As liberal media outlets and the Democratic Party continue damage control around their Graham Platner disaster, this Wednesday, NewsNation’s On Balance host Leland Vittert instead asked the most important question: Why did Democrats allow Platner to get this far?
Recalling the countless other scandals leading up to the bombshell rape accusations that dropped on Tuesday, Vittert criticizes the Democrats for supporting a candidate with so many different scandals, especially when they were aware that more scandals were likely to come:
Democrats in Maine overwhelmingly voted for him. They knew about the Nazi tattoo, they knew about the domestic violence. They knew about the racist posts online. They, along with all of the other Democrats who endorsed him, knew about the rape fantasies online. If you fantasize about raping someone, you might have raped somebody.
On top of that, Vittert called out Democrats’ vicious political pragmatism, looking the other way in regard to Platner’s moral bankruptcy until he became completely electorally unviable. They only broke from him once he risked their precious chances of seizing the Senate:
They all knew he was a repugnant human being. And 156,000 people still voted for him. But now that he might lose, the Democrats around the country that defended him now want him to drop out.
Leland Vittert does a great job holding Democrats accountable for letting Graham Platner get this far. Networks like CNN are dodging the difficult questions like whose fault this is, but Vittert is tackling the scandal head-on. This is what real reporting looks like. pic.twitter.com/oU2ETpRvtm
— James Waterman (@jwatermaniv) July 8, 2026
Even the left-leaning guests on the show shamed those who supported Platner following the initial scandals. They distanced themselves from the more radical and even some of the (relatively) more moderate elements of the Democratic Party. While the mainstream left shrugged off the issues of the Nazi tattoo and even Platner’s marital infidelity, former Biden assistant Megan Hayes asserted that she joined with another former Biden staffer, Yemisi Egbewole, in “calling for [Platner to drop out] after the Nazi tattoo.”
Of course, Vittert didn’t just dig into the past actions of the Democrats. He also blasted a number of left-wing voices who remained on Platner’s side in the race. Apparently, despite the continued spiral of scandal after scandal that Platner has fallen into, some Democrats were still willing to support the man:
Chris Murphy, senator from Connecticut, he said something about it after the Nazi tattoo that goes, 'He sounds like a normal guy to me.' And I thought to myself, 'I don't have any friends who have Nazi tattoos. I would not let somebody with a Nazi tattoo date my sister or had- put this on the internet.' There are still Democrats, though, who are defending Graham Platner.
Some other voices in support of Platner were The View co-host Sunny Hostin, who refused to retract her support for Platner even after the news was broken (before later retracting it), as well as New York Times columnist Charles Blow, who seemed more concerned with getting a hit in on Donald Trump than discussing Platner, the elephant in the room. Nazi imagery, sexual abuse, and even rape are apparently not enough to dissuade some Democrats from their cause.
Americans deserve better than the Democrat-dominated media empires. Leland Vittert and NewsNation represent a model the media should strive to emulate. He investigates the issues, regardless of political affiliation. He dissects the causes, being critical of those culpable. Most importantly, he holds the culprits accountable for their actions.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read.
NewsNation On Balance with Leland Vittert
July 7, 2026
9:30:32 PM Eastern
LELAND VITTERT: Much like the lion in Wizard of Oz, Democrats have finally found their courage and told Graham Platner to drop out of Maine’s Senate race. Welcome to the party. Let me tell you something you will not hear anywhere else on TV. Maybe if he's watching, he can listen. Graham Platner, you should not drop out.
Democrats in Maine overwhelmingly voted for him. They knew about the Nazi tattoo. They knew about the domestic violence. They knew about the racist posts online. They, along with all of the other Democrats who endorsed him, knew about the rape fantasies online. If you fantasize about raping someone, you might have raped somebody. They all knew he was a repugnant human being. And 156,000 people still voted for him.
But now that he might lose, the Democrats around the country that defended him now want him to drop out. Why now? Well, they only have six days to replace him on the ballot and The New York Times that buried the Platner scandal before the primary election is now all in, trashing the everyman oyster man. [Headline shown on—screen] Headline is there. To them, winning is everything. They excuse the Nazi tattoo when they thought he would win. Now they have abandoned him. So much for democracy.
Yemisi Egbewole, former Biden White House Press Office Chief of Staff, former assistant to President Biden, Megan Hayes, and Michael Sheppard, political editor of Bangor Daily News is all here.
Thank you all. Ladies first, as it was. [Gestures to Megan Hayes] You've been all over this from the very beginning so I’m gonna start with you real quick. I predict that if Platner goes dark for two or three weeks and stays in the race, come the middle of August all these Democrats will say, “Well, he's better than Susan Collins” and send back all the money and the endorsements.
MEGAN HAYES: I don't think he’ll last two to three more days.
VITTERT: Why not?
HAYES: I mean, he can, but just don't think that's possible. And I think, much like Yemisi, have been calling for him after the Nazi tattoo was—
VITTERT: He’s a horrible human being, but the voters have spoken. Why shouldn't they get their say?
YEMISI EGBEWOLE: Graham Platner doesn’t have the money, the DSCC has already pulled out. Senator Gillibrand's not coming back. The establishment that he criticized so much at— since he was anti—establishment is not going to fund him. And for these anti—establishment candidates, the hard lesson for them is that they need the folks in Washington, the folks in California, the folks at Aspen to do those pretty little meetings at those big houses and raise money for them and no one's going to do it and, unfortunately—
VITTERT: So you think if he stays in the Democrats will just write off the Senate seat?
HAYES: Yeah, I mean, they've already said that right? Like the Democratic—
VITTERT: They’ve said lots of things.
HAYES: —but the Senate Majority PAC and the DSCC, they're going to move money elsewhere, to seats that they can win. They know that they cannot win this seat. So this is about winning back the majority or putting forth an effort for it. So they're going to go invest in Texas and Ohio and Iowa and Alaska and North Carolina, where they do see a movement for the map to win back the majority. So they're not going to waste their money on someone like Graham Platner.
VITTERT: Okay, Michael, I want to get you in on this from on the ground. As you talk to voters who voted for Graham Platner. Does this allegation rather than the Nazi tattoos or the rape fantasies or anything else— are you talking to people who say, “Oh, well, if had known that, I wouldn’t have voted for him”?
MICHAEL SHEPPARD: I mean, I think that, look, this is— this is a rape allegation right. And it's a little more abstract when it's on Reddit and it's not something you can— you can hold, right? And I think that this has escalated, right?
And I think there is a— there's a sense here that it's not just this one thing. It is the creep—
VITTERT: Yeah.
SHEPPARD: and the— I mean some— as we a— this evening right, The Washington Post reports on a— on an ex—girlfriend who alleges that he— that he took condoms off during sex without her consent. So this is just one thing after another. We don't even know if we’re at the end yet, right.
VITTERT: No, you’re never the end with guys like this because there's always gonna be more, but thank you for talking about The Washington Post report.
(...)
9:36:25 PM
Chris Murphy, senator from Connecticut, he said something about it after the Nazi tattoo that goes, “He sounds like a normal guy to me.” And I thought to myself, “I don't have any friends who have Nazi tattoos. I would not let somebody with a Nazi tattoo date my sister or had— put this on the internet.” There are still Democrats, though, who are defending Graham Platner. This is sound bite number two:
[Cuts to video]
CHARLES BLOW (NYT COLUMNIST): We continue to have a situation where Democrats compose their plan by completely separate rule books.
[Cuts to video]
SUNNY HOSTIN (THE VIEW ANCHOR): I think that we are in a time of existential crisis in this country. I think Republicans fall in line. They don't fall in love. Democrats want to fall in love and not fall in line.
[Cuts back to live]
VITTERT: Sunny Hostin said she'd still vote for him.
HAYES: That's, I mean, despicable. It was despicable— again, he has a Nazi tattoo, he’s lied about how he makes his income. He has lied from day one.
