How will Democrats fight Trump after dumping their candidate Graham Platner in Maine?
Americast
BBC
4.3 • 3.1K Ratings
🗓️ 8 July 2026
⏱️ 30 minutes
🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS
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Summary
Top Democrats are urgently searching for a new senate candidate in Maine. Graham Platner, the former marine and oyster farmer, lost his party’s support after serious allegations of rape and sexual assault, which he denies.
Winning Maine is pivotal to the Democrats’ chances of gaining back control of the Senate in this November’s midterm elections. Now the party is scrambling for alternative candidates, with questions around they type of candidate the party should choose, and how the Democrats will choose to fight Trump. Before these allegations emerged, Graham Platner was heralded as a non establishment candidate with a ‘chequered’ past who ordinary voters could relate to.
In this episode, Anthony and Sumi also discuss the wider consequences for the Democrats as they choose candidates in other states going into this November’s midterms and the presidential election in 2028.
HOSTS: • Anthony Zurcher, North America Correspondent • Sumi Somaskanda, Chief Anchor, BBC News
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This episode was made by George Dabby and Alix Pickles. The technical producer was Dafydd Evans. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.7 | Hello, it's Justin, and you're about to hear. |
| 0:07.6 | AmeriCast, we are delighted to have you with us. |
| 0:10.2 | And if you enjoy what you hear, please do consider subscribing to the podcast. |
| 0:14.6 | That way you'll never miss an episode. |
| 0:16.1 | Now, on with today. |
| 0:18.5 | Okay, today we are talking about the biggest political story in the United States |
| 0:22.3 | right now and how Democrats are fighting, scrambling to try to get one of their Senate nominees |
| 0:28.2 | to step down. The stakes are high because the Senate is up for grabs right now. Republicans |
| 0:33.9 | control the chamber, but Democrats are hoping to rest back by winning over four |
| 0:38.8 | seats. And integral to that goal is the state of Maine. And Maine is at the central focus right now because |
| 0:46.1 | the candidate, Graham Platner, the Democratic Senate nominee, has been beset by allegations of rape |
| 0:51.9 | and sexual assault. Here he is talking about it. |
| 0:54.6 | Regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, |
| 0:57.4 | but mindful of the political reality, it will inflict. |
| 1:00.1 | We are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward |
| 1:02.7 | for the state that I love, the people that I love, |
| 1:06.7 | the movement I belong to, and the goal of defeating Susan Collins. |
| 1:10.9 | Those were the goals when we launched this campaign, and they remain my goals today. |
| 1:16.3 | So could these allegations cost Democrats this main race and control of the entire U.S. Senate? |
| 1:23.1 | Welcome to AmeriCast. |
| 1:27.1 | AmeriCast from AmeriCast. |
... |
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