Graham Platner is running out of time, running out of excuses, and now — running out of luck. Because the same woman who helped blow up Eric Swalwell’s congressional career has entered the chat, and she didn’t show up to make friends.
Cheyenne Hunt — attorney, progressive influencer, and the key figure behind the sexual harassment revelations that sent Swalwell packing from Congress in disgrace — is now working with multiple women who had personal relationships with Platner. Her organization, Reckoning Action, is providing pro bono legal counsel. She’s helping these women navigate press attention. And if her track record with Swalwell is any indication, she’s not doing any of this because she expects nothing to come of it.
Let’s back up and take stock of what Graham Platner — Bernie Sanders’ handpicked candidate to unseat Susan Collins in Maine — is already dragging into this race. There’s the Nazi tattoo. The sexting scandal. The domestic abuse allegations from a former girlfriend. The New York Times story that, according to widespread reporting, was already a watered-down version of what the paper actually had — because Platner’s legal team apparently got to the Times in the 24-hour window before publication and strangled the more explosive details before they could see daylight.
That last part deserves to be repeated loudly and often: a Democratic Senate candidate’s legal team is credibly accused of running an active suppression operation against women trying to tell their stories to the press. The same media that spent years lecturing America about believing women, about the sacred importance of speaking truth to power, about holding powerful men accountable — has been largely silent about a Democratic candidate allegedly using campaign resources to keep accusers quiet.
But the polls are turning. Susan Collins just took a three-point lead for the first time. Even a separate poll that still showed Platner slightly ahead contained what Politico described as massive warning signs — a majority of voters saying his controversies have either shaken their support or cost him it entirely. Collins is pulling ten percent of voters who actually want Democrats to win the Senate back. Read that again. People who want a Democratic majority are still choosing Collins over Platner. That’s not a polling blip. That’s a candidate in freefall.
And now Hunt is involved. Which means there are almost certainly additional allegations that haven’t been published yet. That’s not speculation — that’s exactly what Hunt’s involvement signals. She doesn’t organize pro bono legal teams for women with nothing to say. She doesn’t insert herself into a Senate race in the final weeks of the campaign as a hobby. There are stories out there. They’re with the press. Platner’s lawyers are working overtime to kill them.
Here’s the critical detail everyone needs to understand: July 14th is the last day Platner can legally withdraw from the race and allow Maine Democrats to replace him on the ballot. After that date, whatever comes out — and based on everything swirling around this race, something is coming — Maine Democrats will be stuck with him. No substitutions. No do-overs. Just a deeply compromised candidate limping toward November with whatever new bombshells land on top of the ones already burying him.
The Democrats made their bed with Graham Platner. They saw the warning signs, ignored them, and bet the Senate on a candidate with a Nazi tattoo and a legal team busy silencing women. Now Cheyenne Hunt has shown up, and the clock is ticking toward a deadline that can’t be extended.