{"id":1324,"date":"2026-06-01T19:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T19:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=1324"},"modified":"2026-06-01T19:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T19:07:08","slug":"the-battle-for-the-senate-could-come-down-to-candidate-baggage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=1324","title":{"rendered":"The battle for the Senate could come down to candidate baggage"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div> <div>\n<button>\n<strong>\n<span><svg>\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n<span>Summary<\/span>\n<\/strong>\n<span><svg><\/svg>\n<\/span>\n<span><svg><\/svg>\n<\/span>\n<\/button>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>Republicans have previously lost otherwise winnable Senate seats because of nominees with personal scandals or controversial statements, but Democrats could be confronting this possibility in 2026 too.<\/li>\n<li>A handful of the most competitive Senate races involve candidates with various kinds of baggage, the most recent being Graham Platner in Maine and Ken Paxton in Texas.<\/li>\n<li>But there is increasing evidence that personal baggage and politically controversial statements aren\u2019t the deal-breakers they once were in American politics.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>\n<span>AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n            Problematic candidates have mostly been a hurdle for Senate Republicans in recent years. But in 2026, they could be a real problem for both parties \u2014 and could potentially decide Senate control.\n    <\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=1314\">Sleep has many benefits. Why do humans as a species get so little?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n            The two most significant developments on this front came in recent days. More revelations about Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner\u2019s messy past emerged this weekend \u2014 specifically, that his wife had flagged to his campaign last year that her husband had sent sexual text messages to other women.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            On the other side of the aisle, baggage-laden Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton won his state\u2019s GOP primary runoff over Sen. John Cornyn last week.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            But these aren\u2019t the only races where a nominee (or potential nominee) risks underperforming for his party in an important race, although the nature and extent of the controversy each is facing \u2014 and how it\u2019s resonating \u2014 differs across campaigns.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            In Georgia, Republicans face some potential liability with Rep. Mike Collins, who\u2019s the favorite to win a primary runoff later this month. He would bring some potentially harmful past statements and recent campaign missteps into a general election matchup against Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            And in Michigan, it appears increasingly possible Democrats could nominate Abdul El-Sayed, a Bernie Sanders-type candidate who some in the party establishment fear is unelectable because of his policy views and associations. He\u2019s said Israel is as evil as Hamas and recently campaigned with left-wing streamer Hasan Piker, who has a history of inflammatory comments.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            These four races account for half of the eight Senate races that the Cook Political Report rates as the most competitive.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Whether any of these candidates ultimately underperforms how another candidate from their party would do is to be determined. There is increasing evidence that personal baggage and politically controversial statements aren\u2019t the deal-breakers they once were in American politics.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            But some candidates \u2014 especially Trump-aligned Republicans \u2014 have potentially cost their party winnable races in recent years, thanks to either personal scandal or extreme comments.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            And right now, it\u2019s an increasingly significant variable in the battle for the Senate.\n    <\/p>\n<h2>\n        Maine and Texas\n<\/h2>\n<p>\n            Perhaps nowhere do these potential issues matter like they do in Maine and Texas.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Democrats likely <em>need<\/em> Platner to defeat Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins to have any shot at the Senate majority. The five-term senator is the only Republican facing reelection in a state that Kamala Harris carried in 2024. (Democrats need a net gain of four seats to flip the chamber, and after Maine, their targets are in redder territory.)\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Platner seemed to have moved past controversies about a tattoo\u202frecognized as a Nazi symbol, which he has now covered up, as well as online comments denigrating police and White people, among others. He recently nudged Gov. Janet Mills out of the Democratic primary and has maintained a lead over Collins in the limited general election polling.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            But then came reporting from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times that Platner\u2019s wife, whom he married in 2023, flagged to the campaign the explicit text messages sent to other women.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Congressional Democrats\u2019 vouching for Platner appears increasingly tepid, despite his importance to their majority math.\n    <\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Graham Platner during an interview in South Portland, Maine, on Friday, March 6.\" class=\"wp-image-1320\" height=\"960\" src=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/67cd53963a2c85a797b1ed7485f07825.jpg\" width=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/67cd53963a2c85a797b1ed7485f07825.jpg 768w, https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/67cd53963a2c85a797b1ed7485f07825-240x300.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<span>Graham Platner during an interview in South Portland, Maine, on Friday, March 6.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<figcaption>Sofia Aldinio\/Bloomberg\/Getty Images<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Ken Paxton speaks to supporters at a campaign stop on May 15 in Little Elm, Texas.\" class=\"wp-image-1321\" height=\"960\" src=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/48b395a282fc289325dfe6bb6f5f0be8.jpg\" width=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/48b395a282fc289325dfe6bb6f5f0be8.jpg 768w, https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/48b395a282fc289325dfe6bb6f5f0be8-240x300.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<span>Ken Paxton speaks to supporters at a campaign stop on May 15 in Little Elm, Texas.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<figcaption>Ron Jenkins\/Getty Images<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n            The situation is somewhat different in Texas \u2014 but could be nearly as important. Democrats likely need to flip Senate seats in at least two states that President Donald Trump carried by double digits in 2024 to win a majority. And Paxton\u2019s runoff victory over Cornyn would seem to put Texas in play to be one of those two, alongside states like Alaska, Iowa and Ohio.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Paxton\u2019s baggage \u2014 which includes a series of criminal and civil legal problems, a 2023 impeachment led by his own party, and recent allegations of infidelity from his ex-wife \u2014 gave national Republicans such heartburn that they campaigned hard and spent extensively for Cornyn in the name of keeping the set red.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Now, Democrats hope state Rep. James Talarico can take advantage and turn the state blue for the first time in three decades, and there\u2019s some reason to believe he could.\n    <\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=1304\">White House hasn\u2019t offered solution to GOP concerns over \u2018anti-weaponization\u2019 fund, leaving immigration agenda in limbo<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>\n        Georgia and Michigan\n<\/h2>\n<p>\n            The Georgia Senate race likely isn\u2019t as instrumental for the majority math, given Ossoff has looked like a favorite for a while. But Republicans nominating Collins over former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley in the June 16 runoff could solidify Ossoff\u2019s advantage in a must-hold seat for his party.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Collins\u2019 active and at-times-dicey social media presence in recent years has included responding affirmatively to a racist account suggestively gesturing at how a reporter was Jewish. (Collins argued his meaning was different, but he has left his post up despite the account owner clarifying the original post was about the reporter being Jewish.)\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            The Collins campaign also recently cut ties with a longtime aide who used a campaign X account to mock the wife of a pro-Dooley strategist for claiming she had been raped by disgraced journalist Matt Lauer. And Slate reported last week about another top Collins aide being on a group chat with prominent White nationalists.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            (The aide told Slate that he was acting \u201csolely in my personal capacity\u201d to help an acquaintance who \u201cwas being mistreated in custody and denied basic medical care.\u201d He added that he did not \u201cuse official resources or coordinate with anyone else in the group chat.\u201d)\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Collins led Dooley by 10 points in the primary last month and has hired some key Trump advisers of late, while Dooley has the backing of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.\n    <\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"US Rep. Mike Collins of Georgia speaks ahead of Vice President JD Vance during an event at ALTA Refrigeration to highlight the\" class=\"wp-image-1322\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2fc8e446f24c069a7d1ed6a49e169738-768x512.jpg\" width=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2fc8e446f24c069a7d1ed6a49e169738-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2fc8e446f24c069a7d1ed6a49e169738-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2fc8e446f24c069a7d1ed6a49e169738.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<span>US Rep. Mike Collins of Georgia speaks ahead of Vice President JD Vance during an event at ALTA Refrigeration to highlight the &#8220;One Big Beautiful Bill&#8221; tax-and-spending legislation in Peachtree City, Georgia, on August 21, 2025.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<figcaption>Elijah Nouvelage\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n            In Michigan, the situation is more up in the air, with El-Sayed still locked in a competitive August 4 Democratic primary with Rep. Haley Stevens and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow. But there is  some concern in Democratic circles that an El-Sayed nomination could jeopardize another must-hold state for Democrats.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            El-Sayed has advocated for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a \u201cwar criminal\u201d and accused Israel of a \u201cgenocide\u201d against Palestinians. Stevens has criticized him for campaigning with Piker, who once said inflammatory things like Hamas is \u201ca thousand times better\u201d than Israel and that \u201cAmerica deserved 9\/11.\u201d Piker walked back the latter statement.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            \u201cI think there is this notion that electability is about being the least offensive,\u201d El-Sayed told CNN in April. \u201cIf that were true, why would Donald Trump have won the presidency twice?\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<h2>\n        But how much will it even matter?\n<\/h2>\n<p>\n            Each of these candidates\u2019 potential issues are different, but Michigan\u2019s Democratic primary is a great example of how their impact in November is unknown.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            The limited general-election polling there doesn\u2019t necessarily indicate that El-Sayed would be a significant liability for his party \u2014 at least at this early juncture. And Sanders, the Vermont independent senator who\u2019s backed him, has proven a pretty popular national figure, even with his democratic socialist views.\n    <\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"US Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is introduced by Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed at Mumford High School on May 3 in Detroit.\" class=\"wp-image-1323\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/125d9beced65252fdd6a87961998465e-768x512.jpg\" width=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/125d9beced65252fdd6a87961998465e-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/125d9beced65252fdd6a87961998465e-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/125d9beced65252fdd6a87961998465e.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<span>US Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is introduced by Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed at Mumford High School on May 3 in Detroit.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<figcaption>Sarah Rice\/Getty Images<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n            Similarly, in Texas, Paxton has polled about as well as the supposedly more-electable Cornyn in matchups with Talarico. And in Maine, there\u2019s still very little evidence that Platner\u2019s personal problems have hurt his campaign \u2014 at all, really (though there haven\u2019t been any polls since the most recent revelations).\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            It\u2019s possible these things simply matter less and less in this political age \u2014 and party affiliation matters much more.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            But plenty of problematic candidates have underperformed in recent years, especially on the GOP side. Some ugly personal revelations, combined with an unsteady candidacy, contributed to Herschel Walker losing a winnable Georgia Senate race in 2022. Then there was Mark Robinson in the North Carolina governor\u2019s race in 2024.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Indeed, Republicans have on several occasions nominated unorthodox candidates for Senate and governor who didn\u2019t play well with voters, like Blake Masters and Kari Lake in Arizona, Don Bolduc in New Hampshire, Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania and even Vice President JD Vance in his first Senate campaign in Ohio in 2022. (Vance won despite far underperforming other statewide Ohio Republicans.) Some of their margins underperformed Trump by double digits.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Before them, Nevada\u2019s Sharron Angle, Missouri\u2019s Todd Akin, Indiana\u2019s Richard Mourdock and Delaware\u2019s Christine O\u2019Donnell (think: \u201cI\u2019m not a witch\u201d) lost races for the GOP last decade.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            The difference in 2026 is that Democrats \u2014 after recruiting relatively well in recent years and avoiding major underperformances \u2014 have reason to worry about how some of their candidates might play in important races.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            And while that issue also lingers for Republicans this time around, Democrats have less room for mistakes if they want to take the Senate come November.\n    <\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=1300\">Is the state of the economy affecting or changing how you\u2019ll vote in November? Share your story<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Problematic candidates have mostly been a hurdle for Senate Republicans in recent years. But in 2026, they could be a real problem for both parties \u2014 and could potentially decide Senate control.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The battle for the Senate could come down to candidate baggage - Relocation Times<\/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:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=1324\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The battle for the Senate could come down to candidate baggage - Relocation Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Problematic candidates have mostly been a hurdle for Senate Republicans in recent years. 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But in 2026, they could be a real problem for both parties \u2014 and could potentially decide Senate control.","og_url":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=1324","og_site_name":"Relocation Times","article_published_time":"2026-06-01T19:07:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":960,"url":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/67cd53963a2c85a797b1ed7485f07825.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=1324#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=1324"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3d25fb966f660ab012820a9e0acc09be"},"headline":"The battle for the Senate could come down to candidate baggage","datePublished":"2026-06-01T19:07:08+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=1324"},"wordCount":1660,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=1324#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/130517d5be414087e8789821f20aa93b.jpg","articleSection":["Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=1324#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=1324","url":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=1324","name":"The battle for the Senate could come down to candidate baggage - 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