It is not exactly a novel insight to say that Democrats do best in big cities, but Comedy Central’s Ronny Chieng was still floored by the idea on Wednesday’s edition of The Daily Show. During an interview with Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval, Chieng wondered how the Democrat was able to win in a heavily Democratic city while also throwing race into the conversation. Chieng was trying to understand the keys to Pureval’s success but wanted something more than the typical clichéd answers politicians give to such questions, “I understand, listening to folks, okay, blah, blah, blah. We get it. I'm just saying that, yes, you are incredibly good-looking. So, you listen to people, blah, blah, blah. I’m just saying, this is a very divisive time and you're running as a—you’re not a white person, and you are presumably a little bit progressive, which I am stereotyping based on your political affiliation.”     He then got to his question with more references to white people before catching himself, “In this time when, like, the Democratic brand is very toxic, kind of, this progressive stuff is very toxic in the middle of the country. So, how did you get elected? How did you convince these white people—how did you convince these people to get on board with you with what you were trying to do?” It’s not rocket science. Most red states still have blue areas, just like most blue states have some red areas. Cincinnati is one of those blue areas. In Pureval’s first mayoral election, his general election opponent was another Democrat. Additionally, Ohio is about 79 percent white while Cincinnati is 49 percent white. Despite Chieng’s desire to avoid clichés, that is what Pureval gave him in response: Yeah, again, the only answer I have for you is politics is about empathy, and in order to win that person’s vote in a very short amount of time, you have to convince them that you understand their issues, that you are passionate about their issues, and that you are going to fight like hell to fight for the things that they care about. We have been successful in doing that—not just through rhetoric, but also through actually delivering results, and that I know you guys are more focused on the federal level, but that is the difference between federal politics and local politics. The federal nonsense doesn't work at the local level, and we understand that in Cincinnati and are delivering for our citizens.  The comedy shows have this habit of highlighting progressive mayors getting elected in dark blue cities to help advance the idea that they represent the future. However, they typically ignore the mayors’ more controversial stances. For instance, Chieng never asked Pureval about recent allegations the city considers race when awarding contracts. Here is a transcript for the July 8 show: Comedy Central The Daily Show 7/8/2026 11:26 PM ET RONNY CHIENG: I understand, listening to folks, okay, blah, blah, blah.  AFTAB PUREVAL: Yeah. CHIENG: We get it. I'm just saying that, yes, you are incredibly good-looking. So, you listen to people, blah, blah, blah. I’m just saying, this is a very divisive time and you're running as a—you’re not a white person, and you are presumably a little bit progressive, which I am stereotyping based on your political affiliation. In this time when, like, the Democratic brand is very toxic— PUREVAL: Yeah. Yeah. CHIENG: —kind of, this progressive stuff is very toxic in the middle of the country. So, how did you get elected? How did you convince these white people—how did you convince these people to get on board with you with what you were trying to do? PUREVAL: Yeah, again, the only answer I have for you is politics is about empathy, and in order to win that person’s vote in a very short amount of time, you have to convince them that you understand their issues, that you are passionate about their issues, and that you are going to fight like hell to fight for the things that they care about. We have been successful in doing that—not just through rhetoric, but also through actually delivering results, and that I know you guys are more focused on the federal level, but that is the difference between federal politics and local politics. The federal nonsense doesn't work at the local level, and we understand that in Cincinnati and are delivering for our citizens. 

After considerable deliberation subsequent to new scandalous revelations, Maine’s Democrat Senate nominee Graham Platner has decided to suspend his campaign. His lengthy announcement video triggered a wide range of reactions, including harsh condemnation on what many would consider to be a friendly outlet. Watch as MS NOW’s Catherine Rampell, sitting in for Chris Hayes, absolutely nukes Platner after running his suspension video: BRUTAL: Watch as MS NOW's Catherine Rampell buries Graham Platner over his campaign suspension video GRAHAM PLATNER: From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Thank all of you. And keep fighting. We're gonna win someday. CATHERINE RAMPELL: Well, that was Graham Platner officially… pic.twitter.com/KGIRE4jcAt — Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) July 9, 2026 MS NOW ALL IN WITH CHRIS HAYES 7/8/26 8:23 PM GRAHAM PLATNER: From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Thank all of you. And keep fighting. We're gonna win someday. CATHERINE RAMPELL: Well, that was Graham Platner officially announcing that he is dropping off of the ballot for Maine Senate or for, excuse me, for federal Senate from Maine- but taking zero responsibility for any of the scandals and more troubling things in his past that have destroyed that campaign, instead blaming, let's see, corporate media, the political establishment, lots of hate for the political establishment, saying that “We banded together. We did it the way we were told we were supposed to make change, and we won. And now they are not going to let us have it.”  So lots of finger-pointing and blame and not taking any responsibility. Note that whoever he conceives of as the political establishment, you do have many of his once allies, including Bernie Sanders and Ro Khanna, also calling for him to drop out- people who believe many of the same policy ideas believe in many of the same policy ideas that Graham Platner himself says that he was taken down for. He also said during that ten-minute video that “All we were asking for was healthcare, was to end the genocide, to use our taxpayer dollars at home to uplift our communities instead of waging war overseas. We were asking for a fair system. We are asking for an end to the corruption.” So, lots of allegations that he was being taken out by nefarious forces that are forcing him to suspend his campaign rather than the drip, drip, drip of scandal after scandal that has dogged his campaign and that have littered the last few months with red flags. Rampell is right. Herr Oystergruppenführer devoted a lot of time to blaming his woes on many external factors- whether it was “the system”, the women who were victimized by his multiple aggressions, or Israel. As Rampell rightly notes, Platner never took personal responsibility for his behaviors and for the impacts of his failure to disclose them. It is interesting that Platner blamed “the media” for his woes. If anything, the media coddled him and put him in a protective cocoon. His Totenkopf tattoo should have been a disqualifier but the Elitist Media looked the other way. In fact, the tattoo wasn’t mentioned until the message board scandal broke. And when The New York Times published the accounts of former girlfriends, the focus and scrutiny shifted away from Platner and to the conservative ex. Rather than scrutinizing and vetting Platner, the media coddled him and hid his glaring defects from public view. His failure is also their failure.  

On Wednesday's Morning Joe, Mika Brzezinski served up a shocking bit of selective skepticism as scandals continued to engulf Maine Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner. After John Heilemann stated that Platner had "lied" to prominent Democrats like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders in saying that no more damaging revelations were coming, Brzezinski jumped in. "All right. Well, first of all, just to one of the points Heilemann made, we don't know if he lied to Democratic leaders. Nevertheless, these accusations are out there. And they they are having a very profound effect, that is for sure." Mika was clearly leaving open the possibility that the accusations against Platner by Jenny Racicot and Lyndsey Fifield are false—that the two women are the liars. Mika’s suggestion seemed to shock her husband and co-host Joe Scarborough. As you'll see in the screencap, Scarborough turned to her with eyebrows literally raised. You might have expected Brzezinski to sound at least a bit indignant at the very real likelihood that Platner also lied to HER! When he appeared on Morning Joe on June 10th after his primary win, and was asked whether more damaging stories were out there, Platner said: "There is nothing out there that will run counter to any of the stories that I’ve talked about openly this entire campaign.” 'Don't Know If He Lied'? Mika Leaves Door Open for Platner Accusers to Be the Liars! pic.twitter.com/b8CHV9gRd6 — Mark Finkelstein (@markfinkelstein) July 8, 2026 Yet now, with fresh and far more serious allegations — including Racicot’s claim that an intoxicated Platner entered her home uninvited and forced himself on her despite repeated objections — Mika appears more protective of the candidate, casting doubt on whether he misled top Democrats while soft-pedaling the accusations themselves. When even far-left former Platner endorsers like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Ro Khanna have publicly called on him to drop out, what does it say that Mika is still holding out the possibility of his truthfulness? Mika's hedging illustrates a longstanding liberal-media double standard: allegations against Republicans are often treated as instantly disqualifying, while similar (or worse) claims against Democrats receive every benefit of the doubt—including unsubtle speculation that the accusers might be fabricating their stories. Here's the transcript. MS NOW Morning Joe 7/8/26 6:16 am EDT JOHN HEILEMANN: We obviously had seen, starting with the, the, the, the Reddit posts and then the Nazi tattoo and then the various allegations around sexting with women and now these, these allegations of, of aggressiveness and violence with women leading up to this, culminating in this rape allegation, that this is a candidate who had baggage, from, from here to, to Los Angeles and, and probably was gonna face many more accusations going forward, some founded, some unfounded, who knows?  It's interesting, Nate Cohn at the, for the New York Times, just dropped a piece this morning where he said that the most recent New York Times poll showed how thin Platner's support had become even before these rape allegations. Which is to say some thirty percent of his supporters were basically saying, "We're still with him, but we're, we're not-- our support isn't unconditional, and we, if, if other shoes were to drop, we might, have to abandon this candidate."  And so his vulnerability, despite his performance in the primary, was apparent to everyone on all sides, and, and, and so now we, we are where we are.  I, I don't, can't imagine a world where Graham Platner thinks that it's a better future for him to stay on the ballot. And, I mean, his future in politics is, is pretty much over.  Certainly over, given the way he looked in the eyes of these Democrats, prominent Democrats like Bernie Sanders and, and Elizabeth Warren, and lied to them about the possibility that there were more things that were gonna come out. I don't think he has a future in Democratic politics, but I can't imagine he thinks his life would be better if he were to stay on the ballot and take the Democrats to certain defeat in November. But you're right, he still has that little bit of leverage, and everyone is still waiting on him. The state can't really go forward in terms of moving to find a replacement until he makes his decision. The sooner would be better from the state party's perspective, the national party's perspective. So a lot still hinges on him.  But those cards are kind of a diminishing asset because the reality is after Monday, you know, the, the, the only thing that can salvage any part of his reputation is for him to get out. . . .  MIKA BRZEZINSKI: All right. Well, first of all, just to one of the points Heilemann made: we don't know if he lied to Democratic leaders. Nevertheless, these accusations are out there, and they, they are having a very profound effect, that is for sure.

The many donors out there to the Graham Platner Senate campaign who might be upset about the incredibly poor vetting that was performed on their candidate might be interested to know about evidence of malfeasance and corruption by one of the primary vetters that has just been revealed by an interesting source. And that source is someone familiar to longtime readers of NewsBusters. None other than Mike Elk (pictured) who earned the reputation as perhaps the most lethargic labor reporter in the world but definitely at Politico where he briefly worked about ten years ago. However, despite his reputation for lethargy, on Wednesday Elk perhaps redeemed himself by making a shocking revelation about one the main vetters of Platner in his Payday Report publication: "Platner’s Guru Daniel Moraff Asked Me to Lie for Him (I Didn’t)." In the news about Graham Platner, one name keeps coming up that is familiar to those of us in Pittsburgh: Daniel Moraff. The Wall Street Journal labeled Moraff “The ‘Mad Scientist’ Behind Graham Platner’s Scandal-Plagued Rise.” Moraff recruited Platner after seeing a video of him advocating for Frenchman Bay. Moraff told The Wall Street Journal that he spent only a few days vetting Platner, but was convinced that he was the guy they needed after seeing only a video of him. ​I first got to know Moraff when he worked on Summer Lee’s first campaign for state representative. Later, he was dismissed from Summer’s campaign for reasons that were never entirely clear to me, and it remains a subject of debate here. ​I didn’t know Moraff well, but would occasionally see him around town. We weren’t close friends, but when we ran into each other, we would often talk politics and share a few laughs. As a journalist, I saw him as a source, not a friend. Can you feel the angry Platner backers already taking notes? The former lethargic Politico labor reporter continues with his saga of corruption: ​In September of 2022, I was down in Rio de Janeiro when I received a message from Moraff saying he needed to speak to me urgently. I tried to blow him off because I was deep into covering the election of President Lula and didn’t have time. In November, after Lula’s election, he contacted me again, and I agreed to talk to him. ​What happened next shocked me and raised questions about what may have happened in his work for Platner. ​Moraff told me he was recruiting Brian Pietrzak, a General Electric locomotive factory worker and UE member, to run for Congress in Erie. He said he wanted Pietrzak to run as an independent. While researching Pietrzak, Moraff found anti-Trump quotes he had given Payday and asked me to delete them. ​In October of 2020, Pietzrak spoke at a Biden rally at Carrie Furnaces in Rankin, PA, where he blasted Trump at length. ​“No union member should vote for Trump,” Pietrzak told Payday Report in October of 2020. ​Moraff explained at length that Pietrzak’s quote against Trump could hurt his chances of appealing to Trump voters in Erie. I told him deleting a quote as a political favor would violate journalistic ethics. He insisted I do it even after I said no. ​Cajoling me, Moraff told me that, “No one would know that I deleted the quote.” I told him that wasn’t the issue, and that it was unethical, so I refused. He told me to forget the conversation and never mention it to anyone. It's important to know Moraff asked me to lie for a candidate he was recruiting. ​Given what happened with Platner, I think the incident with Moraff asking me to lie is important. If Moraff felt comfortable asking me, someone that he didn’t know that well, to lie, it means that he possibly got influencers and journalists in the past to lie on his behalf. When I heard that Moraff was involved in vetting and recruiting Platner, I recalled this experience. It showed me that Moraff was willing to lie to get someone elected and to ask journalists to do unethical things to help sell those lies. Hmmm... It would be interesting to find out if Moraff asked journalists other than Mike Elk to lie and, if so, did they comply. In any event this revelation shows that Moraff was at the very least corrupt. We already knew that Moraff and his companion did not appear to take the vetting of Platner very seriously as you can see in the following video when they both giggled like goofy teenagers when asked about the vetting process. However, Elk provides us (and especially potential attorneys for a possible class action lawsuit by the donors) solid proof of outright corruption. Daniel Moraff gives off a vibe of self-satisfied cleverness, a confidence that he is more clever than everyone else, and that his cleverness alone will be sufficient to avoid error. pic.twitter.com/DWoOotMfFQ — The Patriarch Tree (@PatriarchTree) July 8, 2026 Exit question: Will Politico cite this breaking story provided by their former lethargic labor reporter from whom they parted on not the best of terms?

After considerable deliberation subsequent to new scandalous revelations, Maine’s Democrat Senate nominee Graham Platner has decided to suspend his campaign. His lengthy announcement video triggered a wide range of reactions, including harsh condemnation on what many would consider to be a friendly outlet. Watch as MS NOW’s Catherine Rampell, sitting in for Chris Hayes, absolutely nukes Platner after running his suspension video: BRUTAL: Watch as MS NOW's Catherine Rampell buries Graham Platner over his campaign suspension video GRAHAM PLATNER: From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Thank all of you. And keep fighting. We're gonna win someday. CATHERINE RAMPELL: Well, that was Graham Platner officially… pic.twitter.com/KGIRE4jcAt — Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) July 9, 2026 MS NOW ALL IN WITH CHRIS HAYES 7/8/26 8:23 PM GRAHAM PLATNER: From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Thank all of you. And keep fighting. We're gonna win someday. CATHERINE RAMPELL: Well, that was Graham Platner officially announcing that he is dropping off of the ballot for Maine Senate or for, excuse me, for federal Senate from Maine- but taking zero responsibility for any of the scandals and more troubling things in his past that have destroyed that campaign, instead blaming, let's see, corporate media, the political establishment, lots of hate for the political establishment, saying that “We banded together. We did it the way we were told we were supposed to make change, and we won. And now they are not going to let us have it.”  So lots of finger-pointing and blame and not taking any responsibility. Note that whoever he conceives of as the political establishment, you do have many of his once allies, including Bernie Sanders and Ro Khanna, also calling for him to drop out- people who believe many of the same policy ideas believe in many of the same policy ideas that Graham Platner himself says that he was taken down for. He also said during that ten-minute video that “All we were asking for was healthcare, was to end the genocide, to use our taxpayer dollars at home to uplift our communities instead of waging war overseas. We were asking for a fair system. We are asking for an end to the corruption.” So, lots of allegations that he was being taken out by nefarious forces that are forcing him to suspend his campaign rather than the drip, drip, drip of scandal after scandal that has dogged his campaign and that have littered the last few months with red flags. Rampell is right. Herr Oystergruppenführer devoted a lot of time to blaming his woes on many external factors- whether it was “the system”, the women who were victimized by his multiple aggressions, or Israel. As Rampell rightly notes, Platner never took personal responsibility for his behaviors and for the impacts of his failure to disclose them. It is interesting that Platner blamed “the media” for his woes. If anything, the media coddled him and put him in a protective cocoon. His Totenkopf tattoo should have been a disqualifier but the Elitist Media looked the other way. In fact, the tattoo wasn’t mentioned until the message board scandal broke. And when The New York Times published the accounts of former girlfriends, the focus and scrutiny shifted away from Platner and to the conservative ex. Rather than scrutinizing and vetting Platner, the media coddled him and hid his glaring defects from public view. His failure is also their failure.