The Daily BS • Bo Snerdley Cuts Through It!
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Transgender candidate’s debate answer detonates on social media: ‘What was that?’

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BS BRIEF:

  • Maine Democratic Senate candidate Ashley Webb went viral during Thursday night’s debate after responding to a question about qualifications for the U.S. Senate by highlighting previous campaigns, songwriting, and book writing.
  • The moment exploded across social media, drawing ridicule from conservative commentators and political strategists who questioned whether the answer was serious.
  • The debate comes as Maine Democrats scramble to replace former nominee Graham Platner ahead of a critical Senate race against Republican Sen. Susan Collins, one of the GOP’s most important incumbents heading into the midterms.

MAINE SENATE DEBATE GOES VIRAL AFTER CANDIDATE CITES SONGWRITING AS A QUALIFICATION

Democrats searching for a candidate to challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins may have accidentally produced the most talked-about debate moment of the week.

During a televised Democratic Senate debate in Portland on Thursday night, candidate Ashley Webb found herself at the center of a social media firestorm after being asked a straightforward question: “What qualifications do you have to serve in the U.S. Senate?”

Webb’s response immediately caught the attention of viewers. “I ran for office several times, didn’t win, but I did run,” Webb said. “And then, I’m a songwriter and then I write my own books.”

The candidate continued by pointing to personal transparency as another qualification. “I suppose my transparency. I wouldn’t lie to people and I wouldn’t deceive the people,” Webb said. “Like, we’re being deceived right now, like we get lied to, smoke and mirrors, like what’s going on with ICE.”

Within minutes, clips of the exchange spread across social media platforms, where critics seized on the answer as a symbol of what they see as a Democratic Party struggling to produce serious candidates in key races.

Conservative commentator Dave Rubin responded with a simple, “Surely you can’t be serious.”

Washington Examiner senior writer David Harsanyi joked, “To be fair, that’s more relevant experience than Platner.”

Others were less charitable.

“You cannot and will not convince me that this is real,” author Bethany Mandel wrote.

The party is attempting to regroup after the collapse of former nominee Graham Platner’s campaign and is now rushing to select a replacement ahead of a race that could help determine control of the U.S. Senate.

Republicans view Maine as a top-tier pickup defense opportunity. Collins remains one of the most recognizable political figures in the state and has repeatedly survived difficult electoral environments by appealing to independents and moderate voters.

That’s why Thursday’s debate was supposed to showcase Democratic alternatives. Instead, much of the national attention focused on one answer.

Webb was one of several candidates participating in the debate alongside Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, former Maine CDC Director Nirav Shah, former congressional staffer Jordan Wood, former state legislator Lizzie Dickerson, businessman Dan Kleban, and former government official David Costello.

The Maine Democratic Party is expected to formally select its nominee at a convention later this month.

Political observers note that Democratic voters face a difficult balancing act. The eventual nominee must energize the party’s progressive base while simultaneously appealing to independent voters in a state that has often rejected national partisan trends.

That’s a difficult assignment under any circumstances. It’s even more difficult when debate moments start generating national comedy material.

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