Do the Dems Need More Graham Platners?

Do the Dems Need More Graham Platners?

From What Next | Daily News and Analysis by Slate Podcasts

June 4, 2026 · 38 min

About this episode

The episode discusses Graham Platner's Senate campaign amidst political challenges and scandals.

Graham Platner has a lot of things in his favor as he runs for a US Senate seat in Maine: it’s an off-election year, the president’s approval rating is slumping and dragging down the whole GOP. Should be a breeze as soon as Platner gets through this latest scandal. Guests: Danielle Kurtzleben, White House Correspondent for NPR and “ Masculinity politics expert .” Ken Klippenstein , independent journalist covering national security and U.S. politics. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Madeline Ducharme, Patrick Fort, Rob Gunther and Paige Osburn. This conversation took place on June 3 and does not reflect new reporting in the New York Times from June 4. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Guests: Danielle Kurtzleben, Ken Klippenstein

Topics covered

  • US Senate race
  • politics
  • GOP
  • scandals
  • Maine
  • elections

Keywords

  • Graham Platner
  • US Senate
  • Maine
  • politics
  • GOP
  • Danielle Kurtzleben
  • Ken Klippenstein

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: NPR, Slate Plus, New York Times

More episodes of What Next | Daily News and Analysis

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the What Next | Daily News and Analysis podcast page.