Democrats Race To Replace Platner; Is the Iran War Maxing Out the Pentagon’s Budget?
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
When you slow it down, it looks far more dramatic and perhaps intentional than it certainly was.
Hey, everybody, and welcome to Here's the Scoop from NBC News. I'm Yasmin Basugan. So there is a World Cup controversy over video assistant referees, and Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Gay is saying they're taking humanity out of the game. Plus, with hundreds of strikes over the past few days, the war in Iran is fully back on. But could the Pentagon be running out of money and weapons? Up first, though. So Democrats in Maine now have to pick a new candidate for Senate because Graham Plattner announced last night that he's suspending his campaign. It happened after a woman he dated accused him of sexual assault, which Plattner denies.
We're not doing it because of the allegations. We're doing it because of the structures that are being taken away from us by those in power.
So now, Maine Democrats have until July 27th to nominate a new Senate candidate, a candidate that could make or break the Democrats' chances of taking control of the Senate in November. So for more on this, I want to bring in NBC News senior politics reporter Sahil Kapoor. Hey, Sahil.
Hey, Yasmin, what a race.
What a race. What a 24 hours. It's been 48 hours, really. So we have now Plattner deciding to step aside. And the main Democrats were not able to kick him out, by the way. He had to drop out on his own. So then last night, the main Democratic Party said they're going to hold this nominating convention to help pick his replacement. Do we have any indication as to what that would look like, the process, how long it would take, and would voters have any say?
So first off, the details are very murky about what comes next. What they've chosen to do, it seems, is a nominating convention where they have a process of selecting delegates and people who would cast these votes and have the candidates try to vie for the support of those delegates. They have not announced when that is, although what I'm hearing from sources early on is that it's going to be probably as close to July 27th to that deadline as they can manage it because they already have so little time and they want to give these candidates the maximum amount of time as possible. You've got a lot of them getting in already And like I said, the details are murky, but there's a ton of interest from Maine Democrats in this nomination.
So let's talk about who potentially could be his replacement. And we know, for instance, that it is not— Grey's Anatomy actor, Patrick Dempsey, because I guess there were some rumors that possibly he was going to be in the running. And then he came out and he said, I am not. McDreamy is not going to be running. So who, in fact, is going to step in and potentially save the day for Democrats?
How did Graham Platner’s campaign suspension trigger a scramble to replace him in Maine?
Yeah, Patrick Dempsey is not interested in that race, but he seems to be the only one who isn't. There are There's so many Maine Democrats who are interested. First off, I think we can look to the runners-up in the very crowded primary for governor. Nirav Shah is one of them. He worked for the Maine CDC in prior years. He was a runner-up in the governor primary. Yeah. Shanna Bellows, I'm told, the current— Maine Secretary of State is interested in this race, probably going to jump in. She was also a runner-up in the governor primary. There's Troy Jackson, who's worked in the Maine state legislature. To some progressives, he's their preferred candidate. He was on Meet the Press Now with our colleague Kristen Welker, and he was asked if he wants Grant Plattner's endorsement.
He said he didn't, but he's also walking a fine line because he wants to harness that movement, those supporters. Thank you for having me.
So you know what I thought, Sahil, is interesting about what Graham Platner said in part of that statement that we just played is that he said it's not because of the allegations that he's stepping down. He's placing the blame on really the quote-unquote establishment, the democratic establishment for taking the power away, the support away from him versus putting the blame on himself and the allegations that have been made against him.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–2:41
2
How did Graham Platner’s campaign suspension trigger a scramble to replace him in Maine?
2:41–7:01
3
What is the nominating convention process Maine Democrats will use to pick Platner’s replacement?
7:01–11:30
4
Who are the leading potential replacements for Graham Platner and what are their profiles?
11:30–16:42
5
Could Platner’s rhetoric weaken his movement’s voters and hurt Democrats’ Senate chances?
16:42–24:18
6
What do we know about Mitch McConnell’s absence and its impact on Senate operations?
24:18–25:58
Speakers
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