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# What does it mean if political scandals matter less?

By Barbara Sprunt

Updated Monday, June 8, 2026 • 4:03 PM EDT

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In the race to the midterms this year, neither party is untouched by scandal.

Texas Senate GOP hopeful Ken Paxton has faced legal battles and criminal
investigations for years, along with allegations of infidelity, a public
divorce and an impeachment by the Texas House.

In Maine, Democrat Graham Platner has pushed past controversies including a
report that he sent women sexually explicit messages while married and sported
a tattoo of an emblem used by Nazi SS units; he says he did not know what it
was when he got it and has since covered up the tattoo.

In generations past, any one of those scandals could be enough to end a
campaign or career. Just ask Gary Hart, who was once seen as **** the
frontrunner for Democrats' presidential nominee, before he dropped out after
reports of an affair — or Republican Rep. Chris Lee, who resigned the same day
an article was published in 2011 detailing a shirtless photograph he sent to
someone on Craigslist.

"The fact politicians are more likely to survive scandals now is a condition
of the world we live in," said Brandon Rottinghaus, political science
professor at the University of Houston and author of _Scandal: Why Politicians
Survive Controversy in a Partisan Era_.

That scandals are no longer a surefire death knell for politicians is
something he attributes to changing norms, hyperpolarization, partisan loyalty
and deep distrust of the media.

"The strategy for politicians facing scandal these days is — dig in, blame
your opponents and hold on tight," Rottinghaus said.

"The reason this works is because it leverages distrust of media and
politicians, which allows for politicians to survive in ways they couldn't in
the past because those elements weren't present," he said.

### Partisanship prevails

Kevin Madden, a longtime Republican political strategist, was communications
director to then-House **** Majority Leader Tom DeLay in 2005, when DeLay was
facing his own scandal. DeLay was found guilty of funneling corporate money to
Texas candidates; that conviction was later overturned.

"It's like — how quaint," Madden said, comparing it to the scandals du jour.
"It's almost like watching the silent era of film when you think about what
was considered a scandal back then."

He ascribes the change in large part to an upended media environment —
recalling how there used to be a regimented and fairly uniform news diet for
the public.

"Scandals had an ability to endure in that type of information landscape," he
said. "If you look at the information landscape we're in now, which is
hypersonic and supercharged due to digital platforms, we're in this constant,
cluttered and fragmented media ecosystem."

Put another way? "If Nixon had a Fox News or a social media army of Nixon
devotees to mobilize on his behalf, it could have been a much different
outcome," he said.

Undergirding this is an environment where partisanship seems to outweigh
almost everything.

"These scandals become a political inkblot," Madden said. "If you're on the
left, you see it through the lens of somebody on the left. If you're on the
right, you see it through the lens of somebody on the right. And that's where
you decide whether it's something to either be outraged about or something you
want to defend or dismiss."

He notes there are always exceptions to the trend. California Democrat Eric
Swalwell resigned from Congress in April after backlash to allegations of
sexual assault and misconduct — allegations he has denied. Texas Republican
Tony Gonzales also resigned that month, in the midst of a congressional ethics
investigation into his conduct and the possibility of a congressional
expulsion vote over an affair with a former staffer that he admitted to. ****

"The moral floor is descending to a certain extent," said Eben Burnham-Snyder,
former longtime Democratic aide on the Hill and in the Obama administration.
"But even within that, there still is the essential question of the sin and
the sinner."

But overall, he said, the political calculus has shifted.

"Increasingly the electorate is more willing to forgive as long as they can
ultimately reach heaven, which is electoral victory," he said. "I think after
a lot of missteps by Democrats in how they handled certain scandals, what
they've decided is the cost of enforcing norms is higher than the cost of
winning with a flawed candidate."

As an example of just how much things have changed, he points to the pressure
former Minnesota Sen. Al Franken faced from fellow Democrats to resign after
allegations of sexual misconduct.

A little more than **** eight years later, some of those same senators have
been much less vocal about allegations against Platner.

"If Democrats could go back in time, would they act differently? And I think
what you're seeing play out with Platner is yes — the answer to that is yes,"
Burnham-Snyder said.

Madden agreed.

"There's no doubt that somewhere Andrew Cuomo and Al Franken are sitting there
and watching what happened to the governor of Virginia, for example," he said,
referencing former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, who refused calls to resign
after a photo surfaced from his medical school yearbook depicting someone in
blackface and the other in a Ku Klux Klan robe. "All he did was wait it out
and essentially let the news cycle wash out the scandal. And there's no doubt
that many [other politicians] thought, 'if I could go back, I would.'"

### The Trump factor

Rottinghaus said there's a temptation to credit the shifting scandal standards
to President Trump, who forged ahead through the _Access Hollywood_ scandal
weeks before he was elected in 2016 and has continued to weather controversies
throughout his two terms.

"Donald Trump didn't make scandals less important. He was just living in a
world where that was true," Rottinghaus said. "He took advantage of the fact
that we see this partisan schism, that we have this fragmentation in the
media, and that people have very strong opinions politically about their team
and about the other team. He didn't invent these things, but he did to some
degree perfect them."

Trump's playbook to survive scandals — blaming opponents and not backing down
— is now one that politicians routinely try to replicate.

Trump is arguably the most successful at fundraising off of his controversies
as well. He and the GOP raised nearly $53 million in the first day after Trump
was convicted on 34 felony counts in a criminal hush money trial.

"Politicians can use scandals as a badge of honor to say that they've been in
the fight, and the reason that they've been caught in the scandal is that
they've been fighting for the people, for their base," Rottinghaus said. "A
lot of politicians will simply frame a scandal as a partisan attack or as
misinformation or as a witch hunt."

Sound familiar?

In Texas, Paxton described his impeachment as a "politically motivated sham"
and has framed his Senate race as a fight against the media and political
establishment.

In an interview with Maine Public Radio, Platner cast his ever-unfolding
controversies as a result of fighting against the establishment.

"We knew that the machine itself ... the whole political pundit class combined
with the political establishment itself was going to fight us tooth and nail,
because what we are building here is something substantial," Platner said.

### What does it mean if scandals matter less?

Rottinghaus argues scandals serve an important role in the political system.

"There's a lot of evidence that if you weaken the power of scandals, you
reduce the institutional accountability that we need in democracy to make it
function properly," he said.

Watergate exposed abuses of executive power and ultimately, Congress increased
oversight, made government records more accessible and strengthened rules
around campaign finance disclosure.

The Teapot Dome scandal in the 1920's **** led to stricter congressional
oversight of federal leasing.

The Pentagon Papers scandal helped lead Congress to pass the War Powers
Resolution.

"Scandal is like a canary in the coal mine. They tell us there's something
wrong with a politician, with a rule, with a system. Those are things we can
fix," Rottinghaus said. "Now, the canaries have flown away and the cage is
open."

* * *

### Transcript

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

In the upcoming midterms, neither party is untouched by scandal. Texas GOP
Senate hopeful Ken Paxton was impeached by the Texas House and endured
allegations of infidelity. In Maine, Democrat Graham Platner reportedly sent
sexually explicit messages to women while married. So are scandals as powerful
as they once were? Here's NPR's Barbara Sprunt.

BARBARA SPRUNT, BYLINE: Political scandals are nothing new.

(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #1: Richard Milhous Nixon resigned...

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #2: Former Senator Gary Hart has quit the race...

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #3: President Clinton denies allegations...

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #4: Spitzer is resigning after a federal
investigation...

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #5: A scandal on Capitol Hill involving Congressman Mark
Foley.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #6: A scandal in the Interior Department. The details
are juicy.

SPRUNT: There was a time when scandal was a death knell for a political
career. Take Gary Hart in 1988, the front-runner for the Democratic
presidential nomination. After news broke of an affair, he dropped out of the
race. Or in 2011, when Chris Lee, a New York Republican congressman, resigned
immediately after a story published of him sending a shirtless photo to
someone on Craigslist. But increasingly, politicians aren't running away when
faced with scandal.

EBEN BURNHAM-SNYDER: A disqualifying political scandal is not dead, but it is
on life support.

SPRUNT: That's Eben Burnham-Snyder, former aide on the Hill and in the Obama
administration. As an example of just how much things have changed, he points
to the pressure former Senator Al Franken faced from fellow Democrats to
resign after allegations of sexual misconduct.

BURNHAM-SNYDER: If Democrats could go back in time, would they act
differently? And I think what you're seeing playing out with Platner is yes.

SPRUNT: He says the calculus has shifted.

BURNHAM-SNYDER: The electorate is more willing to forgive as long as they can
ultimately reach heaven, which is electoral victory.

SPRUNT: That doesn't mean, he says, there aren't outliers. And there are still
some scandals that the public won't accept. Kevin Madden, a longtime
Republican political strategist, says this hyperpartisan environment means
it's not always a question of right versus wrong, but us versus them.

KEVIN MADDEN: If you are on the left, you see it through the lens of somebody
on the left. And if you're on the right, you see it through the lens of
somebody on the right. And that's where you decide whether or not it's
something to either be outraged about or if it's something that you now want
to defend or dismiss.

SPRUNT: He says the potency of scandals has weakened because of a
hypercharged, fragmented media landscape.

MADDEN: If Nixon had a Fox News or he had a social media army of Nixon
devotees to mobilize in his behalf, it could've been a much different outcome.

SPRUNT: And he says the reaction from politicians facing scandal has changed
dramatically.

MADDEN: If you wait long enough, there'll be a new shift of attention
elsewhere in the news cycle. You can ultimately not necessarily flourish, but
you will survive.

SPRUNT: Brandon Rottinghaus is a professor of political science at the
University of Houston. He says, these days, some politicians facing scandal
are actually leaning in.

BRANDON ROTTINGHAUS: A lot of politicians will simply frame a scandal as a
partisan attack or as misinformation or as a witch hunt that helps rally their
base.

SPRUNT: The new strategy?

ROTTINGHAUS: Dig in, blame your opponents and hold on tight.

SPRUNT: It's a playbook he says was perfected by President Trump.

ROTTINGHAUS: He took advantage of the fact that we see this partisan schism,
that we have this fragmentation in the media and that people have very strong
opinions politically about their team and about the other team. He didn't
invent these things, but he did to some degree perfect them.

SPRUNT: He says scandals often serve an important role. Think of them like
canaries in the coal mine.

ROTTINGHAUS: They tell us there's something wrong with a politician, with a
rule, with a system. Those are things we can fix.

SPRUNT: But now?

ROTTINGHAUS: The canaries have flown away and the cage is open.

SPRUNT: It's up to the public to decide whether to keep it that way.

Barbara Sprunt, NPR News, Washington.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOLLY LEWIS AND THEE SACRED SOULS' "CRUSHED VELVET")

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