{"id":1752,"date":"2026-06-02T09:03:40","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T09:03:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1752"},"modified":"2026-06-02T09:03:40","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T09:03:40","slug":"from-graham-platner-to-ken-paxton-do-scandals-even-mean-anything-to-voters-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1752","title":{"rendered":"From Graham Platner to Ken Paxton, do scandals even mean anything to voters anymore?"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<div>\n<p><span>Donald Trump will (most likely) never appear on a ballot again. But voters this year, at least in two states, will get to decide whether his brand of politics will stick with us.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1750\">Monday\u2019s softball roundup: Methuen strikes early for Div. 1 win at Needham<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>Among the many things Trump has either changed \u2014 or simply revealed to us about what was actually true the whole time \u2014 is that, at the end of the day, voters want their \u201cteam\u201d to win. They will vote for their policy preferences and often overlook the flaws of their candidate in order to make their goals happen. At least that has been the case for Trump. How it all plays out for others in complicated, high-profile races this year might be different.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In Maine, likely Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner seems to have something emerge from his past personal life every few weeks. This is complicating his challenge to knock off Republican Senator Susan Collins this year. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><span>Get Starting Point<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span>A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><label>Enter Email<\/label><\/p>\n<div><button>Sign Up<\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>In Texas, there might not be enough space on this page to detail everything that has caused even some Republican voters to have reservations about state Attorney General Ken Paxton, their party\u2019s Senate nominee. However, there is plenty to examine, from why the Republican-controlled Texas House of Representatives impeached him to the details emerging from his messy divorce proceedings, which begin in a matter of weeks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In each case, Democratic voters in Maine and Republican voters in Texas will be forced to answer a basic question: Do they vote against someone they may not believe is the best person for the job, or do they support the person they believe will vote the right way in the Senate?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>To be sure, public norms and mores are always changing and influence political opinion. Presidential candidate Bill Clinton famously said he tried marijuana but didn\u2019t inhale. Years later, when Barack Obama was asked whether he inhaled, he quipped, \u201cThat was the point.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Then came Trump.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Trump not only suggested he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose support, but he also forced social conservative voters to decide whether they would back a three-times-married candidate who was caught on tape bragging about sexual assault just weeks before Election Day. Many decided they would because, in their minds, he would still be better than Democrat Hillary Clinton.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Republican voters then did it all again. They re-nominated and re-elected him after he was found guilty of financial crimes and while he faced numerous other criminal charges. And, yes, they had plenty of other options at the time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Whether this is simply Trump\u2019s unique ability to get voters to look past personal failings, or whether there has been a broader change in what voters actually care about, is the question at hand in Maine and Texas.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1748\">Monday\u2019s baseball roundup: With his arm and bat, Eric Stanley sends Barnstable past Duxbury<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>Remember, Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker did not survive every controversy that surfaced during his 2022 campaign. Revelations about previously undisclosed children with women he never married generated weeks of headlines. In the end, he lost.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>What\u2019s interesting is that if Platner and Paxton win, it may tell us more about American politics and the changing definition of what is \u201cunelectable\u201d than Trump\u2019s victories ever did.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Platner and Paxton are different, of course. Both face credible opponents. Both are running in states that already lean toward their party. Neither has Trump\u2019s larger-than-life political persona.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Interestingly, they have already both passed tests on these very issues. Paxton\u2019s previous opponent, Senator John Cornyn, paid for millions of advertising highlighting all of Paxton\u2019s flaws. Same with Platner, as Democratic voters didn\u2019t seem to care about all that his previous opponent, Maine Governor Janet Mills, threw at him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>If they win anyway, it would suggest that many voters increasingly view personal controversies as secondary to party control of the Senate and the policy outcomes that come with it. If they lose, it may indicate there are still limits to what voters are willing to overlook, even in an era of intense polarization.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Granted, there is a twist when it comes to Maine.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>While Paxton is already the Republican nominee in Texas, Maine\u2019s Democratic primary is not until next week. And there may be one of the rarest events in American politics: voters getting a chance to register their unease without paying any political price for it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Platner is the only Democratic candidate actively running for the nomination who has significant name recognition and a well-funded campaign. But Mills, who suspended her campaign after running out of money, will still appear on the ballot \u2014 a fact the governor herself sought to remind voters when asked about it over the weekend.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Could such a protest vote jeopardize the nominee? Probably. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But are they fed up enough to potentially hurt their nominee ahead of a general election? That\u2019s a choice only Maine Democrats can make.In a pre-Trump era, it might have been long settled by now.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=1746\">Privately funded training facility seen as a way to put Boston Legacy in position to compete for top NWSL talent<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If Platner and Paxton win, it may tell us more about American politics and the changing definition of what is \u201cunelectable\u201d than Trump\u2019s victories ever did.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>From Graham Platner to Ken Paxton, do scandals even mean anything to voters anymore? 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