AOC calls Platner allegations ‘Hard to stomach,’ emphasizes Maine election is ‘a choice’

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) addressed the string of controversies tied to Maine Senate Democratic candidate Graham Platner’s alleged past conduct ahead of the state’s primary election on Tuesday.

“Obviously, there’s a lot in that behavior that’s really challenging — it’s hard to stomach,” she told CNN’s Manu Raju outside of the Capitol on Tuesday.

“But at the end of the day, I think it’s a choice,” she added.

Platner, who is widely expected to win Maine’s Democratic primary, is running to unseat incumbent GOP Sen. Susan Collins in the November midterms. His campaign is backed by progressive lawmakers like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.).

Collins is running uncontested in the state’s Republican Senate primary race.

“If the choice on the ballot is between that and a senator who’s voted to take healthcare away from millions of Americans, that’s the situation that we have to weigh,” Ocasio-Cortez told CNN, appearing to refer to Collins’s vote for the GOP’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year.

Platner has faced scrutiny over a series of probes into his personal history, including a since-covered chest tattoo resembling a Nazi insignia and Reddit posts about Black people and sexual assault from several years ago.

At the end of May, The New York Times reported that the Democratic candidate sent sexual texts to women who were not his wife in the early stages of their marriage. The outlet later published accounts from three of Platner’s previous romantic partners, who alleged that the military veteran turned oyster farmer displayed “toxic” and “unsettling” behavior toward them.

Platner’s campaign refuted allegations of physical intimidation and altercations between the Democratic candidate and women. In an interview with MS NOW last Thursday, Platner suggested that some of these allegations could be “politically motivated.”

“There are some allegations in this piece that, I just want to be kind of unequivocal about, are simply not true,” he told Chris Hayes. “There are things in this that I absolutely will take responsibility for, and have been speaking about openly for months now, but those serious allegations are just not true.”

Collins told reporters on the Hill on Tuesday that Platner “owes the people of Maine a detailed answer” on these “extremely troubling” allegations.

Ocasio-Cortez said in separate comments to reporters on Tuesday that Democrats are not brushing aside the allegations against Platner. But, she emphasized that the race is “up to the people of Maine and the choices that they have before them.”

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Bernie Sanders

Chris Hayes

Manu Raju

Ro Khanna

Susan Collins

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