The Corner

Graham Platner, Classy to the Last

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Graham Platner speaks about his decision to end his U.S. Senate campaign, in video posted July 8, 2026.

Graham Platner for Senate/X

It’s finally over. Graham Platner has filed papers with the state of Maine confirming his withdrawal from the race for the Democratic Senate nomination. So allow me to celebrate the End of an Error with this small coda to National Review’s recent immersion in the esoteric gnostic details of “Platneriana.” Many questions remain unanswered, alas: We will never know just exactly how he got expelled from an ultra high-class boarding school that doesn’t expel anyone, save for the gravest of violations, after his first semester in high school. (Or why his parents felt the need to send him there in first place.) Nor have we ever heard the opinions of anyone who served in any capacity with him overseas. Wonder what we’d find out?

I’m pretty sure that this, more than any fundraising leverage the DNC might wield, is what ultimately drove Platner out; there are still sins he would prefer to keep blessedly unknown. And because men without dignity are not in the habit of late-acquiring it, even Platner’s resignation was ultimately undercut by his own sheer trashiness.

JB

About the Author

Jeffrey Blehar

Jeffrey Blehar is a National Review staff writer living in Chicago. He is also the co-host of National Review’s Political Beats podcast, which explores the great music of the modern era with guests from the political world happy to find something non-political to talk about.

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