WALDOBORO, Maine — The dynamics are familiar to anyone who has followed national politics in the last decade: a populist on his way to trouncing the establishment candidate in a primary, and a party whose members are betting on a less-than-perfect frontrunner with obvious momentum.
This isn’t President Donald Trump and the Republican Party. It’s Graham Platner, the favorite in Maine’s closely watched U.S. Senate primary, and Democrats.
And in the state, voters say that despite those similarities, the situation is not the same for a number of reasons ranging from the nature of the controversies to how the politicians have navigated the fallout.