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Graham Platner has built his insurgent campaign for the U.S. Senate on attacks against the “billionaire class” and the political elite.
But how much is the man from Sullivan worth?
Forbes’ Kyle Khan-Mullins, who covers money in politics, sought to answer that in a piece that ran Monday morning.
Khan-Mullins pegs Platner’s net worth around $300,000, more than half of which is tied up in his home, which like other homes here has seen its value grow since COVID. The remainder of his reported wealth comprises the pension of his wife, Amy Gertner, and his oyster farming equipment.
Platner has faced questions over his working-class image based on his attendance at private schools in Connecticut and Maine, as well as being the grandson of a famous architect and son of a lawyer with deep connections to term-limited Gov. Janet Mills.
Ahead of Tuesday’s primary, Platner has faced a steady drip of bad press. First, the revelation that he exchanged sexually explicit texts with women early in his marriage. Second, ex-girlfriends spoke with The New York Times about their “toxic” relationships with him.
Even before The Times’ story, Democratic strategists worried that Platner could become a weight around the party’s neck come November. Yet, during a weekend town hall in Portland, the crowd remained largely supportive of Platner and none of his congressional backers have rescinded their endorsements.
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 of a skull resembling a symbol adopted by the Nazi SS during World War II.
Platner denied knowing the meaning of the tattoo, which he got in 2007 while deployed abroad with the U.S. Marines. He has since had it covered.
Mills, who suspended her U.S. Senate campaign in April and hit Platner hard over his old 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.
Mills and David Costello also are on Tuesday’s ballot.
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 President Donald 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.