When I became a Democrat 10 months ago, I said the Democratic Party needs to be a big enough tent for Zoran Mamdani and Joe Walsh. But there is not a tent big enough for Joe Walsh and Graham Platner.
Party leaders recruit the best option, in their eyes, and Democratic primary voters-innately terrified of risk and trusting of their leaders' judgment-fall in line. It doesn't always work out. Sometimes, like North Carolina's Cal Cunningham in 2020, the chosen ones have zipper issues. But Democrats' establishment-driven approach, contrasted with Republicans' less top-driven (and more mistake-prone) strategy for candidate selection, did give Democrats four years in the Senate majority from 2021 to 2025,
"Running establishment candidates who are chosen or supported by the powers that be in D.C. - in Maine specifically - has been a total failure, certainly in attempts to unseat Susan Collins. It is time for us to try something new."
