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The Conversation
The Conversation
Nicholas Jacobs, Goldfarb Family Distinguished Chair in American Government, Colby College; Institute for Humane Studies

Why rural Maine may back Democrat Graham Platner’s populism in the Senate campaign − but not his party

Graham Platner, left, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, chats with his neighbor, Denis Nault, on Nov. 3, 2025, in Sullivan, Maine. AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty

Every few years, Democrats try to convince themselves they’ve found the one – a candidate who can finally speak fluent rural, who looks and sounds like the voters they’ve lost.

In 2024, that hope was pinned on Tim Walz, the flannel-wearing, “Midwestern nice” governor whose small-town roots were supposed to unlock the rural Midwest for a Harris–Walz victory.

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