Democrats' narrow path to Senate majority gets rockier as Platner faces
sexual assault allegation
[July 08, 2026]
By BILL BARROW and MIKE CATALINI
A new accusation that Graham Platner once sexually assaulted a woman he
was dating has rocked the U.S. Senate race in Maine and cast fresh doubt
on Democrats’ path to a Senate majority.
Republicans currently have a 53-47 advantage in the Senate, and Maine is
viewed as a necessary win for Democrats to gain the minimum of four new
Senate seats.
But now there’s a question of whether Platner, who denied the
allegation, will remain on the ballot and, if he does, whether he can
defeat five-term Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
Here’s a closer look at the top races that Democrats are targeting.
Democrats see some pickup opportunities
ALASKA: Former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola’s candidacy against
incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan has buoyed her party.
Peltola, one of a handful of Democrats who’ve won in Republican
dominated states, was the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress,
winning special and regular elections in 2022 for the state’s only House
seat.
At center stage for the state’s Aug. 18 primary is drama involving a man
running with the same name and party affiliation as Sullivan. The state
supreme court has said the challenger is qualified to be on the ballot.
Peltola’s campaign and state Democrats have denied Sullivan's allegation
that they're working with the challenger to cause confusion..
MAINE: Platner catapulted to the Democratic nomination despite earlier
controversies. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer initially backed
sitting Gov. Janet Mills but reluctantly aligned behind Platner -- until
Monday’s latest bombshell accusation.
Now, Schumer and many Democrats are pushing for Platner to withdraw. If
he does that by July 13, Maine Democrats can put a replacement on the
ballot. If not, Platner could face Collins with minimal national party
support.
If Platner drops out, his replacement could meet a similar challenge to
what presidential candidate Kamala Harris faced in 2024, when she had a
late start to appeal to a general election audience without having won
the nomination in a competitive primary.
Meanwhile, Collins has won elections for 30 years despite no Republican
presidential nominee, including President Donald Trump, winning Maine
since 1988.
NORTH CAROLINA: Democrats landed one of their prize recruits with former
Gov. Roy Cooper, who has never lost a statewide election through four
terms as attorney general and two as governor. Republicans answered with
Trump’s handpicked candidate, Michael Whatley, who’d previously served
as state GOP chairman and as the Republican National Committee chairman.
Whatley was viewed as a prodigious fundraiser and ideal Trump surrogate
in a state the president carried three times, and he has history on his
side -- Democrats have won just two U.S. Senate races and one
presidential contest in North Carolina in the last three decades.
Yet Cooper won governors races in two of Trump’s three presidential
cycles and is leveraging his centrist image at a time when independents
have soured on Trump. That leaves Whatley with the difficult tasks of
satisfying Trump's core supporters without alienating other voters;
introducing himself to voters who don’t know him; and convincing enough
North Carolina voters that they’ve been wrong about Cooper for decades.
OHIO: Democrats are counting on former Sen. Sherrod Brown to unseat
Republican incumbent Jon Husted in what’s shaping up to be another
expensive contest in the state — its third in four years.
The Senate Leadership Fund, a GOP super PAC, has pledged $79 million to
defend Husted, a former lieutenant governor appointed to fill the seat
after JD Vance became vice president.
Brown served three terms in the Senate before losing a tough reelection
contest in 2024.
Ohio has steadily trended Republican. But Brown won previously as an
advocate of unions and the working class, and Democrats believe he can
attract some of the voters who’ve helped Trump win the state three
times.
Underdogs could offer surprises
IOWA: The state, which Trump won three times gives Democrats an
opportunity to flip a seat with two-term Republican Sen. Joni Ernst's
retirement.
Democratic Iowa state Rep. Josh Turek faces Trump-endorsed Republican
U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson.
[to top of second column]
|
At left, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, in Washington, June 17, 2026,
and at right, Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner speaks June
9, 2026, in Blue Hill, Maine. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite and)
Robert F. Bukaty
Turek is a relative newcomer to elected office and has pointed to
his experience winning in a red state House district as proof he
could appeal to independent and moderate Republican voters in
November.
Hinson is a three-term House incumbent representing northeastern
Iowa, and claims Trump needs a fighter who would “always have his
back.”
TEXAS: State Rep. James Talarico, a 37-year-old seminarian, has
become a national fundraising phenomenon.
Talarico faces the scandal-ridden Republican nominee Ken Paxton. The
Texas attorney general has weathered an impeachment attempt by his
own party, a yearslong corruption investigation and public airing of
his martial difficulties. Through all that, Paxton has won multiple
reelections.
Democrats were buoyed by their primary turnout of about 2.3 million
eclipsing Republicans’ 2.2 million, something that hasn’t happened
since the state flipped to Republicans in the 1990s. But the
challenge for Talarico is turning that momentum into a racially,
ethnically and geographically diverse coalition in November.
The seats Democrats have to hold
GEORGIA: Sen. Jon Ossoff is the only Democratic senator running for
reelection this year in a state Trump won in 2024.
He had no primary opposition, and he’s been a fundraising force with
more than $30 million cash-on-hand as he entered the general
election campaign. Ossof has attracted national attention with his
unapologetic broadsides against Trump.
Republican Rep. Mike Collins is playing catchup after winning a
bruising GOP primary runoff. He must navigate skeptical Republicans
who believe he’s too conservative or controversial for this
battleground state. Collins repeats Trump’s false claims that the
2020 election was rigged, and he’s also facing a House ethics
inquiry over allegations that he misused taxpayer money to pay the
girlfriend of a former top aide.
Collins’ strongest line of attack against Ossoff comes on
immigration. Collins sponsored the Laken Riley Act, named for a
Georgia nursing student killed by a Venezuelan man in the U.S.
illegally. The 2025 law, among other provisions, requires immigrants
accused of certain crimes to be detained by federal law enforcement.
Ossoff voted for that legislation after Trump returned to the White
House. The senator had previously voted, along with all Senate
Democrats, to block consideration of an earlier Republican version —
offered as an amendment to a 2024 spending bill — that would have
prohibited undocumented immigrants accused of certain crimes from
obtaining legal status. Collins and Republicans frame those votes as
Ossoff flip-flopping on immigration enforcement.
MICHIGAN: Democratic Sen. Gary Peters’ retirement opens up a seat
the party must hold in a key presidential battleground that Trump
won twice and former President Joe Biden carried in 2020.
The Aug. 4 Democratic primary pits moderate Haley Stevens against
progressive Abdul El-Sayed. It was a three-way race until Mallory
McMorrow, who had backing from some progressive Democratic senators,
suspended her campaign.
Stevens and El-Sayed have split support among Democratic senators.
Stevens has the support of Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, while El-Sayed
has support from Sen. Bernie Sanders and other progressives.
Stevens has also benefited from heavy outside spending, including
nearly $8 million from a super PAC affiliated with the American
Israel Public Affairs Committee.
El-Sayed, a former Wayne County health director, has run on issues
like Medicare for All and halting all U.S. weapons transfers to
Israel. He has campaigned with popular-yet-controversial streamer
Hasan Piker, who has millions of followers online and has said
things such as that “America deserved 9/11.”
The winner is expected to face Republican Mike Rogers, who lost to
now-Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat, in 2024.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
