The Briefing With Jen Psaki 7/7/26 — 🅼🆂🅽🅱️🅲 Breaking News Today July 7, 2026

[0:00] I'm going to talk a lot about the Senate and the pursuit of the Senate for Democrats, but [0:05] there's a fun story. I know you've heard it. You've talked about it. And that is, given Republicans [0:11] have been pursuing voter fraud, they've been kind of obsessed. All of them have been. And now [0:15] maybe, maybe they have found their guy who may have actually committed it. One of their own, [0:22] the very one and only Ken Jackson. I'm so glad you're doing this. I'm so glad you're doing this [0:27] story. In fact, I was like, a little like, I was like, oh, we should have done that tonight. [0:29] And I'm glad that you are because, man, it is a good one. And also, you really can't, [0:35] you need to live where you vote. Like, you do actually have to do that. Yeah. Yeah. Also, [0:41] when the alleged mistress is the secondary part of the story, because it's really about [0:46] where you live, it really tells you a lot about the guy anyway. We're going to talk to the reporter [0:51] who reported that from ProPublica and lots more as well in the next hour. But have a good night. [0:56] I'll see you tomorrow. All right. Okay. We're all basically waiting for Graham Plattner to drop [1:05] out of the race for Maine Senate. It is hard to imagine any other possible outcome at this point. [1:10] And to be clear, there has been a steady stream of scandal and controversies about Plattner [1:15] for months now. And through most of it, the voters of Maine and his top supporters have stuck with him. [1:21] It's been kind of a fascinating political story to watch. But Politico's reporting yesterday on [1:28] allegations of sexual assault were the final straw for good reason. And then late today, [1:33] the Washington Post published another accusation from another of Plattner's ex-girlfriends alleging [1:38] he had removed condoms without consent during sex. Now, I should note, Plattner's denied both of [1:44] these new allegations. But the calls for him to drop out of the race have now poured in from [1:51] basically every corner of the Democratic Party. Several of Plattner's high-profile endorsers like [1:57] Congressman Ro Khanna and Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have now all withdrawn their [2:02] support for his campaign. Other high-profile progressives who were not involved in the race, [2:06] but they've also called for him to drop out. People who are very powerful political forces like New York [2:13] Mayor Zoran Mamdani and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez added their voices to the chorus of people [2:19] urging Plattner to withdraw. And look, I've worked in politics for a very long time, and I feel [2:25] pretty certain in saying that Graham Plattner is going to drop out of this race. I mean, to me, [2:29] the two tells are that he pulled down all of his public events, and he's currently reflecting on the [2:34] best path forward, and that according to reporting, he thinks he has leveraged in determining who replaces [2:41] him as the Democratic nominee for Senate. The main Democratic Party has a different view on that, [2:47] and we're going to talk about that as well. And the thing is, as long as he withdraws by Monday, [2:51] July 13th, the party can replace him on the ballot. And so now the conversation is turning to how the [2:57] Democratic Party found itself in this position. And that conversation has gone in a whole lot of [3:04] different directions. There are a whole lot of takes out there. I mean, for instance, there are a [3:09] number of people arguing that this was just a failure of Democratic vetting, that if Plattner had been [3:15] subject to a more rigorous, professionally-run vetting process from within the national party [3:19] that the national party ran, then he would not have been the nominee. Well, someone who's worked [3:24] on these campaigns, I'm here to tell you, it's not quite so simple. I mean, for starters, the vetting [3:29] process relies heavily on what the candidates themselves are willing to disclose. Also, of course, [3:36] searches of public records, but also what they're willing to disclose. And anyone who has followed the [3:42] Graham Plattner saga over the last few months knows that he has not been especially forthcoming [3:48] about things in his past, at least not until after those things become national stories. [3:54] Also, these latest and most serious allegations involve sexual assault. And we have all seen in [3:59] recent years how difficult it is for women to come forward and put their name to these allegations. [4:04] It is not the kind of thing that reliably comes up as a part of the vetting process, because [4:09] either the candidate would have to disclose, and again, we've already talked about that, [4:14] or accusers would have to be comfortable sharing their very personal trauma with representatives of [4:21] a candidate's campaign or with the national party. I mean, just look what happened earlier this year [4:26] when Congressman Eric Swalwell, someone who had been in elected office for years and nearly won his [4:31] party's nomination for governor of California. My point is processes can always be improved. That is [4:37] for sure. But there is no foolproof system for vetting political candidates. And to that end, [4:43] you will also hear a number of people argue that this proves the national party should be in charge [4:48] of the primary processes moving forward. That Plattner's nomination somehow proves that allowing a [4:53] grassroots candidate to rise doesn't work. But guess what? Voters are not waiting for instruction [5:00] from the national party. Voters have lost trust in the party establishment and direction from Washington. [5:05] That is very clear. Support from party leaders like Chuck Schumer has not helped candidates in this [5:10] cycle, not when it's front and center. And Maine is actually an example of that. It certainly did not [5:15] help Janet Mills in her campaign against Graham Plattner, and it doesn't change the general repulsion [5:20] toward Washington and disappointment in the political system. Now, don't get me wrong. There [5:25] are legitimate discussions to be had about how party leaders win back the trust of their voters. [5:29] That is a long-term project. It is not going to be completed in the next few days or even in the next few [5:35] weeks. And one place for those leaders to start is by asking themselves why Maine primary voters [5:42] were so enthusiastic about Plattner's campaign for so long in spite of all we learned along the way. [5:49] Understanding why his candidacy and his message resonated is going to be key for any candidate in [5:54] Maine and for the Democratic Party as a whole moving forward. Let's bring me to the big political [6:00] question on everyone's mind. What does the path for Democrats to retake the Senate look like now? [6:04] How has it changed? Now, in order to retake the Senate this year, Democrats will need to flip [6:09] four seats and also hold on to seats in states Donald Trump won in the last election, places like [6:14] Georgia, where Democrats have a very strong candidate in John Ossoff, but also where a deeply [6:19] flawed Republican candidate by the name of Herschel Walker won over 48 percent of the vote just four [6:25] years ago. It's hard to remember that. Democrats will also have to hold their seat in the swing state [6:30] of Michigan, where incumbent Democratic Senator Gary Peters is retiring. And this week, [6:35] the field of Democratic candidates running to replace him also just got a little bit smaller [6:39] when Democratic candidate Mallory McMorrow dropped out of the race and suspended her campaign. [6:45] And that leaves just two Democratic candidates in that race, Congresswoman Haley Stevens and Dr. [6:49] Abdul El-Sayed, who faced off against each other in a debate earlier tonight. And we're going to have [6:54] more on that in a moment. We're going to play you part of that in a moment as well. And if Democrats [6:59] can keep their Senate seats in places like Georgia and Michigan, they will still have to flip at least [7:03] four Republican seats. And there are a number of battlegrounds where that goal is within reach and [7:07] definitely remains in reach. In North Carolina, polls show Democratic Governor Roy Cooper is [7:12] currently crushing his Republican opponent, Michael Watley. In Texas, Democrat James Tallarico is facing [7:18] off against perhaps the most corrupt person on the ballot by the name of Ken Paxton. Same thing in [7:24] Iowa, where Democrat Josh Turek is pulling neck and neck with his Republican MAGA opponent, Ashley Hinson. [7:29] In Ohio, former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown is in a tight race against incumbent Republican [7:34] John Husted. And even in deep red Alaska, Congresswoman Mary Peltola is in a close race [7:40] with incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan. So those are five Republican seats that Democrats could [7:45] reasonably win this November. They need four. And if Graham Plattner exits the race, which I very much [7:51] think he's going to, and allows another candidate to run in Maine, that state could once again be in [7:56] play as well. Of course, Republicans will no doubt try to nationalize the Plattner controversy [8:02] and make him an issue in all of these other races. We can, that's just, that's going to happen. [8:09] But let's be honest, those self-righteous arguments from this Republican party are [8:13] pretty freaking absurd. I mean, here was former Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy trying to [8:18] make this case just earlier today. The one thing I know about Republicans, when we had a very bad [8:26] candidate and found out, we didn't vote for that person. We walked away. For better or for worse. [8:31] When Matt Gaetz came forward, we got rid of him. I'm sorry. What? You know, we all saw this go down, [8:38] right? I mean, Kevin McCarthy, again, he says he and his party got rid of Matt Gaetz. And that's funny [8:44] because I remember it being, well, the other way around. I mean, Matt Gaetz spent years in Congress [8:50] under a cloud of allegation, allegations he denies. And during that time, it was Gaetz who led the charge [9:04] for his party to kick Kevin McCarthy out of his job as speaker. And Gaetz's career was just one of [9:09] many examples of Republicans looking the other way when members of their party were accused of sexual [9:16] assault. There's 2017, when the Republicans rallied against Senate candidate Roy Moore, despite multiple [9:21] allegations of inappropriate behavior with minors, allegations he denies. In 2022, they did the same [9:27] thing for Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker, despite allegations of domestic violence, [9:32] allegations he also denied. And of course, that's all to say nothing of the way the party has [9:37] rallied around the current president, the man who bragged about assaulting women on tape, the man who [9:41] was found liable by a civil court for sexual abuse, the man who has had to deny so many accusations of [9:47] sexual misconduct that those accusations now have their own lengthy Wikipedia page. Welcome to 2026. [9:56] Look, there are a lot of good questions and valid critiques about how Graham Plattner became the [10:01] nominee. But it's worth noting that every major Democratic figure from Chuck Schumer to Bernie Sanders [10:06] have unequivocally called on him to drop out of the race over these allegations, just like every major [10:12] Democratic figure called on Eric Swalwell to drop out of his race just three months ago. Meanwhile, Republicans [10:18] have spent the last decade showing us time and time again that when it comes to holding their own members [10:24] accountable, they're either unwilling or incapable or some sad combination of both. And that is the real [10:32] choice voters will face in every single race this November. Joining me now to break all of this down [10:38] is Amy Walter, editor-in-chief of The Cook Political Report, and Jim Messina, former campaign manager for [10:43] Barack Obama. Okay, Jim, I know you've been taking this all in. You are a political animal in your soul [10:49] after all, just as I have over the past couple of days. What do you make where things stand right [10:55] now in Maine? Well, look, I can't believe that Plattner and his team think that they get to decide [11:01] who the Democratic nominee is. This, Amy, really pisses me off. It's just insane. Like, when you cause [11:09] this, you don't get to decide. When you've lied about your actions for months, including personally to [11:15] all of us, you don't get to decide. When you are trying to figure out, like, how to, if you're staying [11:23] in this race, you don't get to decide. It's like he thinks that he's going to make this decision. And the [11:29] fact is, and Amy talked about this in some of her tweets today, he's been underperforming more than [11:34] every other Senate Democratic candidate in America. When you look at this state, which is a seven or eight [11:40] point Democratic state, when you look at the national mood, he still only had a two point lead. He had [11:45] his own problems. It's not like, you know, his people are saying, well, he's got this movement and [11:50] everyone needs to get his movement. Democrats in Maine have to decide who is going to be the best [11:54] candidate to win in a general election. And that is someone who can win women voters. Susan Collins [12:00] continues to overperform these elections because she overperforms with women voters. And so it's not [12:05] about a Graham Plattner endorsement. It's about who the women of Maine want to see as their next [12:10] United States Senator. And I want to dig all into the process. The executive director of the Maine [12:15] Democratic Party actually just posted a video to your point, but we're going to play that in a second. [12:20] But first, I want to ask Amy about this because I think there's been this perception, right, that [12:26] the Plattner defied political gravity, right? You hear that over and over again. I've probably said it, [12:31] so I'm going to do a mea culpa here. But despite all, I mean, he seemed to still kind of hold [12:36] on to some semblance of support in Maine, even with as these controversies came out. But it sounds [12:41] like part of your data analysis is that he was underperforming other candidates and maybe that [12:46] was an overstatement. But what do you what do you make of how much he was able to hold on to and [12:52] what he lost? What should people understand about where the numbers actually were sitting even before [12:56] the last couple of days? Yeah, well, Jen, I think you made a good point in your opening, which is [13:01] even with all the baggage that he had as these Reddit posts that he had made came out, as a lot [13:10] of the opposition against him came out, support among Democrats did not wane. I was actually in Maine [13:18] that week that the first round of Reddit posts came out. And what I heard from people who were [13:27] actually at a Plattner rally that day say is, number one, we still stand behind you. And number [13:34] two, we're we are convinced that this is the work of Democrats in Washington. This is the sort of [13:41] thing that Washington insiders do to undercut real grassroots sort of establishment to people who go [13:51] against the establishment type of candidates. And I think if we learned anything from this race, [13:57] it was that two things can be true at the same time. Number one, the base is hungry for somebody [14:03] who is new and different, who speaks like somebody who is from the real world, not somebody who's from [14:09] Washington, not somebody who's been in politics a long time. The second is that the candidate of the [14:16] establishment, Janet Mills, was not very well liked within the Democratic Party in Maine. She was [14:24] respected, but they didn't they weren't dying to see her run in that slot. And so put those two things [14:33] together. And let's give Plattner his due. He is a very talented candidate on the stump. And I think [14:42] that also won voters over in the state. But fundamentally, I come back to the point Jim [14:48] and I have been making the same point. You know, if you're running a candidate in Montana, as Jim has [14:54] done, you want to find a candidate who fits that state and makes up for the deficiencies that Democrats [15:00] have in that state. In Maine, this is a blue state. This is not a red state. Democrats to win here do not [15:07] need to win Trump voters. They need to win over voters who have consistently voted for Democrats, [15:14] Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and yet have also voted for Susan Collins. Those voters, [15:23] as Jim and I have both noted, are women, overwhelmingly women, especially working class women and women who [15:31] have a college degree. That is where Susan Collins does best. White working class men. We've talked [15:38] so much about that group of voters. Who's going to appeal to them? If you look at the 2020 exit polls, [15:47] Joe Biden and Sarah Gideon, who was the nominee in 2020 against Susan Collins, both did as poorly [15:55] with white men as the other. Both lost them by 30 points. It was the women where Biden was able to [16:03] really outrun Gideon. It's such an important—I mean, ultimately, winning is about winning more [16:10] votes. I mean, it doesn't—it's about how you get there. Okay, Jim, you mentioned being pissed off—quite [16:16] pissed off, I get it—about the Plattner team thinking they have a say in who the nominee is. [16:21] And we just were able to pull up what the executive director of the Maine Democratic Party just posted [16:26] right before we came on air online about the replacement process. I want to play that because I think [16:31] a lot of people in the party have this, like, PTSD from 2024. So it's about where we go from here. [16:36] But let's play that and we'll talk about it. The integrity of this process is just as important [16:43] as the outcome. And we are committed to ensuring that Democrats across our state can have confidence [16:49] in both. Unfortunately, Graham Plattner's team has repeatedly reached out to us in an attempt to put [16:56] their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like. We have repeatedly reiterated to Graham [17:01] Plattner's team that they have no role in determining our next Democratic nominee for [17:07] the U.S. Senate, nor in determining what this process looks like. Okay, that sounds right to me. [17:14] I think the question is, what is the process going to look like and what should the process look like? [17:20] Because they have a time limit here. First of all, Plattner has not yet dropped out. I think [17:24] he's going to. He has until Monday the 13th. Then they have about two weeks to have a new [17:29] candidate. So, Jim, you've thought a lot about keeping coalitions together. What should this [17:34] process, give them some free advice right now, look like? Well, first of all, hallelujah to the [17:41] executive director of the Maine Democratic Party. She's exactly right. And that was her telling the [17:45] Plattner team and Graham Plattner to go jump into Maine Lake. The process should be very, [17:51] very grassroots. It should be very holistic. It should be incredibly transparent. You already [17:56] see some candidates out tonight talking about their interest in running, laying out policies. [18:01] You know, they had an over-index on very clear, very transparent, and very grassroots. [18:08] And I think those were the things that people didn't think happened during the 2024 presidential [18:14] selection for very good reasons. I don't want to relitigate it. But a lot of people were pissed [18:19] about that process. And my advice to Maine is just go back to what you're good at, which is [18:24] grassroots, and run a good process that people feel like they have a say in this, in their next [18:30] candidate, because you're going to need every single person to beat Susan Collins in November. [18:37] Amy, I'm sure people might start stopping you in the hallway or the street if they aren't already [18:42] to ask you who can actually defeat Susan Collins, as they do about every state. Is there enough known [18:47] about any of these candidates to even have data or know the answer to that question? And let me ask [18:51] you a two-parter, because there has been this belief that you can transfer, which I don't believe, [18:57] support from, say, Graham Plattner, his support from some working-class voters to another candidate, [19:04] like, say, that's the argument for Troy Jackson. Give us your take on that, too. [19:08] Right. I do not believe this conveys—like, you buy a house and you get the refrigerator with it. [19:15] You don't get to convey that with candidates. But it goes back to the concept here of who is the [19:24] right candidate to defeat Susan Collins. If you're the Democratic Party, that's the number one question [19:29] that you need to ask. And we've actually had an opportunity—Maine Democrats, actually, [19:35] have had an opportunity to do that in a gubernatorial primary that had a lot of candidates [19:43] who came from lots of parts of the state, from the ideological spectrum. And we can go back and look [19:50] at those candidates, how they performed, what they talked about. I think those are folks who also had [19:57] to go through the process of running for office. They have voting records. These are the sorts of things [20:03] that Maine voters have already been grading their candidates on. Obviously, this was for a [20:12] gubernatorial race, not a Senate race. But they know who these voters—I'm sorry, they know who these [20:17] candidates are, and they've already made that choice. So there's a lot of people out—I mean, [20:23] we're going to— So there are a lot of people out there who didn't win that nomination. [20:27] Exactly. That is true. [20:28] Who could be in the mix. And Troy Jackson's one of them, but he's not the only one. [20:32] That's true. I said there's a lot of people saying—putting out there, if people demand I [20:36] serve, I will serve. That is how I'm defining all the candidates coming forward. Okay, we have to [20:41] take a very quick break. We have a lot more to talk about because there's a lot of politics going [20:45] on right now, including a debate that just strapped up in one of the most interesting primary races [20:49] in the country, I think, at least. We'll be right back. Back with me now are Amy Walter and Jim [21:02] Messina. Okay, we're going to dig into Michigan. A debate just wrapped up between the two candidates [21:07] who are remaining in the race vying to become the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan. [21:12] This is—it's a must-win race. I think we can say that for Democrats. Both of the candidates [21:17] tonight were pressed on a lot of things, including the direction of the Democratic Party, as well as [21:22] the national implications of the race outside of Michigan. So take a listen to that. [21:26] I'll tell you this. It won't shift if we continue to elect leaders who take money from the same [21:34] corporations who have broken with the interests of the American public. Chuck Schumer desperately [21:39] wants one of us to be the next senator, and it's not me. So if you want your politics dictated [21:44] you by AIPAC or Chuck Schumer, then I'm not your guy. I think we need to go back to the [21:49] idea of government of the people, by the people, and for the people. [21:52] For me, this has always been about Michigan. And the reason I have put up my hand to run [21:59] for U.S. Senate is because of what I'm hearing from Michiganders, because a fully paralyzed [22:04] veteran reached out to me and asked me if he was still going to get his benefit check because [22:09] he saw Elon Musk walking around with a chainsaw. I have stood up, I have called these guys out, [22:16] and I am stopping these abuses of power. [22:18] All right, Jim Messina, you've watched a lot of primary debates. What did you make of that? [22:24] What does it tell us about the race for people who are just tuning into it? And what do people [22:28] know about the dynamics in this race? Well, look, I totally agree with you that there's just no [22:33] scenario in which we can lose Michigan and win the United States Senate. Like, this is a seat we have [22:38] to retain. And it's very clear. And that's, you know, McMorrow dropping out was a very big moment. [22:44] We now have a head-to-head race. This is one where I'm not neutral. Haley Stevens worked with me in the [22:50] White House, is one of the best humans I know. It is an incredible public servant, and I'm proud to [22:55] have done whatever I can to help her. But you see the distillation of the two arguments in the [23:00] Democratic Party. You see Dr. Syed saying, this is about revolution. This is about casting aside the [23:08] system that doesn't work. And you see Haley Stevens say, no, it's about normal pocketbook issues about [23:13] making government work and about affordability and the cost of living. And here's what I've done, [23:20] and here's what I will do. This is the fight we're having in the Democratic Party. And the fact [23:24] that we're having it in the Michigan Senate race in the middle of the summer, I think is incredibly [23:28] interesting and will tell us a lot about where the Democratic Party wants to go. Yeah, I mean, [23:34] the primary is up. Oh, go ahead, Amy. I was going to say, it's up just so people know. It's up in August 4th, [23:38] so it's coming up soon. But give us your take on where things stand in there. What you will let you [23:42] know. Jim, it's interesting, too, to say, oh, this is the fight that Democrats are having in 2026. [23:48] To me, I was having a flashback to the conversation Democrats were having in 2016. [23:54] This sounded a lot like a Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders debate from 2016. And so what we're really [23:59] watching is a Democratic Party that is still grappling with its identity. One side saying, listen, [24:06] to win over swing voters, you've got to go with the meat and potatoes, the bread and butter that [24:11] regular normie, non-really plugged-in politicos want to hear from the party. What are we going to [24:19] deliver to them? The other side says, no, even swing voters are so disgusted, so turned off by [24:26] politics as normal, is the only thing that they believe in now is somebody who comes from the [24:31] outside who can really change a system that has been—is it even more broken than it was 10 years [24:40] ago. So if you're Haley Stevens, what you really want is this race to be much more localized. If you [24:46] are El-Sayed, what you want is for this race to be very much nationalized, especially among national [24:53] Democrats. At the end of the day, it's likely going to come down to voters in and around Detroit, [24:59] especially African-American voters who make up a significant chunk of the voters in this state. [25:06] But boy, oh boy, right now, you'd have to say that El-Sayed is the one who's in the driver's seat. [25:12] You could tell in that debate because Haley Stevens came out swinging early and often trying to put him [25:18] on defense. But as you said, Jen, we still have three weeks to go, a lot of undecided voters and a lot [25:25] of money still to be spent. And I feel like a lot of money is going to be spent. Let me ask you, [25:31] Amy, about Mallory McMorrow and her voters. And she was much lower in the polls, at least the public [25:37] polls, that we saw than these two candidates who remain in the race. But there are still voters who [25:43] she was their first choice. There have been a lot of takes out there on where these voters are going [25:48] to go. Tell us what we actually know from the data about where they might go. [25:53] Yeah. I mean, this is the McMorrow challenge always was that she was a candidate who was both [25:59] an outsider, but could make the case that she had been in office and had won in places that are tough [26:07] for Democrats to win. So she was an electable outsider. And there was an appeal to that. [26:12] The argument that Haley Stevens would make and is making is many of those voters are the kinds of [26:19] women who live in and around the suburbs, who were looking for somebody who was a little bit [26:27] different, wasn't somebody who had necessarily been in Washington, but at least could make the [26:33] case for electability. If you're El-Sayed, you say, look, these are clearly voters who want an outsider. [26:38] They don't want somebody who's part of Washington. [26:40] At the end of the day, though, I think, you know, her share of the vote, at least in the [26:44] last polls that came out before she dropped out, she was in the single digits and the undecided voters [26:51] were somewhere between 15, 17 percent. So it's not just the McMorrow voters, it's those undecided [26:58] voters. And I think what Haley is banking on, Haley Stevens is banking on is those voters are the ones [27:05] that really are the bread and butter voters. They're not the ideological voters. Those voters have [27:10] already lined up behind El-Sayed. They get the rest is the, you know, the folks who want something out [27:19] of their politicians that is not something that is just simply about ideology or the kind of stuff [27:27] that you maybe talk about on a political talk show. Sorry. [27:31] They're all good. They're getting their news from a lot of places, but not necessarily from here. [27:38] Yeah. We certainly know that. Hello, if you are watching. Thank you. We're going to talk to Debbie [27:43] Dingle about this, too, because I'm sure she's got some takes on it. Amy Walter, Jim Messina, [27:47] thank you both so much for joining me. Coming up, we're going to have much more on that crucial debate [27:53] tonight and that crucial Michigan primary. And again, so much of the focus is on Maine right now and for good [27:58] reason. But this is going to be an absolute must win race. We just talked about this. I think most [28:04] people agree for Democrats in November. And Michigan Congresswoman Debbie Dingle is standing by. We're [28:09] going to talk about it. She joins me next.