Graham Platner concluded his Senate bid on a pro-Palestinian notice on Friday, within the final strains of a letter to Maine’s secretary of state formally withdrawing his candidacy.
“F*ck ICE. Free Palestine. Up the Hearts,” Platner wrote earlier than signing off with the valediction, “Solidarity without end.”
The secretary of state, Shenna Bellows, is among the many candidates looking for to interchange Platner on the poll, and she or he quickly adopted his stance on Israel. Earlier than turning into secretary of state, Bellows was the manager director of the Holocaust and Human Rights Heart of Maine.
Requested about Platner’s letter on CNN’s “The Supply” on Friday, Bellows mentioned she agreed with Platner’s declare that Israel dedicated genocide in Gaza. “Sure. Israel — the Israeli authorities is committing genocide in Gaza proper now,” Bellows mentioned. “And we shouldn’t be sending any taxpayer funds to be conducting that hurt.”
Bellows didn’t instantly reply to a Jewish Telegraphic Company request for touch upon Monday.
Platner, a Democrat, posted the letter almost two days after saying that he would go away the race, following sexual assault allegations that brought about even his most devoted allies to drop their assist. It was a outstanding fall for an oyster fisherman and populist who emerged out of political obscurity to command such a lead that Maine’s governor, Janet Mills, suspended her personal marketing campaign in April.
In each the speech his saying his withdrawal and the letter, Platner has painted his exit as the results of a conspiracy in opposition to him and the progressive motion, relatively than a consequence of accruing controversies that undercut his means to win in November.
“All we have been asking for was healthcare, was to finish the genocide, to make use of our taxpayer {dollars} at dwelling to uplift our communities as a substitute of waging struggle abroad,” Platner mentioned in a Fb handle saying his exit, two days earlier than sending the formal letter.
Platner’s successor can be chosen throughout a nominating conference on July 25. Since his exit, candidates vying to interchange him have staked out their very own stances on Israel, with others in addition to Bellows saying publicly for the primary time that they consider Israel dedicated genocide in Gaza. Israel and its supporters reject the declare, which a current ballot discovered that half of Democrats consider.
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