Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed says Platner should resign
Michigan progressive Abdul El-Sayed told MS NOW on Tuesday that Graham Platner should end his bid for Maine’s U.S. Senate seat after a woman accused Platner of sexual assault.
His remarks came after El-Sayed, who is running for Michigan’s Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, failed to explicitly say Platner should leave the race in a social media post after the story broke. That perceived vagueness drew criticism from his major Democratic rival in the race, Rep. Haley Stevens.
El-Sayed, like Platner, has had the support of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in a pair of races that are critical to whether Democrats have a reasonable chance at taking back control of the Senate this fall.
After reporting from Politico on Monday detailed at length the woman’s allegation, which Platner has denied, El-Sayed posted on social media: “Credible allegations of sexual assault cannot be ignored. Voters in Maine deserve a choice for US Senate that doesn’t force them to make a moral compromise between sexual violence or corporate servitude.”
His statement stopped short of the explicit calls from other Democrats for Platner to leave the race. Before El-Sayed weighed in, Stevens said on X that “there should be no room for this conduct in the U.S. Senate or any public office. Graham Platner must step aside.”
In Tuesday’s interview with MS NOW’s Chris Jansing, El-Sayed attempted to clarify the intent of his Monday night social media post.
“He needs to step aside, and that was entirely the point of my statement,” El-Sayed said. “But I wanted to make it clear why, that you should not have to choose between sexual violence and corporate servitude.”
When questioned on the lack of straightforwardness of his earlier post and about Stevens’ criticism, El-Sayed said he “made the statement specifically to say that [Platner] should step aside,” before pivoting to criticizing the large amount of money that has made its way into the Senate race in Michigan to support Stevens.
Stevens and El-Sayed are set for a debate Tuesday night that carries major implications for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat. While Democrats currently control the office, President Donald Trump won Michigan in the 2024 presidential election.
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Hunter Woodall covers politics for MS NOW. He’s reported on politics and presidential campaigns for The Associated Press and CBS News and reported on Congress for The Minnesota Star Tribune.
