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Democratic strategists are beginning to worry that Graham Platner could weigh on the party’s midterm prospects.
That assessment from party insiders, both in Maine and nationally, who spoke with Politico this week comes after a revelation that the presumptive Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate race had exchanged sexually explicit texts with other women early in his marriage.
Platner’s wife, Amy Gertner, had disclosed those “sexts” to an aide back in August. Campaign staff concluded that the texts were a private matter for Platner and Gertner to address in counseling.
A top aide to Platner’s campaign, Morris Katz, who also works with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, sent a warning through an intermediary to an ex-Platner staffer, former state Rep. Genevieve McDonald, that she would be accused of lying and sabotage if she talked with media outlets about those texts. A copy of that message was shared exclusively with the Bangor Daily News.
Platner, who didn’t address the scandal during a weekend event in Auburn, where organizers asked a BDN reporter to leave before the candidate spoke, has accused the national press of “journalistic malpractice” over the sexting stories.
While the strategists noted that Maine Democrats have been “forgiving” of Platner’s past, they fear the incessant dripping of bad press will eventually cost the party come Election Day — and not just with their bid to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, but also to wrest control of Congress from Republicans and thereby restrain President Donald Trump.
“He’s going to lose. All these polls showing him up against Susan Collins — people forget that the voters who decide this race make their decisions in the last two weeks,” a Maine Democratic strategist, who spoke anonymously with Politico, said, calling to the Sullivan oyster farmer an “albatross,” a reference to an 18th-century English poem in which a mariner kills an albatross, ultimately cursing himself and dooming his crew.
Since Platner stormed onto the political scene last year, he has faced a barrage of criticism over unearthed inflammatory internet posts and revelations that he had a chest tattoo depicting a skull superimposed over crossbones, resembling the Totenkopf symbol adopted by the Nazi SS during World War II.
Platner denied knowing that his tattoo was a Nazi symbol. He got the tattoo in 2007 while deployed abroad with the U.S. Marines. While on leave, Platner and other Marines went to Croatia, where they got “very inebriated” and decided to get tattoos. He said that they all picked “terrifying” designs off the wall.
He has since gotten it covered.
Platner has tried to distance himself from his past internet posts, including numerous deleted posts in which Platner asked why Black people “don’t tip,” suggesting that women concerned about rape not drink around certain people, and alluding to jokes about a “zombie” Jesus and his mother Mary being a “skank,” among others.
Gov. Janet Mills, who suspended her U.S. Senate campaign in April and hit Platner hard over his internet posts in a series of campaign ads, has said that Republicans would make “mincemeat” of Platner if he emerges as the party’s standard-bearer for the November election.
During a Sunday interview with the Sun Journal’s Steve Collins, Mills reiterated that she remains on the Democratic primary ballot for next Tuesday.
“People have the impression that I ‘withdrew’ or ‘dropped out,’” she said “but I simply suspended active campaigning. I am still on the ballot.”
Old Town native David Costello also will be on the Democratic ballot.
Major backers of Platner, including U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, both of whom endorsed him, are standing by the candidate for now, while Democratic strategists and insiders are waiting to see how Platner performs come primary day.
“If [Platner] dips below like 65 percent or something [on Tuesday] I think he’d be in trouble,” said another Maine Democratic strategist who spoke anonymously with Politico. “That’s gonna be tough for him.”
It will be an uphill battle for Democrats to unseat Collins, who officially announced her historic bid for a sixth term in February. While recent polls have given Platner a lead over Maine’s senior senator, the Republican has handily beaten back challengers, including in 2020 when she defied polls and expectations to secure a fifth term in the Senate. But Collins, who has been ranked the country’s most bipartisan senator, has seen her popularity slump since Republican Trump’s first term in the White House.
If Collins is successful in winning a sixth term, she would be Maine’s longest-serving U.S. senator.