The term “yellow dog Democrat” refers to the sort of person who would automatically vote for the Democrats’ nominee even if it were a yellow dog. It’s a surprisingly old term:

The term originated in the late 19th century. These voters would allegedly “vote for a yellow dog before they would vote for any Republican”, or, “vote for a yellow dog if he ran on the Democratic ticket”.[1] The term is now more generally applied to refer to any Democrat who will vote a straight party ticket under any circumstances. The South Carolina Democratic Party and Mississippi Democratic Party, among other state parties, continue to use the phrase to refer to committed members of the Democratic Party in the “Yellow Dog Club”.

I submit that it’s outdated; it’s way too mild. For example, see this:

Susan Collins:
1) Voted to convict Trump of impeachment
2) Voted against Amy Coney Barrett & Pete Hegseth
3) Backed limits on Trump's military power
4) Wants to nuke his "Anti-Weaponization Fund"

And more. If *she* is your evil right-wing extremist, words do not mean anything. https://t.co/dLQakRiAkS

— Billy Binion (@billybinion) June 1, 2026

Perhaps they should be called “Platner Democrats,” although that doesn’t roll too trippingly off the tongue. But “the messier Platner turns out to be the more I hope he wins,” because Susan Collins (one of the few moderates left in Congress) is evil – well, that is much of the current Democrat Party in a nutshell.

As far as Platner goes, if you haven’t kept up with the latest revelations about him, see this and this at Ace’s.

Another example of a Platner Democrat is Jessica Tarlov and apparently the Democrats of Maine:

“There are Democrats who have concerns, and some of them are speaking out about it,” she conceded. “This was the first weekend that I feel like Democrats were really pushed on the Sunday shows. Dana Bash was doing that as well with Andy Kim from New Jersey, who wanted to talk about what’s going on at Delaney Hall. And she kept bringing it back to this. Listen, Graham Platner, his wife is not a professional political spouse, and Graham Platner is not a professional politician himself. And you’re seeing that come to light.”

I’m not sure how not being a “professional politician” is supposed to absolve you from having a Nazi tattoo for nearly twenty years, for making racist, homophobic, and misogynistic comments online, for having a sorta-potty fetish, and for maintaining an account on a chat app used by sexual predators, but hey, that’s apparently the argument Tarlov is choosing to make.

“Chuck Schumer wanted Janet Mills to win,” Tarlov continued. “He got her to jump into this race because someone like a Jared Golden didn’t want to get in. And that didn’t work. Mainers have consistently said, ‘We know who Graham Platner is and this is what our choice is at this point.’”

Not all Democrats feel this way. But of those who are objecting to Platner, is it because he’s a terrible person (in addition to having virtually no political experience) or because they think he may lose?