In case you missed it,
Bernie Sanders’ toxic
endorsement record continues to get worse as new reports exposed
Troy Jackson’s sexual relationship with his cousin. This is the second week in
a row that Sanders was asked about his hijinks in Maine and previous support
for Nazi-rapist Graham Platner, to which he still has no good response.
You can read the full story here or
see highlights below.
Bernie Sanders Can’t Say Whether Dems Vetted Troy Jackson After
Platner Implosion
Daily Wire
August 2, 2026
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
hedged during a Sunday morning interview, brushing off questions about whether
or not Maine Democratic Senate nominee Troy Jackson had been thoroughly vetted
in the wake of former nominee Graham Platner’s public implosion.
Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Sanders praised Jackson’s working-class background and progressive platform but emphasized that he had no role in the process that elevated the former Maine Senate president to the nomination after Platner withdrew. “I was not involved in that process at all,” Sanders said. “As you indicated, they had to move very, very quickly, and I think the Maine Democratic Party did the best they could under difficult circumstances.”
[…]
But when asked whether he
would endorse Jackson, Sanders stopped short of offering an unsolicited
endorsement. “If he asks me to, I certainly will,” Sanders replied. The
measured response stands in contrast to Sanders’ vigorous support for Platner,
the progressive outsider whose campaign became one of the Democratic Party’s
highest-profile Senate efforts before collapsing under the weight of several
scandals.
[…]
“There were very serious
allegations against Platner,” Sanders said. “As a result of those accusations,
I and virtually all of his supporters requested that he withdraw from the race,
and he did.”
Pressed again on whether he
regretted backing Platner in the first place, Sanders instead argued that
hindsight made the question easier to answer. “Well, you know, it’s easier to
be a Monday morning quarterback,” Sanders said.
“Platner ran a very strong campaign … A woman made very serious allegations
against him. He withdrew from the race. Period.”
When NBC moderator Kristen
Welker asked once more if he had any regrets, Sanders did not answer but
instead pivoted to broader Democratic politics, arguing that voters are
rejecting establishment candidates and increasingly embracing left-wing
alternatives. “The people of this country right now are sick and tired of
establishment politics and establishment policies,” Sanders said. “They want
change, and I and other progressives are going to do everything that we can to
bring about those changes.”
[…]
Jackson was selected as the
replacement nominee after Platner exited the race, giving Democrats only days
to choose a new standard-bearer in one of the nation’s premier Senate contests.
He has since
faced scrutiny of his own after a report surfaced
that he has two children with his longtime partner, Lana Pelletier, who
genealogical records indicate is his second cousin. The relationship is legal
under Maine law, and Jackson’s campaign has not publicly commented on the
reporting.
[…]
