Alyssa Farah Griffin: If the Process to Replace Platner Is Not ‘Fully Open and Transparent,’ ‘It Is Going to Evoke Memories of 2024 and Kamala Harris’

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FARAH GRIFFIN: “Honestly, this is a disaster for Democrats and especially for the DNC, because, keep in mind, Graham Platner was not a DNC pick. This was a guy who was backed by some Bernie consultants, and he was kind of this outsider candidate that was — that was chosen, very similarly to what we saw in New York, where you see these outsider candidates who are not thoroughly vetted, who then you find out past statements that they made that are incredibly controversial, that are going to be a drag coming up in the midterms ahead. So, now the party is scrambling to kind of clean up a mess that was not its own making. It was sort of its left flank’s making. And if the process doesn‘t look fully open and transparent, it is going to evoke memories of 2024 and Kamala Harris being put back on the ticket. So, they have to make it seem like somehow the voters are having a say, and there‘s not really any process for that. It‘s really some unprecedented territory that we‘re in. I think the smartest thing that they could do is go with a candidate who has run for federal office before, someone like a Jared Golden, a former House member. He‘s been vetted. He‘s known in the state. He actually worked for Susan Collins, but is a moderate Democrat. If you go with somebody who‘s not vetted, you‘re bound to have, you know, something — some skeleton come out of their closet that could just further hurt in this race.”