Graham Platner will 'get off the ballot soon,' Democratic lawmaker predicts
Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., predicted on Tuesday that Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner will be "off the ballot soon" even if he wins the primary election.
Gottheimer, who has criticized Platner for his scandals in the past, called support for far-left candidates like him a "major concern" for the Democratic Party and encouraged people not to support him during the primaries.
While he stopped short of supporting Platner's presumptive Republican opponent, Sen. Susan Collins, Gottheimer told "CNN News Central" that he would call for Platner to step down regardless of how the race goes.
PENNSYLVANIA DEM REP CLAIMS GRAHAM PLATNER 'HAS DISQUALIFIED HIMSELF' FROM MAINE SENATE RACE
"What I would suggest is that Graham Platner get off if he wins today, which I assume he will, because there‘s no one actively campaigning against him, that he get off the ballot and let another Democrat step in, that the Maine Democratic Party puts somebody else in," Gottheimer said.
He added, "I mean, if this were in Jersey and you had a candidate who abused women, obviously has a Nazi tattoo...it‘s clear that he knew [it[ was a Nazi tattoo, not to mention many of his other lies and his comments and extremist comments, pro-Hamas, a terrorist organization, and other things of that nature, he should get off the ballot. New Jersey would throw him off the ballot or bury him under the Meadowlands."
When host John Berman pressed Gottheimer on who he would endorse if the race ended between Platner and Collins, Gottheimer replied that he does not see Platner becoming the Democratic nominee.
"I don‘t think that‘s going to be the choice, so I‘m not going to do that hypothetical. I think that he‘s going to get off the ballot soon. I mean, you saw today reporting from his ex-political director saying that he lied about all this stuff, the concerns that she had. I mean, the issues are just going to keep piling up. And The New York Times piece was just one of the first piece of many issues that I think will continue to come out about him," Gottheimer said.
Fox News Digital reached out to Platner's campaign for comment.
MICHIGAN DEM REP DECLINES TO SUPPORT PLATNER AFTER RESURFACED RAPE COMMENTS
Platner has been engulfed by several scandals since his campaign began, including his controversial Nazi-linked tattoo, extreme Reddit posts and reports of concerning behavior towards ex-girlfriends.
Despite this, several progressives have maintained their support for Platner ahead of the primary election, with some, like Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ro Khanna, even rallying with him.
Alongside Gottheimer, Massachusetts Rep. Jake Auchincloss, Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman and Pennsylvania Rep. Madeleine Dean have been among the few Democrats to publicly disavow Platner, with Auchincloss calling Platner's tattoo alone "personally disqualifying" last month.