Graham Platner has 'owned up' to his mistakes unlike Ken Paxton: Political strategist

[0:00] Joining us now, MSNOW Capitol Hill reporter Kevin Fry, deputy editor for The Villager, [0:05] a newspaper in Maine, Alex Seitzwald, Democratic strategist and senior advisor to the James [0:10] Tallarico campaign, Chuck Rocha, and co-founder of the Lincoln Project and former GOP strategist [0:16] Rick Wilson. Good to see all of you guys. So, Kevin, you've been speaking with the Maine [0:20] voters all day. What are they telling you? Yeah, I mean, we've crisscrossed the state [0:25] over the last couple of days and talking to dozens of voters. And overall, there is, [0:31] at least when it comes to these Democratic voters, a willingness to stand behind Plattner. And quite [0:37] frankly, they believe that, look, we understand that he's had some mistakes in his past. They [0:42] understand the argument that he came back from the war with PTSD and made these choices. But they [0:49] also see this as a sort of a redemption story. And they buy into that argument that has been put [0:55] forward by the campaign, that he has beliefs and a message that can resonate. It's kind of an [1:00] argument of focus on the message, not so much the messenger itself, even though, depending on who [1:07] you're talking to, for some, they love the messenger in the fact that he's kind of real. They find he's [1:12] tangible. They find he's a relatable person. I was once just talking to one individual who says, [1:16] look, he kind of fits in with this idea of a laborer, someone from Maine. He has a beard. He wears, [1:21] you know, he has tattoos. He's out in the world, whereas they say Susan Collins is not. So they're [1:27] willing to back him. But there is, of course, still a great deal of discomfort among plenty [1:31] of voters about the various stories that have trickled out over the past couple of weeks, [1:36] in no small part because they see it as something that could imperil their chances of finally, [1:41] finally, for Democrats flipping this congressional seat, the Senate seat, rather, which Susan Collins [1:46] has held on for decades. Here's a conversation I had with one voter a little earlier today. [1:54] Well, I really like Graham Plattner because I think he's honest. He was very truthful about what [2:03] happened and the things that he said and his actions and whatnot. And I like that in somebody. [2:11] And I really believe that we need to get Susan Collins out of there. I've always voted for her, [2:17] even though I'm a Democrat. Well, we go to the same church. So, yeah. But I think it's time that [2:26] that we had somebody that that is going to stand up, especially to the Trump administration. [2:33] I don't know what the future is. I don't know what it holds. I don't know how he's going to be. I mean, [2:38] he could be a disappointment like Fetterman. I don't know. But it's a chance that I'm willing to take. [2:43] That last bit, of course, an invocation of John Fetterman, the senator from Pennsylvania, [2:49] who also has a bit of a working class bona fides and way of being in the world, if you will. [2:55] Now, kind of two other quick notes here. One, when it comes to the folks that are really [3:02] uncomfortable about some of the allegations that Plattner is facing, we've kind of heard various [3:07] approaches from these folks. Some are going to be voting for Janet Mills as sort of a protest to send [3:12] a message to party leadership, to Plattner himself, that you might not be able to handle this without [3:18] our support. So either get get it together or step aside. There's also a contingent that told us [3:24] they'll vote for Plattner. But if he crosses a certain line, if we get further down the road and [3:28] there's another revelation that comes forward, they might either not vote or will only unwillingly [3:33] vote for Plattner in the general or, you know, might even pull the lever for for Collins. [3:38] The one other quick note, I'll say, is on the other side, Collins supporters are eager to cast [3:43] blame at Plattner and say he doesn't have the moral fiber to be in Washington. Of course, [3:47] I just brought this up to a gentleman a few moments ago. I said, well, did you vote for Trump? And he [3:51] said, yes. And I said, well, how do you swear those two? And he insisted that all the stories about [3:57] Trump are fake and false. Oh, OK. So, Alex, does that jive with what you've been hearing, not the fake [4:04] and false stories about Donald Trump, but what you've been hearing from voters in Maine as someone [4:08] who knows the state so well? Yeah, it absolutely does. And I think regardless of what happens [4:15] tonight, we can't say that Maine voters didn't know about this. There was just a new poll out that [4:20] showed 90 more than 90 percent of Democratic primary voters had heard about these headlines [4:26] about Grant Plattner and around the same amount of general election voters. This is a very informed [4:31] state. It has one of the highest voter turnouts in the country. So people are voting knowing exactly [4:36] what's going on because Democrats here, as that woman said, know Susan Collins. They know how long [4:43] they've been trying to get rid of. There are a lot of them voted for her. And I love what she said [4:47] about, well, I go to the same church as Susan Collins. That is so Maine. It's a small state. [4:52] Personal connections really matter. And I think one of the ways that Plattner has been able to survive as [4:58] long as he has and do as well as he has is by holding those 80 town halls across the state and [5:03] making kind of a personal connection with people. So that will be really important for him through [5:08] November. But there's also the kind of silent Susan phenomenon that people talk about. That woman is a [5:15] great example. She said she voted for Susan Collins, even though she's a Democrat. She won by nine [5:20] percentage points in 2020. She won by much bigger margins in 2014, 2008. Collins is a powerhouse who [5:29] should not be underestimated. So a lot of Maine Democrats before Janet Mills or Graham Plattner [5:35] got into this election, they kind of went in with the default assumption, oh, gosh, here we go. We're [5:39] going to lose again to Susan Collins. And so I think that made them a lot more comfortable to take a risk [5:45] on someone like Graham Plattner because they feel like they've already tried the more conventional type [5:49] of candidates. Alex, you've actually said that nobody is beating Susan Collins in November. Is [5:57] she that much of a powerhouse via this silent Susan contingent you just referenced? Yeah, I'm saying [6:04] nobody is beating her by a wide margin because what I'm seeing is a lot of other Democrats saying [6:10] some milquetoast generic Democrat would be crushing her. And I just don't think that's true. [6:15] She is really strong, endearing support. She's brought an enormous amount of money to the state. [6:21] She's the chair of the Appropriations Committee. Every town practically in Maine could point to a [6:25] project that she's funded. She's been around so long. She's made those personal connections [6:30] with people. And in the end, you know, maybe it won't take a huge number. Maybe some voters decide, [6:37] well, I'm on the fence, but better to stick with the devil I know than to take a risk on this new guy. [6:42] So, Chuck, I want to play what Bernie Sanders had to say about Graham Plattner yesterday in D.C. [6:48] Here it is. [6:50] I don't know what is true or not true. He denies it. She says something else. But what I do know [6:59] is that there are people in the United States Senate right now who are not saints. I can tell you that. [7:10] There are people who have voted for tax breaks for billionaires and threw 15 million people off of [7:16] the health care that they have, which result in tens of thousands of Americans dying. [7:22] Chuck, is that an argument that resonates with voters? And is that a preview of what we might [7:26] see in November? I think it's a piece of one. You know, Bernie tapped in and I worked for Bernie [7:32] Sanders in 16 and in 20. He tapped into the anxiety of the American electorate, actually a lot like [7:37] Donald Trump did. And what you're seeing now is this play out in Maine. There's Maine voters are very [7:43] forgiving like lots of folks, but Maine in particular because it's a blue collar state. And I've talked [7:48] to Alex and lots of folks about this as being a blue collar guy who worked in a factory like me [7:53] and seeing somebody like Graham is something that you aspire, like regular folks can actually get [7:57] elected to the Senate. Now, that doesn't put aside the things that have been alleged. The thing [8:01] that's different here, I think, and I've been running campaigns for 36 years, is the things that [8:05] he's done that are just stupid. He has said to camera, they are stupid. And I'm not that same [8:10] person. That's much different than what we see from Republicans or Donald Trump, a guy that since [8:15] 1970s had 28 different women give allegations against him. And he's been a reelected twice by [8:21] saying, oh, no, no, no. That's just a bunch of lies where this guy's looked at the camera and said, [8:24] look, I did a bunch of stuff that was just stupid. And I got back from war. When I was at war, [8:29] I was messed up. And people will forgive that. And I think to Alex's points and others that have [8:33] talked about this, as long as there's not some big game changer down the road in the middle of the [8:38] summer, I think he's going to be just fine. But it's the tick, tick, tick that's going to kill [8:42] him over time if it continues. So, Rick, Maine is not the only state where voters are facing a [8:48] so-called purity test. There's also, of course, Texas in the Senate race, where Ken Paxton [8:53] has the nomination despite his overtly troubled past, including fraud charges, a corruption [8:59] investigation, impeachment by his own party. His former impeachment attorney was on MSNOW earlier [9:05] with Ana Cabrera today talking about why he's endorsing the Democrat, James Tallarico. Take a [9:11] listen. I really wasn't familiar with Tallarico when I held fundraisers for Ken and I made the [9:19] maximum contribution. Since then, I have seen James Tallarico. I have heard him speak. I have met him. [9:25] And I believe he's focusing on the things that Texans are concerned about. We are number one in [9:30] school shootings. We are number one in uninsured motives. We are at the very bottom in education. [9:36] We are at the very bottom in health care. And I haven't seen Ken Paxton mention any of those things [9:41] in his run-up in this election. Give me a sense of how you see the difference between what's [9:47] happening in Maine with Graham Plattner and what's happening in Texas with Ken Paxton. [9:52] Well, Ken Paxton is a criminal. For what? He is a criminal. He is a guy who managed to bribe his way [9:58] out of an impeachment. He has engaged in fraud. He is engaged in a ludicrous affair that was [10:05] completely held in full daylight with the public knowing all about it. Paxton is a guy who is of [10:12] that MAGA strain, absolutely unrepentant, doesn't care. He's proud of the fact that he's a criminal. [10:17] He's proud of the fact that he's committed fraud. He's ripped people off. He's proud of the fact that [10:22] he had his sugar daddies by his way out of an impeachment in the Texas Senate. And all of it [10:27] adds up to a guy who's running in the mold of Donald Trump. There's no self-awareness in Ken [10:32] Paxton. There's no moral center in Ken Paxton. He's just going to do what he's going to do. [10:36] And you can expect more of the same criminality if Ken Paxton goes to Washington. The difference [10:41] with Plattner, as Chuck said, is that Plattner has owned up to mistakes he made as a younger guy. [10:47] And I think the big difference between both Plattner and Tallarico is they're never going to cast a vote [10:53] for one of Donald Trump's Supreme Court appointments. They're never going to be a 99 or 97 percent vote [11:00] for Donald Trump in the Senate, as Susan Collins is, and as Ken Paxton would be. And so I think that [11:06] the stakes that are so high in the country right now, as Paxton's former attorney just outlined, [11:13] they're making people really consider, do I want to make the best the enemy of the good? [11:18] And at this point, Plattner and Tallarico, both of whom are actually strong natural candidates, [11:24] are out there running in the real world as opposed to the social media fantasy world that both [11:30] Paxton and Collins are going to try to create around them.