Graham Platner has Democrats wondering if they need an outsider to win the White House |
Graham Platner has Democrats wondering if they need an outsider to win the White House
Populist Democratic candidate Graham Platner shook up his party’s establishment when his primary competitor, Maine Gov. Janet Mills, suspended her Senate campaign last week amid polls that showed she was badly trailing her rival, an oyster farmer who had come out of nowhere to win a national following in the party.
Platner’s rise is just the latest example of the outsiders era in the Democratic Party, a period coinciding with President Trump’s tenure that has also seen Zohran Mamdani, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, defeat former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the race for New York City mayor last year.
Platner, Mamdani and Trump all seemed to win political support with attacks on their respective parties’ political establishments; each has a brand signaling a desire to shake up the state quo.
It’s left some Democrats wondering whether that means there is a wide-open lane for an outsider to become the party’s presidential nominee in 2028.
“There’s always only a few tickets out of the early primary states, and in the 2028 primary cycle, one of those tickets will very likely be from an outsider who comes from outside of the traditional political system,” said Democratic strategist Joel Payne.
“The public at large is in the midst of a very antiestablishment moment, and I think that is particularly true for base Democratic voters,” Payne explained. “There is a hunger for voices from outside the system, and those who have experience within the system are carrying baggage with them politically.”
There’s no question there is a lot of anger and frustration within the Democratic base.
This anger has been sparked in part by the disappointment in losing to Trump in 2016 and 2024, when candidates backed by party leaders lost in November to the GOP’s lead outsider candidate.
In 2024, Democrats didn’t even really get to choose their nominee........