Rep. Ro Khanna urged Maine voters to extend “grace” to Graham Platner, the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in Maine whose controversies have made some Democrats skittish about their chances to flip the seat held by Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
“He had an ugly period in his life and he believes that he is transformed and he has had redemption and the voters of Maine had a choice and they voted him by 72%,” Mr. Khanna said on Fox News Sunday.
“And it’s for the voters to decide whether they believe his transformation is sincere. I believe they will make that determination but I do believe that people have to extend grace to folks who own up to past mistakes and say they’ve transformed and that they’re better,” he said.
Mr. Platner, a Marine Corps veteran and first-time candidate, has withstood a series of scandals including sexting women while married, inflammatory Reddit posts, a tattoo linked to Nazi imagery and mistreatment of former romantic partners.
Mr. Khanna said he believes the women who’ve alleged abuse by Mr. Planter, but also that people must be sympathetic to the experiences of the Democratic nominee.
“I do believe those women and I have said that his past conduct was shameful and I totally condemned it. He did two, three tours of duty in Iraq. He came back with PTSD,” he said.
“That’s not an excuse, but he said he had a problem with alcohol, he had an ugly period in his life,” Mr. Khanna concluded.
Recent polling by University of Massachusetts at Lowell and YouGov showed that Mr. Platner has a slight lead over Ms. Collins in the general election. The poll found that 48% of respondents support Mr. Platner with 43% supporting Ms. Collins with 6% undecided and 2% supporting another candidate.
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