"Vote blue no matter who" has conservative Democrats saying boo hoo

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As Graham Platner locks up the Democratic nomination for Senate in Maine, centrist Democrats in the rest of the country are looking on in horror.

Platner represents a populist, left-leaning, young generation of Democrat. He’s been incredibly successful at reaching voters in Maine and has incumbent Republican Susan Collins panicking.

Conservative Democrats aren’t on board. Rep. Jake Auchincloss, a Massachusetts Democrat, learned the hard way this week that attacking a member of his party from the right wasn’t going to go over well in the current environment.

As I noted in my recent column at The Intercept:

Outside of Maine, Platner has been a lightning rod for centrists eager to seize on his Senate race as a battleground for litigating broader divisions in the party’s anti-Trump coalition. Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, said on social media on Tuesday that anyone who endorsed the Uncommitted movement, which aimed to hold President Joe Biden accountable for his role in supporting the Israeli genocide of Gaza, couldn’t object to centrists doing the same over Platner — a comparison so out of proportion it defies rational explanation.

Score-settling seems more important than keeping the party together and taking the Senate. Melissa DeRosa, the Andrew Cuomo loyalist, told Fox News on Tuesday, “There are a lot of moderate Democrats like myself who will not cry tears should we lose Maine.” John Fetterman, who has broken with his party over his zealous support for Israel, bemoaned Platner’s presumptive nomination after Mills dropped out. Joe Manchin, the West Virginia centrist who served in the Senate for over two decades as a nominal Democrat, implicitly endorsed Collins in a glowing address in late April.

It’s part of a trend that extends beyond Platner. In Texas, supporters of Rep. Jasmine Crockett made noise about not backing state Sen. James Talarico in his contest for Senate against Republican Ken Paxton in November; for her part, Crockett has been criss-crossing the state lending her support and celebrity to more moderate primary candidates, including to former Rep. Colin Allred, who beat out Rep. Julie Johnson, Talarico’s pick.

Time will tell if centrists will get in line. Best case scenario is they don’t, and it doesn’t matter—a turn of events that would significantly lessen their grip on the party establishment.

The Intercept@theintercept

Rep. Jake Auchincloss urging Democrats to vote against the presumptive Maine Senate nominee exposes the limits of party unity. interc.pt/3RwjBvj

9:20 PM · May 28, 2026 · 6.04K Views

5 Replies · 14 Reposts · 54 Likes

Also this week, I wrote at the New York Times on how progressives need to start talking about AI from a realistic, worker-first position. More to come on that but for now, read it here.

Eoin Higgins@EoinHiggins_

I’m at @nytimes on how Dems like @BernieSanders and @AOC are using regulations to effect change in the AI industry—but their goals are informed by hypecycle bluster from Silicon Valley higher-ups rather than workers.

nytimes.com

Opinion | Progressives Are Listening to the Wrong People on A.I. (Gift Article)

10:49 AM · May 26, 2026 · 11.3K Views

1 Reply · 14 Reposts · 63 Likes

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