New Graham Platner Ad Comes Out SWINGING Against Collins

0:00 Hey everyone, it's me, Sam Stein, managing editor of The Bulwark,

0:02 joined by Lauren Egan, author of The Opposition newsletter.

0:04 She had a good one last night.

0:06 We're not going to be talking about that, though.

0:07 Sorry, Lauren.

0:08 We've got other things on our mind.

0:10 We're going to be talking about Grant Pflugrad,

0:11 who's got a new ad up uh in Maine, and Susan Collins, who has an ad as well.

0:16 Incredibly different spots, and I guess it's the first indication

0:20 that we are definitely in general election season.

0:22 Lauren, are you excited to just be inundated with campaign ads?

0:26 Yeah, it's I look forward to it.

0:27 Every 2 years, it's my favorite thing.

0:30 At least we don't live Well, if you're in Tennessee, so you might get a lot

0:32 a lot of them.

0:33 Yeah, I'm already starting to get them.

0:35 But, this is where cutting cutting the cord helps, you know?

0:38 With streaming, it's a little bit harder to find me.

0:41 Good point.

0:41 Yeah, uh I feel for the people in California who

0:44 are just can't escape the Tom Steyer ads right now.

0:47 Um all right, let's start with uh Pflugrad's ad, which uh is,

0:50 I would say generously, the more provocative of the two ads.

0:54 Again, these ads have incredibly different styles,

0:58 and it really says a lot about the state of this race.

1:01 Let's watch the Pflugrad ad first.

1:03 Susan Collins' charade is over.

1:06 We don't care that you pretend to be remorseful at the start

1:10 of a new forever war that you chose to let happen.

1:13 We don't care that you are concerned while we go broke

1:17 as you sell us out to the president and to the Epstein

1:20 class who are engineering the greatest redistribution of wealth

1:25 from the working class to the ruling class in this nation's history.

1:29 Symbolic opposition doesn't reopen hospitals.

1:33 Weak condemnations don't bring back Roe v.

1:37 Wade.

1:37 And selling out the same working class voters [music] who've

1:41 delivered mandate for change after mandate for change is not forgivable.

1:48 [music] A performative politics that enables the destruction

1:50 of our way of life is disqualified.

1:53 As a United States Senator, I am running because it is time [music] for change.

2:00 I'm Grant Plathner and I approve this message.

2:03 I had to like turn my volume down.

2:06 [laughter] This is the way it comes on with a Susan Collins.

2:08 I know.

2:08 I was like, "Whoa.

2:09 Whoa." Yeah.

2:11 So, what do you make?

2:12 It's pure populist lefty message.

2:16 Um it's super aggressive.

2:19 As we'll see with the Collins one, it's very different.

2:22 He goes right for her.

2:22 The entire thing is just him trashing Susan Collins.

2:26 I mean, it's an interesting choice cuz this is for both of them,

2:29 these are their first general election, right?

2:31 Like we're now in general election season.

2:32 It's their first ads of this phase of the campaign.

2:36 And often times people use that first

2:39 general ad to kind of like reintroduce themselves.

2:42 Like he could have gone out there and said, "I'm this oyster man.

2:45 Here's my story about Maine and here's why I love

2:48 Maine." He talks a lot about reaching out to Trump voters.

2:51 He's put a lot of videos on his social platforms about him.

2:54 Right.

2:54 Talking like that that's something he could have done, right?

2:57 And he didn't do that.

2:58 It this is a totally different choice.

3:00 And I mean, he's telling us the kind of race he wants to run.

3:02 Like this is the kind of campaign that Grant Plathner wants to run.

3:06 And this is what we've got.

3:09 think it's effective?

3:10 I don't know.

3:12 Like certainly that's going to appeal to some people, right?

3:14 Like there's a segment of the party

3:16 that is desperately hungry for that right now.

3:19 I mean, that was a lot of his It's not like this is new about him.

3:23 Like this was his pitch during the primary phase as well.

3:27 He's just obviously like really amping that up.

3:31 And obviously in a general,

3:32 you might expect someone to kind of soften some of those edges a little bit.

3:36 And that's not something he's doing.

3:39 He's saying, "No, this is the general election candidate I'm going to be.

3:42 I'm not going to try and sort of run away

3:45 from the populisty roots that I first announced on." All right.

3:49 So, here's is view on it.

3:51 And I've no reporting to indicate uh that I'm right,

3:54 but it's I think I think I'm right.

3:56 Uh he needs to get her he needs to get her negatives down.

4:01 I mean, maybe she has negatives in these public polling,

4:04 but time and again she does well in Maine.

4:07 And I think they've concluded that basically Maine voters are like,

4:10 "Okay, Susan Collins is, you know, a reliable senator.

4:14 We've been fine with her.

4:16 Um she stands up for Trump and, you know,

4:19 or she stands up to Trump, I should say.

4:21 And we, you know, and she's independent-minded.

4:24 And therefore, we're we're comfortable casting another ballot for her.

4:27 And we don't know this guy that well." And so, he's got a job to do,

4:31 which is to make people feel like, "No,

4:32 she's not acceptable anymore." And so, that's what this ad's about.

4:35 It's just going like hard at her, hard

4:38 at this idea that she's an actual check on Trump,

4:41 and more framing her as a, you know,

4:44 revolving door for Trump that he can just walk over.

4:47 Mixed metaphors there.

4:48 Uh and the other thing that I was kind

4:50 of curious about was the decision to use Iran up top.

4:54 Like, that was the first thing he went after.

4:55 We could talk about the Epstein class, too, which was notable.

4:57 But like, the forever wars and Iran stuff, like, I you know,

5:02 it's like I'm I'm I'm sort of my the conventional

5:04 wisdom's always that no one really votes on foreign policy stuff.

5:08 I guess it's in the news.

5:09 Uh it's obviously top news item,

5:10 but it's like kind of telling that he went there first.

5:14 Yeah, well, he's also a good effective messenger on that.

5:17 He's a veteran.

5:18 Um and he's talked about like, I think I agree.

5:23 Usually foreign policy stuff isn't first.

5:25 But like, I think Democrats are effectively transcending

5:28 the Iran war into something much bigger, right?

5:30 It's like Trump's just ignoring you.

5:31 He's There's all this going on at home, and he doesn't care.

5:34 Uh it's not so much about what we are actually doing in Iran.

5:38 It's the decision that for Trump to be distracted

5:41 and spend a bunch of money over there when

5:42 there's a lot of things that he said he's

5:44 going to do back home that he's not doing.

5:45 And I I do think it's effective.

5:47 Yeah, I guess so.

5:48 I'm curious if we'll see This is something

5:50 that I think we should probably monitor is like is

5:52 this going to be part of other people's ads

5:53 against Republicans or or is it more fleeting, right?

5:57 Is it momentary?

5:58 Um the Epstein class stuff.

6:01 Like what did you make of that?

6:03 That's definitely going to be I mean

6:05 we've seen that from other Democrats so far.

6:07 And I I mean I think that that I don't know.

6:10 I think it depends who you're hitting with that, you know?

6:14 Like I don't know if that sticks on her.

6:16 I don't I don't associate Susan Collins with the Epstein class.

6:19 Yeah, like she doesn't I don't know if that sticks.

6:23 To me that doesn't stick as much

6:24 with her, but I get the instinct to want to sort

6:28 of wrap everyone up in like in the everyone

6:30 in the Republican Party to tie them into that.

6:32 It's just like Everyone who's in power is part of the Epstein class type of

6:35 Yeah.

6:35 Yeah.

6:36 Yeah.

6:36 Right.

6:37 Right.

6:37 And if you're giving Trump cover,

6:38 this is what you're giving him cover for, you know, is kind of the message.

6:42 Um but yeah, she's a little tougher, I think.

6:45 Let's talk about the risks if there are any here for Planner.

6:49 So he needs I guess if if I had to diagnose a weakness,

6:53 it's obviously that he's new on the scene and can

6:55 be defined because people don't have perceptions of him.

6:58 He's got you know, some inappropriate tattoos, I will say to put it mildly,

7:05 and some uncomfortable past posts on social

7:08 media sites that he's got to deal with.

7:11 Um and there's a perception that he's a bit of a wild card, right?

7:15 So the risk I suppose of an ad like this is that you forego

7:18 the chance to kind of define yourself in lighter terms as you put it.

7:21 And if you're going so hard out of the gate,

7:23 which I'm actually for, I think it's you know,

7:26 if you got to do it if you're damn like take take the gloves off.

7:29 But you do risk coming off as sort of being mean to this, you know,

7:33 70 whatever year old senator who's been a mainstay of Maine.

7:38 Yeah.

7:39 I don't know if that's a huge risk, though.

7:41 I just feel like people are like I just like In the age of Trump,

7:45 what am I talking about, right?

7:47 Yeah, like maybe it would have been like a decade ago,

7:49 but we're just like so far past that.

7:51 And I mean Platner is new on the scene,

7:53 but because this because this primary got so much national attention,

7:57 I actually think that that's like people in Maine

8:01 for my perception of it and talking to folks there,

8:03 it's like the state has gotten a chance to kind of get to know

8:07 at least more than you would necessarily expect at this point in a race.

8:09 state.

8:11 It's not a big state.

8:12 It got so much national attention.

8:13 He's like kind of, you know,

8:15 captured the attention of the a lot of the Democratic Party.

8:19 Um so it's not like people are just like oh,

8:21 just just now finding out out about this guy.

8:24 Um so it's I think it's a little different.

8:25 He is more defined than you would

8:28 traditionally expect for a total newcomer like this.

8:31 Yeah.

8:32 I will say he's going to go at her.

8:34 I mean, it seems pretty evident like this is just

8:36 going to be the entirety of the next 6 months.

8:38 He's just going to hammer over.

8:40 I mean, she's going to go at like there is some reporting, you know,

8:42 that her some allied Collins groups are getting ready

8:45 unsurprisingly to hit him with a bunch of stuff, too.

8:48 Obviously, we already got a flavor of all of that with the Janet Mills stuff.

8:51 distinction between the outside groups going after him and and her herself.

8:54 She'll She'll be elevated, but he is just going to be like

8:58 absolutely throwing daggers at her the entire time,

9:02 which is different than what we would have gotten obviously with Janet Mills,

9:05 who seemed to have like an aversion to doing any contrast with Collins.

9:09 That's what was one of my first thoughts.

9:10 I was like, "Wow, if this is Janet Mills,

9:12 like the Janet Mills ad that would have run today would have

9:14 been identical to the Susan Collins ad." You know what I mean?

9:17 It just would have been like, "Here's what I did as governor." Well,

9:20 let's play the Susan Collins ad because people should see it.

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10:44 Remember what we just watched with Grant

10:46 Plotter and now watch this from Susan Collins.

10:48 The Eastport breakwater was originally built in [music]

10:50 1962 with a lifespan of 20 years.

10:53 Well, at the end of those 20 years,

10:55 it was supposed to be replaced, but it never was.

10:58 Back in December of 2014, [music] we received a phone call at 2:17

11:01 in the morning notifying us that the breakwater had tragically collapsed.

11:05 [music] There was thankfully no serious injuries.

11:07 When the breakwater collapsed, it brought a halt to most of our economics

11:10 and brought a tremendous amount of uncertainty [music] to our future.

11:14 But prior to sunrise,

11:15 we received a phone call from Senator Susan Collins who assured

11:18 us that she would be there to help see it rebuilt.

11:21 Just having that assurance [music] meant so much to this community.

11:24 Senator Collins helped lead the delegation in making sure

11:27 that we got the federal funding that would be needed.

11:29 The [music] new breakwater wasn't simply replaced, it was upgraded,

11:32 and it continues to be a central focal point of what makes Eastport great.

11:36 The breakwater [music] has long been a part of Eastport's past,

11:39 and with the help of Susan Collins,

11:41 it'll always [music] be a part of our future, as well.

11:43 Susan, thank you.

11:45 I'm Susan [music] Collins, and I've approved this message.

11:49 I mean, incredible.

11:50 It's like a relic of the past.

11:53 It's, you know, look look at this look

11:54 at this money I brought home from the Eastport breakwater.

11:57 This feels like it could have been like a 2010 ad, yeah.

12:01 And I will just say,

12:01 so she's not in the ad at all until the end when she approves the message.

12:05 It's just a local Maine man.

12:07 And it's totally provincial.

12:10 It's about a situation that happened in 2014,

12:13 so over 10 years ago is when this breakwater collapsed.

12:18 Um And it's basically her saying, "Hey,

12:20 I can bring home the bacon for you if you just

12:22 bring me back there." Which she has done, to her credit.

12:25 Like, she's managed to secure a bunch of stuff

12:27 for Maine from the Trump administration cuz they're very,

12:30 you know, aware that she's in danger,

12:32 so she gets all this like special stuff for LIHEAP and, you know,

12:35 for, you know, whatever, like energy sourcing and stuff like that.

12:39 And she gets all these goodies.

12:41 Um but does that sell in the modern age?

12:43 Do people care enough?

12:45 I don't know.

12:45 Yeah, I don't know either.

12:46 Right, cuz her whole pitch is always been,

12:48 you know, she's on the Appropriations Committee.

12:50 Um she can deliver for Maine.

12:53 Chairs it.

12:53 That, you know.

12:54 Yeah, um but I don't I really don't know if that's going to be enough anymore.

13:02 Why not?

13:03 I just feels like It's like I mean, it's like a gut feeling.

13:07 I just feels like something has shifted in a way.

13:10 Like The We feel like we're in an entirely different place

13:15 than where when we were where we were in the 2020 race.

13:18 Like, I just don't see this landing in the same way.

13:21 But, I mean, this is what's tough about Susan Collins is it's so

13:23 easy to say that, and then [laughter] she keeps on winning, you know.

13:27 Um I guess it's like it from the vantage point of a Maine voter,

13:30 I guess the calculation she's trying to make is all this shit's

13:34 Everyone knows all this shit's happening

13:36 across the country and that the administration,

13:38 Trump administration, is withholding funds all over the place,

13:42 kind of skirting the law in terms of appropriations,

13:46 doing unethical things, and launching this war on Iran.

13:51 I can insulate you if you just reelect me.

13:54 Like I can make things better for you, people of Maine, if you reelect me.

13:58 But if you reelect that guy, you can't have that element of protection.

14:02 Uh and you know, maybe for enough Mainers that's like cool.

14:05 Like we're happy with keeping ourself secure and safe

14:11 and and somewhat prosperous because of Su- Susan Collins.

14:14 But it also requires them to say, you know,

14:16 what the rest of the country, we don't really care [laughter] about.

14:19 Like like that's a little tough.

14:21 And like Trump in 2020 is very different than Trump in 2026.

14:27 You know what I mean?

14:27 Like if you're willing to just kind of like swallow that pill in 2020,

14:31 I it's a different calculation that you're making in 2026.

14:34 Like things are just way wilder than they were 6 years ago.

14:37 And I think that's probably a tougher choice for some people.

14:40 We also don't have Trump on the ballot.

14:42 Like like in 2020, his people came out

14:45 regardless of place and that included Maine, right?

14:48 And like are Trumpers going to come out for Susan Collins?

14:52 Right.

14:53 And like if you are saying that she, you know,

14:55 she can insulate folks from Trump or whatever,

14:59 I mean, sure, but that's 2 more years.

15:02 Like we don't know who we don't know who's going

15:03 to be in office in the White House in 2029, you know?

15:06 It's not quite as, which, you know,

15:08 I guess is the same case back in in 2020, but I just think it's it's different.

15:13 Sure.

15:13 Now, last things that are hanging over all

15:15 this is sort of the uncomfortable conversation around dynamism,

15:19 age, frailty, health.

15:22 Um obviously Platner is much younger.

15:26 Uh and Susan Collins uh has been around for a bit.

15:29 Uh and this week um she was I would say forced

15:34 to in a way because it started bubbling up online and in some uh articles,

15:37 forced to address uh the fact that in some

15:39 of these videos she can be seen shaking a little bit.

15:42 Uh and she talked about how she has a benign uh tremor and she's

15:47 had it her entire career and it's totally innocuous and she's worked through it.

15:51 It's not a problem, but let's watch her talk about it.

15:53 What I have is an extremely common

15:57 condition that is called a benign essential tremor.

16:02 I have had it for the entire time that I've served in the United States Senate.

16:09 It has absolutely no impact on my ability to do

16:15 my job or on how I feel each day.

16:20 So it may not have an impact on her ability to do her job.

16:21 I I don't think it does.

16:23 Um and I'm I trust it has no impact on how she feels every day.

16:27 What it does have an impact on is how voters perceive her.

16:30 And we're in a post-Biden age where this stuff now is way more

16:35 out in the open and discussed and considered as a a calculus for voters.

16:38 And obviously we're in an age in the Democratic side

16:40 of the ledger where people are young hungry for younger,

16:44 more um you know, candidates with more vitality, basically.

16:48 What do you make of how that plays?

16:52 I mean, obviously this is something that matters to Democrats.

16:55 Um but those folks are going to vote for Platner anyways.

16:59 I'm not I'm curious to see like whether

17:03 this is a hang-up for the more independent folks,

17:06 the folks that were crossover voters.

17:08 Maine's a Maine's a really old state.

17:10 Maine's an old state.

17:11 Um but that's but you know what, when I was up there um I guess it was October

17:16 the last time I was up there uh covering this race.

17:19 It's the old people that have an issue with electing older people.

17:23 You know, they're like I don't have as much I'm 70 years old

17:27 and I don't have as much energy as I did when I was 40.

17:30 Like they're pretty self-aware about it.

17:31 So I actually don't think that because it's an older state that that means

17:36 they're going to be like more okay

17:38 with nominating or electing someone who's older.

17:42 It's going to be an interesting contrast.

17:44 I think Cottoner's path here is very evident,

17:46 which is he's just going to outwork her, outhustle her, hit her every occasion,

17:50 nationalize the race, and you know,

17:53 seem, you know, create an incredible contrast.

17:56 And her case is way more like I got a a playbook that's worked

18:00 for 30 years or whatever it is and I'm going to do it again.

18:04 We'll keep monitoring it.

18:05 Lauren Egan, thanks so much.

18:06 For those who are watching, thanks for watching.

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