{"id":1473,"date":"2026-06-09T12:39:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T12:39:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1473"},"modified":"2026-06-09T12:39:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T12:39:47","slug":"maine-sex-scandal-trumps-sway-what-to-watch-in-tuesdays-us-primaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1473","title":{"rendered":"Maine sex scandal, Trump\u2019s sway: What to watch in Tuesday&#8217;s US primaries"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>Summary<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>WASHINGTON, June 9 (Reuters) &#8211; An oyster farmer and political newcomer besieged by questions about his sexting practices. A Republican congresswoman who was years ago branded &#8220;disloyal&#8221; and &#8220;nasty&#8221; by President \u200bDonald Trump.<\/div>\n<div>These are two of the story lines we are watching on Tuesday as primary voters go to the polls in Maine, South Carolina, \u200cNevada and North Dakota.<\/div>\n<div>Graham Platner will likely be the winner of Maine&#8217;s U.S. Senate Democratic primary, even though his own party has the jitters over a New York Times report quoting former girlfriends saying he at times behaved in ways they described as unsettling.<\/div>\n<div>Meanwhile, in the South Carolina primary for governor, Representative Nancy Mace could be the latest casualty of Trump&#8217;s efforts to topple fellow Republican \u200bofficeholders after she demanded the release of the government&#8217;s Jeffrey Epstein files.<\/div>\n<h2>THE MAINE EVENT<\/h2>\n<div>Democrats had high hopes of capturing a U.S. Senate seat from Republicans in \u200bMaine, where five-term Senator Susan Collins is running for reelection at a time when voters are soured by high consumer prices \u2060and the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.<\/div>\n<div>Platner, a former combat Marine, built momentum on a pitch as a man of the people that resonated with moderates and progressives, drew \u200bsubstantial campaign funding and led Democratic Governor Janet Mills to suspend her primary bid.<\/div>\n<div>Now, the married Platner is fighting off reports he sent sexually explicit texts to multiple women last \u200byear. Platner, 41, has apologized for the behavior and said he struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression following combat duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/div>\n<div>The big question: Does any of this matter, considering that Trump himself has thrived politically despite successive controversies over his alleged extramarital activities including a videotape in which he is heard boasting of grabbing women&#8217;s genitals. The answer could determine whether Democrats \u200bcan capture majority control of the Senate.<\/div>\n<div>If Platner cannot put the controversy to rest, he could be facing intra-party pressure to drop out of the race by July \u200b13, the deadline for putting a replacement on the November ballot.<\/div>\n<h2>GOLDEN MOMENT FOR REPUBLICANS?<\/h2>\n<div>Representative Jared Golden, one of the most moderate Democrats in the U.S. Congress, is retiring and Republicans can taste \u200cvictory in \u2060the race for his replacement.<\/div>\n<div>Former Republican Governor Paul LePage is running for the seat in a district that Trump won in 2024 and he has Trump&#8217;s &#8220;complete and total endorsement&#8221; as the president likes to say.<\/div>\n<div>Three Democrats appeared to be locked in a tight race for their party&#8217;s nomination. This race could help define whether Republicans hold onto their narrow U.S. House majority.<\/div>\n<h2>ANOTHER TRUMP PRIMARY TARGET<\/h2>\n<div>Already in this year&#8217;s primary elections Trump-backed candidates have defeated Republican Senators Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, John Cornyn of Texas and Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky.<\/div>\n<div>Will Representative \u200bNancy Mace lose out too as she \u200bseeks the Republican nomination for governor? \u2060That is looking more and more likely following Trump&#8217;s late May endorsement of South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette, who is running on an &#8220;America First&#8221; platform.<\/div>\n<div>A crowded field could result in a June 23 runoff between the top two contenders. The Cook Political \u200bReport has raised the prospect of Mace failing to make the cut.<\/div>\n<div>The Republican primary winner is expected to also win the \u200bNovember general election as \u2060it has been nearly three decades since a Democrat has been elected governor in this Republican-leaning state.<\/div>\n<h2>DEMOCRATS&#8217; NEVADA GAMBLE<\/h2>\n<div>If Democrats are to win control of the House of Representatives in November they need to hang on to Nevada&#8217;s 3rd congressional district, a Las Vegas-area seat now held by Democrat Susie Lee.<\/div>\n<div>Trump narrowly won the district in 2024, but Lee also won \u2060her race \u200bby nearly 7 percentage points and the seat is one of 13 that Trump won that are \u200bcurrently held by Democrats.<\/div>\n<div>Lee is seeking renomination against cardiologist James Lally, a self-funded Republican-turned-Democrat who has infused his campaign with $1 million.<\/div>\n<div>Republicans have a four-way primary, led by three largely self-funded candidates: Trump-endorsed video game composer Marty \u200bO&#8217;Donnell, neurosurgeon Aury Nagy and former U.S. Ambassador to Iceland Jeff Gunter. The fourth candidate is businesswoman Tera Anderson.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1471\">Israel launches deadly strikes on Lebanon\u2019s Tyre after warning<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1469\">Party over purity: US voters unlikely to turn backs on troubled candidates, Reuters\/Ipsos poll finds<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1467\">Parsing the Trumps\u2019 crypto profits, investors\u2019 losses<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An oyster farmer and political newcomer besieged by questions about his sexting practices. A Republican congresswoman who was years ago branded &#8220;disloyal&#8221; and &#8220;nasty&#8221; by President \u200bDonald Trump.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[14,17],"class_list":["post-1473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-government","tag-public-policy"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Maine sex scandal, Trump\u2019s sway: What to watch in Tuesday&#039;s US primaries - Reliable Moving Crews<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1473\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Maine sex scandal, Trump\u2019s sway: What to watch in Tuesday&#039;s US primaries - Reliable Moving Crews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An oyster farmer and political newcomer besieged by questions about his sexting practices. A Republican congresswoman who was years ago branded &quot;disloyal&quot; and &quot;nasty&quot; by President \u200bDonald Trump.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1473\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Reliable Moving Crews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-09T12:39:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/?p=1473#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/?p=1473\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/34f02a869ba60b78ae3d994f205e0d24\"},\"headline\":\"Maine sex scandal, Trump\u2019s sway: What to watch in Tuesday&#8217;s US primaries\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-09T12:39:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/?p=1473\"},\"wordCount\":749,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/?p=1473#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/2b6e776a1e0c566bbd495a99ca84006f.avif\",\"keywords\":[\"Government\",\"Public Policy\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/?p=1473#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/?p=1473\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reliablemovingcrews.com\\\/?p=1473\",\"name\":\"Maine sex scandal, Trump\u2019s sway: What to watch in Tuesday's US primaries - 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