Colin Hurd is a veteran and civil rights attorney working in Augusta.

I’m sorry, Graham, but I think that it’s time you withdrew from the race for U.S. Senate. 

I have supported Graham Platner for Senate since he declared in August last year. In November, I wrote an op-ed for this paper defending him after the revelation of his problematic Reddit posts, and I stand by the opinions I expressed in that piece.

What person under the age of 70 has not said something online that they regret? With the millennial generation entering middle age and increasingly vying for positions of leadership, there must be some lenity for past indiscretions.

Prior generations did not live their worst moments on camera like we have. They did not publicize their impulsive thoughts on social media where they would be visible to the whole world for the rest of time. If we expect moral purity from future candidates for office, there will be no one left to vote for (except for those most adept at hiding their sins).

It seems like the establishment media has had it out for Graham ever since he became a real contender for the Democratic nomination. Rakes at outlets like the New York Times and Politico are covered in muck. No stone in Graham’s life escaped overturning. It would have been nice to see such investigatory zeal also turned toward Susan Collins, especially the allegations of her insider trading.

Alas, in spite of all the “scandals” unearthed by these outlets, I continued to support Graham because the allegations against him seemed hyperbolic. He was being targeted for his message, and the powers-that-be were afraid because his message resonated.

But this time it’s different. 

Unlike other reports of impropriety, this one appears plausible. Graham says they are false, which may be true, but at this stage he has lost credibility. He has said on multiple occasions after the Reddit posts, in interviews and at town halls, that there was nothing left in his past we needed to worry about. Maybe he believed that to be true at the time. It doesn’t matter. Any voter still straddling the fence is unlikely to believe him now. 

For those of us in Maine who are worried about the authoritarian slide of the Republican Party — with its blatant political gerrymandering to disenfranchise voters and the Supreme Court’s subsequent crippling of the Voting Rights Act — there are dark days ahead if Democrats and liberal independents do not manage to turn the tide at these midterm elections. Defeating Susan Collins this November is our primary mission.

Someone needs to jump on this grenade before it scuttles everything, and Graham, speaking veteran to veteran, it has to be you. 

As the Maine Democratic Party considers who to put forward in Graham’s place, I would urge it to learn from past mistakes. Live up to the name of your party and get voter participation. Shun the paternalism that resulted in the anointing of Kamala Harris for the presidential ticket in 2024.

Residual anger against the party for its elitism is one of the main reasons for Graham’s success. Democracy only works when there is a robust competition of ideas, where the optimum candidate emerges because they made the best arguments to the electorate. Organize a caucus. Get the electorate’s input. We can only win this fight to save our country if we put forward a candidate the people can actually trust and believe in.