In the past, political scandals could end careers. Not anymore

Graham Platner and Ken Paxton are facing controversies during their campaigns for Senate. AFP via Getty Images and Getty Images/Collage by Emily Bogle/NPR hide caption

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.

Gary Hart was considered the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988. After news broke of an affair, he pulled out of the race. He later jumped back in, but withdrew a second time. Aaron E. Tomlinson/AP hide caption

"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.