00:00Hey everyone, it's Kram Plattner here. I think as many of you know over the past
00:05couple days I have faced some very serious allegations and I just want to
00:10make it clear this is all false. The things that have been claimed did not
00:15happen. It's not real. It has placed an immense amount of weight on me as I think
00:26about what needs to happen now.
00:34Amy and I are regular people. We were not looking for this experience. We were not
00:40looking to get into politics. We had no desire to run for office. I just want you
00:49to think about like what you would do as a regular person in a position where
00:56a much larger world. Large forces were working against you personally to accuse
01:06you of the worst thing that a person could do and it was not remotely true. I
01:17learned about this through press inquiries with no time to truly respond. No time
01:26for investigations before a corporate media system and the political
01:34establishment got to act as judge, jury and executioner. Accusations are supposed to be
01:43the beginning of things not the end.
01:49I think it's really important to understand why this is happening in the
01:55timeline. Why this is happening right now. Much like October when the first attack
02:01started. Much like the news that was created the week before the primary. There is a
02:10reason that this is happening now. I only have until July 13th until I am
02:18officially the nominee. This was the last week to try to get me off of the ballot.
02:26And that's why this is occurring.
02:34It's not the false allegations though that have brought us to where we are. It's the
02:40fact that they are being used by the political establishment to put structural
02:47pressure on us. We live in a political system that is not built for normal people. It is a system
03:00that
03:00is built structurally to make sure that movements like ours cannot flourish. That if
03:08they begin to succeed they can be crushed what we have accomplished here you made
03:20possible the people of Maine the volunteers the voters the grassroots donors and I
03:29have all the faith in the world that we could win if we could continue to harness
03:33that. But the brutal political reality is that they are going to take everything
03:42away from us. Those in power who have the ability to do so are using these
03:51allegations as an excuse to take away all of the things that we need to run a
03:57campaign. We are going to lose our ability to fundraise. We are going to lose our
04:05ability to access voter data. We are going to lose all of the things that any
04:11campaign needs on the basic level simply to function. Larger organizations, the
04:22national level party, the bigger donor networks, they have all committed to
04:27spending no money in this race if I'm in it. They would rather see Susan Collins
04:33win than have me be the next senator from Maine.
04:44What comes next needs to come from the people. Needs to come from the people of
04:52Maine. Needs to come from the voters who on June 9th at a
04:57strength of over 150,000, the largest number in the history of Maine primaries
05:02said no to this kind of politics. Voted for a politics that would actually
05:10represent them. Voted against the political system, against the donor class,
05:15against the entrenched forces.
05:20And I'm not asking for how this process is going to work. I'm not trying to dictate to
05:28anyone who it should be or how we get there. But I will say this, it needs to be open,
05:35transparent and democratic. It needs to be reflecting the will and the values of the
05:41people that built this movement. The people that showed up on June 9th.
05:46People in DC need to stay in DC. Decisions should not be made in back rooms by people in places
05:53of
05:53political power. Party apparatchiks are not the ones to make these decisions. These
05:59decisions need to be made in the open by the people of this state. The people who got us here.
06:07This is exactly the kind of political system that everyone voted against on June 9th. And for that
06:15reason, we need to be assured that it is going to be open and democratic as we move forward.
06:26Amy and I struggled about getting into this. Last summer, right around this time of year,
06:35we sat down and we looked at each other and we said, if we believe in the kind of politics
06:40we think
06:40that we do, we have to do this. Over the past couple of days, really yesterday and today,
06:51we have had to have that exact same conversation.
07:00We believe that for the movement to continue,
07:08it can't be made. And for that reason,
07:20we are suspending campaign operations.
07:27This is incredibly difficult because
07:30I know that some will think it's an admission of guilt and it most certainly is not. We're not
07:35doing it because of the allegations. We're doing it because of the structures that are being taken
07:39away from us by those in power. And I also feel an immense amount of responsibility
07:49to everyone who has worked so hard to get us to where we are.
08:01We went toe to toe with one of the most entrenched political systems in the history of the world,
08:06and we won. We beat them on June 9th in overwhelming numbers.
08:17We did it the right way. We built a campaign. We engaged in electoral politics. We motivated people.
08:24We banded together. We did it the way that we were told we are supposed to make change.
08:29And we won. And now they are not going to let us have it.
08:38Not if it's me.
08:43And so we're suspending campaign operations. I want to make clear though,
08:48I intend to file my paperwork to withdraw. The process needs to assure that what comes next
08:58is reflective of the Mainers who on June 9th turned out and showed that they are desperate for a
09:04different kind of politics. It needs to be driven not from back rooms, but by the will of the people.
09:15And the decisions that come next must come from that.
09:21All we were asking for was healthcare. Was to end the genocide. To use our taxpayer dollars at home
09:30to uplift our communities instead of waging war overseas. We were asking for a fair system.
09:39We were asking for an end to the corruption. The end to the money in politics.
09:47We were asking for real democracy and we did it the right way and we won.
09:58But now the ball is in the court of the democratic establishment.
10:01government. My name might be on the ballot right now, but that ballot line belongs to the people
10:10of Maine. And on November 3rd, it needs to belong to the people of Maine. And the next democratic
10:17senator for Maine needs to belong to the people of Maine. They need to reflect the will and the values
10:24of the people of this state. I love this state. I love Maine and I love Mainers in ways that
10:37I can't really describe.
10:43I'm immensely proud of what we have built. And I have the utmost faith that we will continue to build
10:51and we will continue to move towards a better future.
11:01From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Thank all of you.
11:11And keep fighting. We're going to win someday.
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