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Mr. Platner's withdrawal, which comes after a woman accused him of rape, creates deep uncertainty in a race that both parties see as crucial to their hopes of winning the Senate.
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The deadline to pick a new nominee is July 27 and candidates are already lining up. State party leaders said they would hold some form of nominating convention.
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Trump announced on Tuesday at the NATO summit in Ankara that he would lift U.S. sanctions on Turkey and is considering selling the country F-35 fighter jets. Trump made the comment following a lavish state dinner hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom he praised as a "great leader." The mayor of Istanbul and other Turkish politicians, civil society figures and journalists remain jailed on politically motivated charges.
"Here in Ankara, and in Turkey more broadly, this NATO summit is not taking place in a climate of freedom. We saw, in the two weeks leading up to this summit happening, authorities in Ankara arrested over 200 people in dawn raids," says Ruth Michaelson, a journalist based in Istanbul. "There has also been a protest ban enforced in Ankara, and that is a protest ban that extends even to leafleting."
Repression from the Turkish state has not been addressed during the summit; instead, "something that we've been hearing throughout the summit is that Turkey has this indispensable place in NATO," says Michaelson.
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Graham Platner's bid for the Senate inspired progressive Democrats. But the campaign, which he suspended Wednesday, was messy, disorganized and ultimately doomed by a steady drip of scandal.
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Mr. Jackson, a longtime state legislator, lost a Democratic primary for governor this year. He has already earned some high-profile endorsements.
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The president embraced the alliance in a meeting Wednesday, extolling nations' defense spending and saying nothing about the Danish territory, officials said.
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The swift exit of Graham Platner from the Maine Senate race followed Eric Swalwell's similar exit from the California governor's race, but Republicans have taken a different tack.
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