https://removepaywalls.com/https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/11/us/politics/bernie-sanders-graham-platner-maine.html

The collapse of Graham Platner’s Senate bid in Maine after a rape allegation renewed attention to a movement built by Senator Bernie Sanders that some say is too forgiving of male misconduct.

Last month, as accusations that Graham Platner of Maine had demeaned and threatened women consumed his Senate campaign, his left-wing allies closed ranks around him.

“There are no saints in the United States Senate,” Mr. Sanders said at the time.

This week, after one of those women accused Mr. Platner of rape, a wave of those same big-name Democrats quickly withdrew their support, including the progressives Ms. Warren, Mr. Khanna and Mr. Sanders — though Mr. Sanders waited more than 20 hours before doing so. (Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, an heir to Mr. Sanders’s movement, had never endorsed Mr. Platner.) Mr. Platner, who denied the accusation, announced Wednesday that he was suspending his campaign. The collapse of his meteoric candidacy has turned what had been a triumph for progressives into a moment of political crisis.

It has also set off a broader debate among Democrats around the country about the movement that Mr. Sanders leads: Is its embrace of a blunt and brawny populism too dismissive of women — and too forgiving of male misconduct? The question is not new, but it has grown more urgent this year, when the party has elevated inexperienced and authentic candidates, such as the flannel-clad Mr. Platner, to stir average Americans.

“What I have an issue with is not the policies,” said Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action, a gun-safety group, who was castigated online for not backing Mr. Platner. “It’s the lack of character. It’s being bombastic. It’s that you’re polarizing and alienating and, frankly, it’s also being denigrating toward women.”

Former Representative Jamaal Bowman of New York posted a video on social media this week saying that the left was due for “some honest conversations” about their defense of Mr. Platner. Mr. Bowman, who is Black, suggested that the fact that Mr. Platner is white had allowed him to remain in the Senate contest as long as he did.

Jessica Mackler, the president of Emily’s List, a group that works to elect Democratic women, said political strategists have at times rushed to create “magical” candidates — “the mythical bearded man that is the one that’s going to connect with working class voters”— at the expense of experienced women who know their communities and can win elections.

Paige Loud, who worked on the Platner campaign before running unsuccessfully for Congress, said she raised concerns while on his team about the potential for allegations against the candidate and what she described as a dismissive attitude toward women.

Mr. Sanders’s movement has weathered criticism over the years for fostering a culture that has at times seemed intolerant of women. When he first sought the presidential nomination in 2016, his army of online supporters, known widely as “Bernie bros,” were condemned for bullying those supporting his main adversary, Hillary Clinton. Mr. Sanders said he did not condone the behavior.

Then, as he geared up for his 2020 run, some female staffers from Mr. Sanders’s 2016 campaign said that they had faced mistreatment and pay disparities and that their supervisors had ignored their concerns. He did not face similar complaints after 2020.

Also that year, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, his progressive rival in the primary, confirmed a report that Mr. Sanders had privately questioned in 2018 whether a woman could win the presidency. Mr. Sanders denied making such a comment, calling the suggestion “ludicrous.”