Want fewer Platners in politics? Stop electing outsiders. | Your Turn

It's rare we hear the phrase "both sides" from readers in this political climate, but when we asked about problematic politicians earlier this week, we heard it plenty.

Before Graham Platner's campaign withdrawal in his bid for the hotly contested Maine Senate seat, we asked you, our readers, why we as voters seem to walk through so many fields of red flags on the way to the polls.

From Platner's troubled past to the felony convictions of President Donald Trump, readers of all political stripes had insights as to why we keep living through political scandal after political scandal of our own electoral making.

Find some of the responses you gave us below. For more opportunities to weigh in, visit usatoday.com/forum, leave us a voicemail at (202) 655-3923 or drop us a note at forum@usatoday.com

Graham Platner's imperfections were part of his charm

America is desperate for a new voice going forward. Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner had that local-boy charm that enchanted a lot of voters in Maine and elsewhere, who are begging for something other than the scourge of President Donald Trump and his MAGA minions.

Sure, he was flawed, but that was half the charm. Tattoos, a record of alleged abuse and a career in military service had to be overlooked to make him palatable.

Some of us forget that Republican Sen. Susan Collins isn't exactly what Maine needs, either, and has proved unreliable as an uplifting voice or a stalwart champion for liberty and justice for all.

America needs men and women who strive to reunite this country's political center and build a bulwark against the slide into authoritarian rule.

Hopefully, a more recognizable candidate will emerge, one with the chops to galvanize Democrats in November.

- Scott Cameron, Florida

Character has taken the back burner in both parties

I think the Republican Party is already far too extreme, but I do not think the Democratic Party is extreme at all. The policies they are pushing are beyond modest. Almost every other developed country has a much stronger social safety net.

I think both parties have elevated problematic politicians. The Republican Party treats sexual assault allegations as irrelevant, and the Democratic Party treats them as an afterthought. Political ideology is treated as being far more important than character.

Parties need to avoid telling voters what to do. One of the reasons voters ignore the red flags surrounding these individuals is that they have so few options. In any race, there is likely only one candidate whose platform they agree with, making it difficult not to support that person regardless of any qualms voters have. If parties allowed primaries to be more competitive, instead of pushing a preferred candidate early on, that would allow a wider range of candidates to run, so voters could choose based on both policy and character.

Expanding rank choice voting ‒ in which you rank several candidates in order of preference ‒ would also help with this

Parties should thoroughly vet all candidates early in the process and release any information they uncover immediately, rather than waiting for their opponents to do it later. They also should not support any candidates until after the primary stage, allowing more candidates to run without being pushed out by well-funded, party-backed candidates.

- Michaela Peterson, Maine

Want better politicians? Stop electing outsiders.

I believe the issue is fundamentally a result of misplaced anger at "career consultant politicians," i.e., politicians notable for relatively clean personal history, extensive prior political experience and politics that are considered normal within their respective parties.

Many of these politicians are being criticized for being overly intellectual or overeducated and/or out of touch with average or working-class Americans. Think former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, etc. These politicians are often criticized for not drawing out sufficient mania in voters, not inspiring the sense of personal connection and love that more openly rough outsiders like Graham Platner or Donald Trump are said to inspire.

Platner and President Trump benefited from their perception as political and personal outsiders who could channel people's anger and fear at "the system," whatever that means to any given voter. Then they'd ride that anger to votes and election wins, after which, of course, they would resolve all of their voters' simmering resentment and personal grievances.

In practice, Trump and Platner ‒ as could be expected of men with sketchy personal histories and a lack of qualifications for their desired positions ‒ consistently exercise poor personal and professional judgment, poor character, and an inability to consistently demonstrate focus, competence or even an earnest desire to hold and wield power responsibly.

I believe people need to stop thinking about politics as a sphere through which we can find personal emotional connection or gratification through our connection with a politician or a message, and think of politics as a job for which you should elect the most competent, honorable and experienced people whose policy agendas align with your desired real-world outcomes and policies.

If I am retaining an attorney, I do not care which attorney I would most like to have a beer with; my attorney's primary job is to provide me with the strongest and most effective representation and legal counsel possible. Americans should consider thinking about politicians more as their employees or contractors and not as their friend or their king. More civics education for adults would also be extremely helpful.

- Leo Matthes, New York

I'm an independent, but I see more problems on the right

I think both parties are looking more at beating the other than serving the American people at times. I think there are always extreme members in any political party, but this lack of focus on serving the people creates more extreme situations.

Honestly, I think the Republicans have more problematic politicians than the Democrats do here, starting with the current president and his administration.

I think both parties should start by doing two things:

1) Anyone with a felony conviction shouldn't be allowed to be president of the United States (considering Trump has more than 30 of these, I think this is fair).

2) For administration and Cabinet members, require that they have past experience related to their department. That second point would stop people like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from running health care while being anti-vaccinations.

As for the Republicans, I'd rather see them all criminally charged and convicted with treason than in any form of political office. I may be an independent here, but if you lessen federal funding for childhood cancer research, you have my undying hatred just based on that.

I also survived working at Walmart for the majority of the COVID-19 pandemic, so I respect the National Institutes of Health enough to say that nurses are professionals, and that any doctors or nurses who survived that deserve a well-earned raise.

- Shayde Fischer, Illinois

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Want fewer Platners in politics? Stop electing outsiders. | Your Turn

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This story was originally published July 13, 2026 at 5:04 AM.