Top female Congressional Dems who have built careers championing abuse victims have kept conspicuously quiet about scandal-scarred lefty Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner — even as Minority Leader Chuck Schumer scrambles to contain the damage before the party loses its shot to win the chamber this fall.
Lefty warrior Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Queens/Bronx) — who once revealed she was a survivor of sex assault — had nothing to say about married Platner’s alleged physical abuse of girlfriends, his sexting other women while married, or his fantasies about raping intruders.
“I have to read up on this latest reporting,” the Squad member waffled, when asked about Platner. “I don’t want to speak until I’ve dug into what’s out there.”
Lefty Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) minimized questions as to whether party leaders should step in and “referee” the mess involving Platner — who was accused in a New York Times story of physical abuse and locking a former girlfriend in a bedroom.
“Referee what? That’s up to the people of Maine,” Warren told The Post, days after she joined a meeting of party elders who grilled Platner about any further potential revelations.
Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) told the men of the country to “just shut up and step up” and “do the right thing for a change” when Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was grilled over high school assault allegations during his 2018 confirmation hearings.
But she demurred on Platner, who is trying to unseat longtime Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins.
“It’s mainly a voter thing that the people of Maine are going to have to decide how they think about these factors,” she said.
“I’m leaving Maine up to Mainers — I’m not weighing in,” said Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), who has pursued answers about “decades long” sexual assault in the US Coast Guard.
“I think inappropriate sexual behavior is wrong, no matter who does it, but it’s up to the voters to decide,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).
The “political industrial complex controls the argument — conscience doesn’t matter anymore,” said longtime political consultant Hank Sheinkopf, who faulted lawmakers for carrying water for Platner.
He called AOC “the greatest player of hopscotch in American politics” after her office failed to provide further comment about the Platner allegations.
Schumer had recruited 78-year-old Maine Gov. Janet Mills to run for the seat, a move that initially faced criticism as the party seeks fresh faces who might peel off voters who backed President Trump last time.
“He was onto something. He understands that Platner could cost them any shot of getting the majority back. [Platner] could be in national ads,” warned Sheinkopf.
Platner and Collins were tied in a Friday GOP poll. Mills has already suspended her campaign, but is still on the ballot for Tuesday’s primary.
The situation has some Democrats furious.
Platner “can’t take a heat lamp, let alone a real spotlight. … To Democratic strategists at the top this is, ‘I told you so’ and get ready for more,’” said one top Senate aide.
Now Democrats face spending millions to try to “resuscitate” Platner, according to the aide, who said left-wing lawmakers who backed Platner are “all quiet — because it’s like, maybe we shot ourselves in the foot here.”
Platner has “got everything to gain by going forward and nothing to gain by getting out,” one Democratic senator told The Post.
“I don’t know what they can do. . . . Either they convince him if the s–t is serious beyond what we see, to get out. Or they go along.”
Platner has denied abusing any of his exes and called the latest allegations against him “politically motivated.”
At least one Senate Democrat has spoken out about the allegations.
“These allegations are deeply concerning. And I think the people of Maine deserve answers,” said Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), the senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. “And this kind of abuse is something to be taken very, very seriously.”
