Forget Platner. These Dems are still fighting for workers

Graham Platner has mercifully concluded his time was up on Wednesday evening. In an 11-minute video, Maine’s Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate dropped out of the race even as he continued to forcefully deny a serious and credible allegation of rape from a former girlfriend reported Monday by POLITICO. He also displayed an unsurprising lack of awareness and accountability by casting blame on the “political establishment” for his campaign’s implosion. “They are going to take everything away from us,” he said with apparent self-pity, referring to “those in power” who put “structural pressure” on him to withdraw. 

What Platner failed to acknowledge was the effect the allegation had on Democrats. As the account shook the party on Monday afternoon, it also served to generate something of a political miracle: In just a few hours, Democrats across the political spectrum, from centrist New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim to New York Rep. (and Squad member) Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, united in calling on Platner to drop out.

As Democrats in Maine and Washington, D.C., regroup and prepare for what will likely be a frenzied and chaotic nominating convention, they should also take hope. Platner’s working-class message that electrified Maine voters and garnered him national attention is not exclusive to him — or to Maine. Other Democratic candidates across the country are using their lived experiences to advocate for structural economic and political change. 

In Minnesota’s second district, a longtime flight attendant and state representative is running in the Aug. 11 Democratic congressional primary to replace Rep. Angie Craig, who is seeking the governorship. Kaela Berg earns around $45 an hour at Endeavor, a Delta subsidiary, where an April profile in the New York Times captured her on the job “carrying a trash bag [and] collecting dirty plastic cups and wrinkled bags of SunChips.” 

The 52-year-old Berg’s message is rooted in her biography. “In an economy where so many working families are struggling, they don’t feel like they’re heard, that politicians in Washington, as they enrich themselves, don’t understand what the average family is struggling through right now,” she recently told Minnesota’s WCCO. “And to have somebody who has lived that alongside them — that’s a really exciting opportunity to actually have a representative democracy.”

Berg touts reforming healthcare as her first legislative priority, noting that she lived without medical coverage during the Covid-19 pandemic and has relied on MinnesotaCare, the state’s healthcare program for low-income people. In interviews and on the stump, she conveys both polish and authenticity, and she has garnered a slew of endorsements from unions and progressive organizations like the Teamsters and Emily’s List. Were she to win the primary — the most recent poll conducted between May 27 and June 1 shows her trailing two other candidates — Berg’s personal story would serve as a marked contrast to that of state Sen. Eric Pratt, the lone GOP candidate who is a former vice president at US Bank and is running on an unabashedly pro-business platform. In a heavily divided district, Berg’s working-class bonafides could easily make the difference for Democrats.

Former Montana smokejumper — a firefighter who parachutes into rural terrain to contain wildfires — Sam Forstag is also hoping to go to D.C. as the state’s first Democratic member of Congress in 30 years. As the party’s nominee for Montana’s first congressional district, he relied on his blue-collar credentials from the start in one of the best campaign ads released this cycle. “Fire moves quick,” the 32-year-old Forstag says in a voiceover, describing his former job, before seamlessly shifting to what’s happening in Washington. “Right now, the richest people in this country are trying to burn it all down so they can buy it all up” — a reference to Montana workers being displaced.

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In front of a crowd, Forstag can be halting; he hasn’t yet located his natural cadence, which causes him to sometimes appear a bit hesitant. But this, too, comes off as a plus. His lack of polish in speeches underscores his authenticity, and he shines in more intimate settings with voters, and in interviews. 

At a May 28 rally in Missoula with Ocasio-Cortez, Forstag took the stage to “Fortunate Son” by Creedence Clearwater Revival, and his words made good on the song’s biting lyrics about the haves and have-nots.

“I know what it’s like to be the kid whose belly is full thanks to food stamps,” he said. “I know what it’s like to be the kid who has a safe place to go thanks to the public library while my mom finished her extra shift as a nurse to provide for my little sister and I, to be the student at [the University of Montana] here in town working three jobs at a time, and still come up short on money for rent or books sometimes.” 

Forstag’s story is relatable, and he hopes it will resonate with Montanans across party lines who feel that “far too few of the people in power know what it is like” to struggle to make ends meet. While the nonpartisan Cook Political Report has rated his race against the Trump-endorsed local radio host Aaron Flint as likely GOP, Democrats appear to increasingly believe a Forstag win is possible in what is shaping up to be a dismal midterm election cycle for Republicans.

Forstag, Berg and other candidates like them at both the national and state level represent a new wave of energy and enthusiasm among the Democratic base for candidates with lived working-class experience. Some in the party thought they had found the lodestar in the now-disgraced Platner. With his exit, they must realize there are others who are more deserving of attention and support.