WASHINGTON — Progressives in Maine may be feeling duped as the state’s Democratic Party scrambles to replace former U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner, but nine-term Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree says that doesn’t mean the state party needs help from the political class.
"Now they all want to weigh in on the next round of candidates, and I'm just sort of like, 'Leave us the hell alone!'" Pingree told Raw Story.
That’s unlikely to happen any time soon, especially because Maine Democratic Party leaders just approved a 600-person convention to replace Platner ahead of the state’s July 27th deadline.
While Pingree was late to come around to Platner — her personal rule is to stay out of primary battles — like most Maine Democrats, she heartily endorsed the lobster fisherman after he won the Democratic primary last month.
"I was a cheerleader for him. I did an event with him a few weeks ago," Pingree told Raw Story. "We're a big tent and a small crowd in Maine, so we're all on the same stage together and everything else. This is my state. We're all Democrats, and we’re all in.”
“Do you feel personally lied to or deceived by him?” Raw Story asked.
“I spent time talking to him and said, ‘Should I expect anything else?’” Pingree said after the New York Times wrote in June that several women who dated him reported "unsettling behavior."
“Yeah. I'm not the only person who asked that question,” Pingree said. “And he said, ‘No.’”
This week, Politico reported that another woman he dated has accused him of sexual assault.
“So does that make him a liar to you?" Raw Story pressed.
“I don't know if he was a liar or if he was delusional,” Pingree said. “We're talking about men and how they interpret things here. I mean, did he think he didn't do something wrong? I don't know. At this point, it doesn't matter to me anymore.”
Pingree’s serving her 18th year on Congress but, unlike many of her veteran Democratic colleagues, she didn’t get primaried in this anti-establishment year. Progressive candidates have delivered shock results, and toppled incumbent Democrats in New York City and Denver.
In fact, even with this year’s revolutionary energy — "there is definitely something in the air,” Pingree conceded — there are two Pingree’s on the ballot in Maine this year: The Congresswoman and her 49-year-old daughter, Hannah, who won the Democratic primary in this year’s race to replace the outgoing governor.
While the progressive congresswoman welcomes revenue from vacationing tourists, she’s got a message for all the Washingtonians flooding her state of late.
"My number one pitch to people is just, like, would you — and I'm sorry, I don't mean to, you know, pick on you — but, like D.C. people and out-of-staters, could you just leave us alone for a while?" Pingree said. "Because part of the problem is that this race attracted so much attention, and every consultant, every reporter, I mean, everybody's been in our state, you know, turning this into a very complicated race."
Across cable networks, the focus has been on whether Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and other Democratic leaders will interfere in the race now that Platner’s out.
Pingree claims that’s all made-for-TV myths.
"It's funny because outsiders tell us about Schumer, and, you know, like, 'don't let Schumer put his thumb on the scale' and all that, but really what Mainers are more like is, just like all the reporters and consultants annoy them," Pingree said.
It's not just D.C. consultants and pundits, Pingree says. She and her neighbors don’t need her fellow progressives, like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), turning the state into their stumping grounds.
"The progressives, even like Bernie and Ro, I mean, like, we don't need you guys. Like, I'm a progressive. I'm fine. I like those guys. But it's like, we don't need you in Maine to put your thumb on the scale here," Pingree said. "I don't picture those guys necessarily coming to Maine to campaign. Bernie likes to come into Maine and Ro is building his base. So those guys show up because it's about them.”
So far, seven Democrats have tossed their hats in the ring to replace Platner.
“Former gubernatorial candidates Shenna Bellows, Troy Jackson and Nirav Shah,” reports the Maine Morning Star. “Former congressional candidate Paige Loud; and former Senate candidates Dan Kleban, David Costello and Jordan Wood.”
Pingree isn’t running to be a convention delegate, and she’s not worried about who her fellow Democrats nominate.
“We've got a good bench, though, and I think, you know, the people who become delegates to the convention will do a good job trying to pick somebody that they think can win,” Pingree said.
Pingree’s just hoping whoever wins is energized and ready for the battle ahead.
"This is a state where people expect you to show up at, you know, the Lincoln County Lobster Bake and go to the Lobster Festival Parade and be in the Moxie Day Parade," Pingree said. “You know, you just got to do the stuff where people see you in their hometown. We’re a lot of little towns."
The only problem is that incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins has been using the same hyper-local playbook since first being sent to Washington in 1997.
“Are you worried now, though, that the seat’s more at risk?” Raw Story asked after Platner was pushed out of the race.
“Yeah,” Pingree said. “Of course.”
Pingree knows Susan Collins is formidable from personal experience.
In 2002, Collins defeated then-State Senator Pingree 58.4% to 41.6%.
“I've been there, done that. She’s a tough person to beat,” Pingree told Raw Story. “Obviously, Sen. Collins is vulnerable with her association with Donald Trump, but that said, you could be the best rock star on Earth and have you run a four-month campaign, it's just not an easy thing. We all know that, and starting from scratch on the first of August is just not going to be easy for anybody.”
While Democrats are now scrambling to pick a new Senate candidate, Collins and the GOP are blanketing the airwaves with ads showcasing her powerful perch as chair of the Senate Appropriations — or spending — Committee.
“If you were up here, you'd be watching ads all day long about the, you know, incredible number of earmarks she’s supported to every small town in Maine,” Pingree said. “You needed a fire station or a, you know, a new water treatment plant or an addition to their school or something.
“I don't think there's anyone who underestimates how difficult this campaign is,” Pingree said. “The reverse of it is, you know, no one — no one — wants to be a Republican right now. No one wants to be tied to Trump.”
While Collins tries to distance herself from Trump, Pingree and other Maine progressives are prepared to tie the two together at the hip ahead of November’s midterm election.
"I've been talking to a lot of people over the last few days and yeah, they're disappointed about the end of Platner, but the next thing they say is, 'But I really want to win. I really want to win,’” Pingree told Raw Story. “So it's not an election people are going to sit on their hands.”