Democrats navigate a new Graham Platner controversy in Maine’s battleground Senate race

For the Democratic Party, the road to Maine’s Senate primary is paved in dread.

For the Democratic Party, the road to Maine’s Senate primary is paved in dread.

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All Graham Platner had to do was glide into Tuesday’s election to clinch the state’s Democratic Senate nomination, since Gov. Janet Mills abruptly suspended her campaign in late April. But with each passing day, the divisions inside the party have grown as some lawmakers and activists say they are increasingly alarmed over the breadth and depth of controversies and scandals facing the military veteran.

As some Democrats nervously wondered what the next controversy might be, they worried he might be too risky a candidate to face off against the party’s great white whale: longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins.