This is mostly online personality drama stuff, but it's a bit amusing to see everyone (The Left! The Centrists!) blame everyone else for Platner. The truth is that no one in Maine really wanted to run against Collins, Schumer recruited Mills (!), Platner saw an opening no one else was running through, and Maine Dems voted for him.
To the extent that it mattered, he was pushed by both "The Center" (Pod Jons, Bulwark) and various figures associated with The Left.
One of those somewhat rare non-factional things, at least not as we normally define these factions.
A certain kind of person loves an ex-military guy cosplaying as Everyman, independent of ideology. A certain kind of person loves absolution for "youthful" sins.
