A sitting Democratic senator, who is one of Graham Platner’s top donors, is now drawing backlash for shrugging off the most recent allegations of misconduct that have followed the controversial Maine Senate candidate.
Platner has received $10,000 in the form of two $5,000 donations from Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s leadership PAC, according to Federal Election Commission records reviewed by Fox News Digital.
One donation from Whitehouse’s Ocean PAC came in March of this year. Another one was made last October. Notably, the most recent donation was made before former Governor Janet Mills, a second Democratic candidate for Senate, suspended her campaign at the end of April.
Although Whitehouse’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, the donations show the high degree of confidence lawmakers like Whitehouse have in Platner’s ability to unseat the moderate Republican incumbent, Susan Collins, R-Maine, currently holding office in a blue-leaning state.
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Whitehouse has been among Platner’s most constant supporters among lawmakers in the U.S. Senate, calling the controversial candidate “wonderfully appealing” in an interview with Politico.
“He’s off to a really strong start and has a wonderfully appealing local background and story,” Whitehouse said.
Whitehouse has remained supportive of Platner even as troubling details have emerged of Platner’s past web history, views and personal conduct. Most recently, reporting for The New York Times chronicled accounts from several of Platner’s former romantic interests, including allegations of rape fantasies, heavy drinking and violent episodes.
Despite the troubling allegations, Whitehouse told reporters he wasn’t alarmed by the reporting.
“Seems like a lot of nothing. I mean, the only one who had anything to say that seemed ‘unsettling’ was a woman who works for right-wing political operations,” Whitehouse reportedly told NOTUS after reading the article.
His reaction drew immediate backlash online.
“Whitehouse is the guy who grilled Brett Kavanaugh about ‘boofing.’ Just unreal,” Washington Free Beacon reporter Chuck Ross wrote in a post to X, recalling Whitehouse’s grilling of President Donald Trump’s 2018 Supreme Court Justice nominee over high-school slang in a search for possible improprieties.
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“To the people just now learning that Sheldon Whitehouse is an amoral cretin, your ignorance to this point has been a choice,” GOP consultant Luke Thompson wrote on X.
“Is there a more contemptible man in the Senate than Sheldon Whitehouse?” TPUSA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet wrote on X.
“Sheldon Whitehouse, ringleader of the smearing of Kavanaugh, is a very bad person,” Capital Research investigative researcher Parker Thayer wrote on X.
“What an absolute dirt bag,” Republican operative Matt Whitlock wrote on X. “Dismissing a vivid account of physical abuse because it happened to a Republican operative is the most [Sheldon Whitehouse] thing I’ve ever heard.”
Amber Duke, the editor-in-chief of the DailyCaller, also blasted Whitehouse’s seemingly uneven application of scrutiny.
“What happened to this energy, Sen?” Duke said, highlighting a tweet Whitehouse had put out during Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing.
“Today I stand with women who are brave enough to come forward with their stories of abuse and mistreatment. They deserve to be heard and credible allegations must be investigated. We must believe survivors, not bully them,” Whitehouse had written at the time.
“Sheldon Whitehouse is the same guy who accused Brett Kavanaugh of being a rapist because he wrote ‘boofing’ in his yearbook,” conservative writer Bonchie wrote on X.
Apart from the Thursday report, Platner has received backlash for making off-color remarks on sexual abuse, race and terror, for a tattoo associated with Nazi imagery, and, most recently, for potentially interacting with several women outside his marriage in inappropriate ways.
Platner has also called himself a “communist” in previous posts online.
Among other resurfaced comments, Platner once blamed rape victims for failing to protect themselves in a now-deleted Reddit post.
“How about people just take some responsibility for themselves and not so f—ed up when they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to?” Platner wrote in 2013.
Whitehouse has his own controversial past, including details about his family having a membership at the exclusive Bailey’s Beach Club, formerly known as Spouting Rock Beach Association, which is rumored to have an all-White clientele.
“I think the people who are running the place are still working on that, and I’m sorry it hasn’t happened yet,” Whitehouse said in 2017, referring to allowing minority members. “It’s a long tradition in Rhode Island, and there are many of them. And we just need to work our way through the issues.”
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Platner, who looks poised to take the Democratic nomination to challenge incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, met with senators earlier this week, reassuring them about his prospective candidacy.
Maine will hold its Senate primaries next Tuesday.
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