Maine votes as scandal-plagued Graham Platner seeks Democratic Senate primary win - US politics live

Greetings from Bangor, Maine, where voters are going to the polls for primary elections that include a crucial Senate race involving the scandal-haunted Graham Platner.

The oysterman and Marine veteran’s string of controversies, ranging from alleged “toxic” behaviour towards women to a tattoo recognised as a Nazi symbol, have plunged Democrats into debates about double standards, purity tests and not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.

There was a final twist yesterday when Genevieve McDonald, a former political director of Platner’s campaign, published a column denouncing Platner as unfit for office.

“Graham Platner is not someone who would be good for Maine or for the country,” McDonald wrote in the Washington Post. “He exhibits a pattern of dishonest behavior that is impossible to ignore.

“Despite being exposed by a series of scandals beginning last October, he kept assuring voters and the Democratic Party that there were no more skeletons in his closet. Then more emerged - the latest, in recent days, have involved former girlfriends’ serious accusations of physical mistreatment.”

Even so, all the signs on the ground are that most Democratic voters are sticking with Platner. At a campaign event on Sunday, a supporter presented him with a hand-drawn card that included the message “we’ve got your back”.