Platner Drops Out

Graham Platner of Maine ends Senate Campaign

Mamdani's adviser races to Maine as Platner and allies plot leverage over furious Democrats---all in vain

Morris Katz, an adviser to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, traveled to Sullivan, Maine, on Wednesday to huddle with Graham Platner's campaign staff at the embattled Senate nominee's home, days before a state-law deadline that will determine whether Democrats can replace Platner on the ballot at all.

Platner, an oyster farmer who won over 150,000 votes in the Democratic primary, has refused to withdraw from Maine's U.S. Senate race despite a rape allegation from a former girlfriend, public demands from his own party's biggest names, and a threat from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to abandon the contest entirely if he stays in.

The Wednesday gathering, which included campaign manager Ben Chin, field director Spencer Toth, digital communications consultant Ryan Aquilina, and Chin's deputy Eleni Neyland, was not a surrender session. The New York Post reported that Katz and the campaign brass were plotting how Platner could "remain a voice" in the race regardless of whether he eventually steps aside.

A source familiar with the deliberations told the Post that Katz believes Platner should leave before the Monday deadline but wants the exit to happen "on the candidate's terms."

That framing has infuriated Democrats up and down the party structure.