Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who has endorsed over 70 candidates this election cycle, is facing heat for propping up disgraced ex-Senate candidate Graham Platner â among a string of other radical, dark-horse candidates.
The self-proclaimed Democratic socialist, who has called his far-left movement a “revolution,” had been one of Platner’s most vocal supporters, asserting that he would “do everything I can to make sure that Graham Platner is the next senator from the state of Maine.” Sanders, true to his word, attended campaign events and advocated fiercely for Platner on social media despite a series of scandals about Platner’s past.
But that was before Tuesday.
Less than 24 hours after Politico published a bombshell report on Monday detailing how Platner allegedly raped his then-girlfriend in 2021, Sanders joined many of his Democratic colleagues and called for Platner to step aside.
FETTERMAN UNLEASHES ON ‘DIRTBAG’ WING OF DEMS AFTER FAR-LEFT VICTORIES: ‘ORGY OF SOCIALISM’
To Rachel Bade, a political commentator and longtime political reporter, it’s a moment that is stress-testing Sanders’ continued influence in the party.Â
“The Graham Platner fiasco was bad, yes. But now, some Dems are tallying up everywhere else Sanders and his orbit bet wrong this cycle, raising questions about their judgment in elevating untested, unvetted candidates with skeletons nobody bothered to check for,” Bade wrote in a post to X.
In addition to Platner, Sanders has also endorsed several other candidates who have sparked political controversy over troubling details in their past.
Adam Hamawy, who to a convicted terrorist who was convicted of seditious conspiracy linked to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, won a Democratic primary with Sanders’ endorsement, calling him one of the party’s “bold leaders.” Sheikh Abdel-Rahman, who died in prison at the federal detention center in Butner, North Carolina, in 2017, was nicknamed the “Blind Sheikh.”
Similarly, Melat Kiros, a socialist and political newcomer in Colorado, defeated a 30-year incumbent in a primary challenge with Sanders’ backing despite her assertions that American foreign policy had made the 9/11 terror attacks “inevitable.” Sanders endorsed her with a prediction that she would be a “great ally in Congress fighting for a progressive agenda.”
And Randy Villegas, another congressional candidate supported by Sanders in California, is also facing scrutiny as news broke that he had voted to approve confidential settlements related to decades-old child sex-abuse cases as a teacher.Â
“We must do everything we can to elect new, bold leaders like Randy who will be a champion for working Americans in Congress,” Sanders said.
He is also backing Cori Bush, who came under fire for previously paying her husband with campaign cash and previously being one of the most vocal defund the police supporters in Congress, as she pursues a comeback House bid.
To some Democrats, the list is frustrating and, amid Platner’s fallout, seems risky.
“So, I don’t know why you want to keep pushing these kinds of people,” Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., said of Sanders in an interview with Fox News. “Maybe he should consider sitting a few out and stop pushing these kinds of commu
