an entire statewide primary election. [10:26] We went through every single iteration of those ideas with our legal counsel and with our operations team to try to figure out which of these could be viable both legally and logistically. [10:37] And what we have landed on definitively is there is actually a very narrow path forward given this timeline. [10:42] A part of the frustration that we expressed earlier this week was at the fact that we did not, we were not able to put some of those gears in motion because Graham Plattner had not yet withdrawn. [10:53] Those comments, that sentiment was directed at Graham Plattner. [10:57] It was not directed at any point to his supporters who are a part of our party, who are a vital part of our party and who are going to be critical in involving in the next steps forward in this process. [11:10] Listen, I understand as of tonight, it's all about tomorrow and the future, but I do, since you just brought it up, want to go over this one thing that you said yesterday about what the situation was more than 24 hours ago. [11:23] Graham Plattner's team has repeatedly reached out to us in an attempt to put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like. [11:32] How much of a problem was that in what you've had to deal with? [11:37] Well, look, anybody that knows me or knows my team knows that we do not respond well to demands. [11:43] We certainly do not respond well to ultimatums. [11:46] What I shared yesterday, again, was not a sentiment towards the movement that has been built on the ground. [11:52] It was a very specific reaction to what we have seen from the Plattner campaign, [11:57] which is the expression repeatedly of wanting to put their thumb on the scale to choose a new nominee. [12:03] That is not Democratic. As the main Democratic Party, we are committed to transparency. [12:09] Unfortunately, sometimes that means that we have to share information that is really upsetting. [12:15] And that was a moment that we decided yesterday as a team really needed to happen, not just for Mainers, but for the American people, [12:21] to understand that even though we had a candidate who ran his campaign centered on being anti the establishment, putting their thumb on the scale, [12:32] that he was then asking for the space and the opportunity to do the very thing that he centered his values around. [12:39] We were not going to allow that to happen. [12:41] And continuously moving forward, we will not allow that to happen. [12:44] David Murphy Anderson, you are now facing the most difficult job anyone in your position has ever had. [12:53] Thank you very much for taking the time to join us here tonight. [12:56] And please come back as this process continues. [12:59] Thank you so much for having me. Take care. [13:00] Thank you.