Sen.Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who has endorsed over 70 candidates this election cycle, is facing heat for propping up disgraced ex-Senate candidate Graham Platner — among a string of other radical, dark horse candidates.The self-proclaimed Democratic socialist, who has called his far-left movement a "revolution," had been one of Platner's most vocal supporters, asserting that he would "do everything I can to make sure that Graham Platner is the next senator from the state of Maine." Sanders, true to his word, attended campaign events and advocated fiercely for Platner on social media despite a series of scandals about Platner's past.But that was before Tuesday.Less than 24 hours after Politico published a bombshell report on Monday detailing how Platner allegedly raped his then-girlfriend in 2021, Sanders joined many of his Democratic colleagues and called for Platner to step aside.FETTERMAN UNLEASHES ON 'DIRTBAG' WING OF DEMS AFTER FAR-LEFT VICTORIES: 'ORGY OF SOCIALISM'Sen.
Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Democratic U.S.Senate candidate Graham Platner stood together during a "Fighting Oligarchy" tour stop at the Collins Center for the Arts on the University of Maine campus on May 24, 2026, in Orono, Maine.
(Joe Raedle/Getty Images)To Rachel Bade, a political commentator and longtime political reporter, it's a moment that is stress-testing Sanders' continued influence in the party. "The Graham Platner fiasco was bad, yes.But now, some Dems are tallying up everywhere else Sanders and his orbit bet wrong this cycle, raising questions about their judgment in elevating untested, unvetted candidates with skeletons nobody bothered to check for," Bade wrote in a post to X.In addition to Platner, Sanders has also endorsed several other candidates who have sparked political controversy over troubling details in their past.Adam Hamawy, who has past ties to a convicted terrorist who was convicted of seditious conspiracy linked to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, won a Democ...